Customer Reviews

The Brainsmart Leader

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This is a glossy book. And expensive. It is full of stories and anecdotes, mainly about the benefits of the stuff the "experts" are selling.

It uses mind maps throughout, and some "science" about the brain. Unfortunately, although I was myself taught mind mapping at similar consultant prescriptions, I can say it never really got used at work. The book pulls out all the stops when it comes to trying to convince the reader to use the methods (or buy the seminars). All the old highly saleable 60-70s mind myths are stated. Lots of geewizary, but actually, no new information. I guess they remember that Minzberg used the left/right brain mythology and made stacks of money over it, so they thought they would have a go. There are people who buy into these ideas, but they tend to be very flaky, the gurus involved, such as Tony Buzan have a cult following, and they make money at it. They probably always will, with the type of propoganda they use. Actually, it does tend to go over the top, especially when you can see they are just a group of people making money out of recommending each other. A bit of a tasteless luvvy fest really.

I guess the reason they don't cite published research (post 80s) is that it tends to debunk their claims. And anecdotes really do not work. Readers are smarter than they assume.

Regards

PRoffer

This book is a very popular, easy-to-swallow-for-anybody, reiteration of basic leadership and self-improvement skills. I was inspired by the chapter "People Power" that offers the following activities:

1. List the topics that your superior has discussed with you over the last six months regarding your personal development. What is your plan for implementation?

2. Write a letter to someone complimenting them on their success.

3. Introduce yourself to one new person each week, and list five interesting things you learned about each person.

4. Jin a volunteer group and take a leadership role.

5. When returning home at the end of the day, let your first five minutes of conversation be about good things that have happened to ach family member during the day.

Of course there is a chapter in this book that promotes Tony Buzan's "Mind Maps", and each chapter have recapitulative "mind map" illustration (unfortunately, black-and-white).

As about the leadership challenge, I would have recommended the following books: "Leadership Without Easy Answers" and "Leadership on the Line" by Ronald Heifetz, "Organizational Learning II" by Chris Argyris, "Leading the Revolution" by Gary Hamel and "Who Says Elephants Can't Dance" by Louis Gerstner.

If you aren't yet familiar with the Tony Buzan's "Mind Maps", I recommend "The Mind Map Book: How to Use Radiant Thinking to Maximize Your Brain's Untapped Potential" by Tony Buzan.

I found real value in Buzan's earlier, colorful book MindMapping, so I didn't need to plow that ground again here.

I've read much more useful information on developing one's brain. The information here seems simplistic, undeveloped, and hardly new. A good source for brain expanding techniques is Restak's Mozart's Brain and the Fighter Pilot.

I am disappointed that this book is so thin on content. It has only a few reference readings and they are almost all by Buzan. For the price, color would have been a nice addition especially for the mind maps which gain much more impact through its use. I hate to pan a book, and I'll pay any price for value. This was not a fair exchange of value for the price.

This is an awesome book. So many teams try to operate on top of conditions that are hostile to good brain function. I think this should be required reading for all team leaders -- or maybe even team members!

A leading edge business book on the use of the brain. A great tool to help leaders at every stage of their career.