Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Malcolm Gladwell, 2007. Blink is about the first two seconds of looking--the decisive glance that knows in an instant. Gladwell campaigns for snap judgments and mind reading with a gift for translating research into splendid storytelling. Building his case with scenes from a marriage, heart attack triage, speed dating, choking on the golf course, selling cars, and military maneuvers, he persuades readers to think small and focus on the meaning of "thin slices" of behavior. The key is to rely on our "adaptive unconscious"--a 24/7 mental valet--that provides us with instant and sophisticated information to warn of danger, read a stranger, or react to a new idea.
Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman, 2006. Goleman defines five main domains of emotional intelligence: 1) knowing one's emotions, that is, self-awareness, 2) managing emotions, 3) motivating oneself, 4) recognizing emotions in others, that is, empathy, and 5) handling relationships or managing emotions in others. He then devotes a chapter to each of these, delving into the neuroscience of each domain and interspersing it with anecdotes that illustrate an abundance of or lack of that particular domain. Goleman then moves on to make his case for the importance of emotional intelligence, both as we raise our children and as a lifelong learning pursuit. At the end, he outlines the benefits of an emotional education, which include better frustration tolerance and anger management, less aggressive or self-destructive behavior, better at handling stress, more empathy, better able to take another person's perspective, better at listening to others, better at resolving conflicts and negotiating disagreements, and more assertive and skilled at communicating, to name a few. Although these benefits are directed toward a child's education, these outcomes are clearly ones that are also needed in everyday work life. He closes his argument by pointing out that time and time again, research has shown that "...emotional literacy programs improve children's academic achievement scores and school performance." This is a powerful statement about the effectiveness of those who can integrate the rational and the emotional minds.

Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell, 2008. The author poses a provocative question in Outliers: why do some people succeed, living remarkably productive lives, while so many more never reach their potential? Challenging our cherished belief of the "self-made man," he makes the democratic assertion that superstars don't arise out of nowhere, propelled by genius and talent: "they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot." Examining the lives of outliers from Mozart to Bill Gates, he builds a convincing case for how successful people rise on a tide of advantages, "some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky."

Stumbling on Happiness, Daniel Gilbert, 2007. Gilbert, a professor of psychology at Harvard, draws on psychology, cognitive neuroscience, philosophy and behavioral economics to argue that, just as we err in remembering the past, so we err in imagining the future. "Our desire to control is so powerful, and the feeling of being in control so rewarding, that people often act as though they can control the uncontrollable," Gilbert writes, as he reveals how ill-equipped we are to properly preview the future, let alone control it. Unfortunately, he claims, neither personal experience nor cultural wisdom compensates for imagination's shortcomings. In concluding chapters, he discusses the transmission of inaccurate beliefs from one person's mind to another, providing salient examples of universal assumptions about human happiness such as the joys of money and of having children. He concludes with the provocative recommendation that, rather than imagination, we should rely on others as surrogates for our future experience. Gilbert's playful tone and use of commonplace examples render a potentially academic topic accessible and educational, even if his approach is at times overly prescriptive.

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, Malcolm Gladwell, 2002. The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. It is triggered with the help of three pivotal types. These are Connectors, sociable personalities who bring people together; Mavens, who like to pass along knowledge; and Salesmen, adept at persuading the unenlightened. This phenomenon can change the way we think about selling products and disseminating ideas.

The Wisdom of Crowds, James Surowiecki, 2005. While our culture generally trusts experts and distrusts the wisdomof the masses, New Yorker business columnist Surowiecki argues that "under the right circumstances, groups are remarkably intelligent, and are often smarter than the smartest people in them." To support this almost counterintuitive proposition, Surowiecki explores problems involving cognition (we're all trying to identify a correct answer), coordination (we need to synchronize our individual activities with others) and cooperation (we have to act together despite our self-interest). If the following four basic conditions are met, a crowd's "collective intelligence" will produce better outcomes than a small group of experts: (1) diversity of opinion; (2) independence of members from one another; (3) decentralization; and (4) a good method for aggregating opinions. The diversity brings in different information; independence keeps people from being swayed by a single opinion leader; people's errors balance each other out; and including all opinions guarantees that the results are "smarter" than if a single expert had been in charge.

Working With Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman, 2000. In his first book on emotional intelligence, Daniel Goleman focuses on education and how we teach emotional intelligence. In this book, the focus is on the work world and how critical emotional intelligence is for organizational success. Goleman reviews the five dimensions of emotional intelligence (self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and handling relationships) and lists 25 emotional competencies, highlighting which of those competencies lead to business success and which determine the success or failure of an executive. Throughout the book, Goleman supports his argument for the need for emotional intelligence, noting that organizations going through the greatest change need emotional intelligence the most and that EI accounts for ninety percent of what's required for effective leadership. Moreover, he lauds the concept of learning organizations because they increase emotional intelligence, particularly in the areas of building trust and improving communications and dialogue. He closes the book with the statement that lack of emotional intelligence is the corporate equivalent of a weakened immune system - not necessarily deadly but ultimately affecting productivity and competitiveness. In this day and age, it's not a situation that many organizations can afford to find themselves in.