blink: the Power of Thinking Without Thinking, the title itself is attractive enough to make someone interested in reading this text by
Malcolm Gladwell. Author has done a great job in weaving examples from a wide variety of professions, functions and areas like relationships, politics, military, medical, crime, personality, connoisseurs, etc. to illustrate his main point:
The Power of Adaptive Unconscious of Human Mind.
Author states that human mind works through two strategies, the conscious strategy and through adaptive unconscious. First strategy is when use data, information and analysis to draw a conclusion and make decision, whereas second is when we make decisions on basis of that "gut feeling". This is when we act instantly on a thought which flashes in our mind and forces us to make a decision. The question now is: Is the accuracy or quality of a decision is directly related to the time and effort spent into making it? Per Gladwell, "
Decisions made very quickly can be every bit as good as decisions made cautiously and deliberately."
Author has used technique of "thin slicing" i.e. power of our unconscious (the internal computer) to create a subjective impression using very little information., to explain this kind of decision-making. He has also cited some erroneous decisions (Warren Harding Error & an encounter in Bronx) and some great decisions from medical and military, (Cook County Hospital in Chicago & Van Riper, respectively).
In my opinion, our brain certainly has that great power of making a split-second decision, but it is upto us, how we develop and tap that unusual potential. We can use these techniques like mid reading, facial expression recognition etc but it certainly requires practice and a certain level of expertise to utilize them for our benefit. I would recommend reading this book with an unbiased mind and think, don't just
blink.
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blink vs Six Sigma
