I am a chemist (PhD University of Leuven, Belgium). This explains my preference for a rational approach. I was also an assessor for the European EFQM organization. This European Management Model allows an organization or company to achieve excellent results for all its stakeholders. One of the methods used is the Best Practice method. Finally, at the end of my career, I asked myself the question: How do we know that our country is well managed? There is no management model for this yet. That is why I developed a new model: the SAC model. Together with my colleague Grace L. Duffy, we have described this model in several papers.
The author starts with the question: “Are you smarter than my chimpanzee?” When you finished the book, you’ll be so humble to say: I am not!
While reading the book, I was several times surprised by how adults (including myself) have a distorted perception of reality. For example, eighty percent of children worldwide are vaccinated. This means that almost all human beings alive today have some access to basic modern health care. However, on average, just 13 percent of people get the right answer.
Don’t forget that you can only make correct decisions based on accurate data. For this, you can rely on (the many) reliable databases that are available via the internet.
It was for me the first book that convinced me to think and work more with facts and data, i.e., evidence-based management
'A hopeful book about the potential for human progress when we work off facts rather than our inherent biases.' BARACK OBAMA
'One of the most important books I've ever read - an indispensable guide to thinking clearly about the world.' BILL GATES
*#1 Sunday Times bestseller * New York Times bestseller * Observer 'best brainy book of the decade' * Irish Times bestseller * Guardian bestseller * audiobook bestseller *
Factfulness: The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts.
When asked simple questions about global trends - why the world's population is increasing; how…
The start of the book is immediately to the point: “There are two numbers you need to know about climate change. The first is 51 billion. The other is zero (CO2 emission).”
This book describes, in a very practical and simple language, what needs to happen in the world over the next 25 years to prevent major climate crises (such as the current severe floods, extreme heatwaves, large wildfires, droughts, severe storms, etc.).
I was pleasantly surprised by the hundreds of examples. I got many new insights and solutions.
This book by Bill Gates is a nice example of speaking with evidence-based data.
Bill Gates constantly compares multiple situations in order to choose the Best Practice (less energy consumption, less CO2 emissions, etc.) from several possible solutions.
In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical - and accessible - plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe.
Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide toward certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions…
Many people from all walks of life, even after many accomplishments and experiences, are often plagued by dissatisfaction, pervasive longing, and deep questioning. These feelings may make them wonder if they are living the life they were meant to lead.
Living on Purpose is the guidebook these people have been…
I particularly appreciated the author's evidence-based management approach. It was refreshing that the author showed that we can be optimistic about solving the many challenges our planet faces. It is important not to think and work in terms of doom and gloom or slogans, but with data.
As a data scientist, Hannah Ritchie illustrates how problems such as climate change, deforestation, biodiversity, plastic in oceans, etc., can be solved. With the available data, you can then work out solutions.
The book is illustrated with many graphs and tables.
This "eye-opening and essential" book (Bill Gates) will transform how you see our biggest environmental problems—and explains how we can solve them.
It’s become common to tell kids that they’re going to die from climate change. We are constantly bombarded by doomsday headlines that tell us the soil won’t be able to support crops, fish will vanish from our oceans, and that we should reconsider having children.
But in this bold, radically hopeful book, data scientist Hannah Ritchie argues that if we zoom out, a very different picture emerges. In fact, the data shows we’ve made so much progress on…
This book is for me a standard work in the field of evidence-based management. It opened my eyes to the great (negative) impact slogans, insufficient learning from one's own mistakes, blindly following advice from gurus, etc., can have on the results of a company
I discovered that mistakes are also made in the medical world, and insufficient lessons are learned from them because the principles of evidence-based management are not followed.
You can apply the ideas of the authors in any company or organization, regardless of the sector
The best organizations have the best talent...Financial incentives drive company performance...Firms must change or die. Popular axioms like these drive business decisions every day. Yet too much common management "wisdom" isn't wise at all--but, instead, flawed knowledge based on "best practices" that are actually poor, incomplete, or outright obsolete. Worse, legions of managers use this dubious knowledge to make decisions that are hazardous to organizational health. Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton show how companies can bolster performance and trump the competition through evidence-based management, an approach to decision-making and action that is driven by hard facts rather than half-truths…
Social Security for Future Generations
by
John A. Turner,
This book provides new options for reform of the Social Security (OASI) program. Some options are inspired by the U.S. pension system, while others are inspired by the literature on financial literacy or the social security systems in other countries.
An example of our proposals inspired by the U.S. pension…
I agree with the authors that there is sufficient knowledge in most companies, but that it is not or hardly used. Managers read books, follow training courses, get advice from consultants, etc., but they do not put these ideas and advice into practice. I was triggered by the question: “Why is so little knowledge converted into concrete actions that lead to measurable results?”
I was fascinated to discover the causes and remedies of these symptoms. There are multiple possible causes: teamwork, internal competition, leadership, fear, and rewards.
I found an original and powerful suggestion for translating a new idea from the book I read into concrete actions in my daily work.
Why are there so many gaps between what firms know they should do and what they actually do? Why do so many companies fail to implement the experience and insight they've worked so hard to acquire? The Knowing-Doing Gap is the first book to confront the challenge of turning knowledge about how to improve performance into actions that produce measurable results. Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton, well-known authors and teachers, identify the causes of the knowing-doing gap and explain how to close it. The message is clear--firms that turn knowledge into action avoid the "smart talk trap." Executives must use…
Many managers want to know how good their processes are without doing a lengthy and difficult research. You’ll discover to what extent you have a Best Practice and where you need to make action plans for improvement. By putting these action plans into practice, you will achieve measurable and excellent results. The aim is not to compete with others, but to implement improvements in one's own processes and to learn from the achievements of others.
You need methods and tools to measure and to assess the degree of excellence. Therefore you need of course evidence-based management, but in addition you can use the BEST-methods of the book for the assessment of the Best Practices.
Social Security for Future Generations
by
John A. Turner,
This book provides new options for reform of the Social Security (OASI) program. Some options are inspired by the U.S. pension system, while others are inspired by the literature on financial literacy or the social security systems in other countries.
An example of our proposals inspired by the U.S. pension…
Gifts from a Challenging Childhood
by
Jan Bergstrom,
Learn to understand and work with your childhood wounds. Do you feel like old wounds or trauma from your childhood keep showing up today? Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed with what to do about it and where to start? If so, this book will help you travel down a path…
