BOOK

REVIEW

Summary
and
Learnings

Centre for
Engineering &
Technology
BOOK REVIEW
Summary
and
Learnings
 Director (Personnel)’s
MESSAGE

A
new endeavour by SAIL-CET to promote the culture of reading and learning among
our young engineers is not only novel but paves the way to create an agile work-
environment and culture.
Our day-to-day lives are woven in a routine. We do not find much time beyond this
while balancing our professional and personal lives. Books are one of the best ways to
add value to the daily pattern of our lives. A book is like a window opening to a new vista,
offering fresh perspectives and adding imagination to our regular routines.
I believe that learning is an on-going process throughout our lives. There is no start or
end point in this process. As professionals, it should be our endeavour to make learning
our life long mission. People, who are willing to learn, find the courage to experiment with
different methods of learning and development, according to the context.
Self-directed learning is a powerful tool for development. SAIL has always encouraged
its talented workforce to enhance their domain knowledge, and upgrade their skills. I am
delighted to learn about this initiative taken by CET to promote the reading habit. Those
who have developed the habit of regularly reading are able to view things from multiple
perspectives and come up with creative solutions.
I have read the summaries and the key takeaways drafted by our young managers who
were given books on different topics for reading and summarizing. I am sure this practice
will bring in more and more new ideas and perspectives at workplaces.
I extend my best wishes to CET in this endeavour.

(Krishna Kumar Singh)

Contents
Foreword
Preface
Books reviewed

1 Atomic habits by James Clear ......

Reviewed by A. J. Mathews, Homi Ghildiyal, Sulochna Toppo....................................................................................... 1

2 Blink The power of thinking without thinking by Malcolm Gladwell ......

Reviewed by Milind Kumar Verma....................................................................................................................................................... 3

3 Change Anything by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield,

Ron McMillan, Al Switzler ...... Reviewed by Neeraj..................................................................................................................5

4 Decisive: How to make better choices in life & work by Chip & Dan Heath ......
Reviewed by Deepak Biswal, M. K. Yadav.......................................................................................................................................7

5 Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman ...... Reviewed by Ajay Kumar............................................................9

6 Emotional intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry& Jean Greaves ......

Reviewed by R. R. KUMAR, Dibyajyoti Deepak Kumar........................................................................................................12

7 Effective Planning and Time Management by VivekBindra ...... Reviewed by ArvindTirkey.................14

8 The EQ Edge by Howard E Book & Steven J Stein ...... Reviewed by Rajiv Ranjan...................................... 16

9 First Things First by Stephen R. Covey ......

Reviewed by NitishSwaroop, S. Chakraborty, S Mukherjee........................................................................................... 18

10 Goal Setting by Susan B. Wilson /Michael S. Dobson ...... Reviewed by Manish Kumar.........................20

11 Judgment in Managerial Decision Making by Max H. Bazerman and Don A. Moore ......
Reviewed by Mahendra K Verma...................................................................................................................................................... 23

12 Mind Full to Mindful by Om swami ...... Reviewed by Subhro Kanti Ghosh....................................................... 25

13 The Power of Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy ...... Reviewed by Sujata Suman......................... 27

14 Start with Why by Simon Sinek ...... Reviewed by A Dubey...........................................................................................29

15 Thinking and Deciding by Jonathan Baron ...... Reviewed by Aslam Ansari.......................................................31

16 The art of setting smart goals by AnisaMarku ...... Reviewed by Vinit Kumar..................................................34

17 Thinking Fast & Slow by Daniel Kahneman ......

Reviewed by Yogesh Kumar Patel, N K Jain,Garish Kumar.............................................................................................36

18 The McKinsey Mind by Ethan M. Rasiel & Paul N. Friga ...... Reviewed by Sushanta Das.......................39

19 Road Less Travelled by Scott Peck ...... Reviewed by Deepak R Rao................................................................... 44

20 The Psychology Of Money by Morgan Housel ...... Reviewed by JagdishArora, ED CET.........................48

About CET....................................................................................................................................................................................................................51
 Foreword

C
entre for Engineering and Technology (CET) is the in-house design & engineering
consultant of SAIL. It is effectively handling the projects of SAIL for about four
decades now. The competencies required for the Engineers in CET are quite
specialised, and every individual needs mastery over them to excel in their assignments.
For competency assessment of employees CET was following a feedback model in which
each working individual was classified as learner, practitioner or expert in technical areas
related to his work domain. However, the system was not able to capture competencies
related with soft skills of employees. As a part of the plan to increase productivity of
employees of the unit, competencies required for a consultant were identified. With
the help of MTI an input framework model for assessment was developed based on
which individual scores on different skills related to areas of communication, learning
orientation, inter personal behaviour and professional etiquettes were calculated.
As per competency assessment and subsequent gap analysis, CET took many
initiatives for development of competencies, including interactive feedback session,
engagement of external faculties to conduct workshops on areas like Communication
Skills, Emotional Intelligence, Planning & Time management in which there was scope
of further improvement.
Another unique initiative, book reviewing sessions were started internally on regular
basis in online mode, so that knowledge gained is disseminated across CET. Based
on individual strength and weaknesses, a list of books, articles and videos related with
emotional Intelligence, goal setting, time management, decision making, mindfulness,
etc., were shared to be read or watched. The exercise also helped the speaker in
enhancing communication skills, handling question answer session and summarising
ideas contained in the book.
This whole process was carried out under the banner of “Books pe Charcha”, for the past
one year. It is heartening to know that these sessions have now become self-driven, and
everyone from top to bottom is eager to attend the sessions. This e-book Summaries &
Learnings has beautifully captured the essence of the above. CET intends to continue
this initiative among its all executives to promote culture of learning & self-improvement
in years to come.

Jagdish Arora
ED CET, SAIL
 Preface

R
eading books is a remarkable habit. Those who have developed the habit of
regularly reading are able to view things from multiple perspectives, and come up
with creative solutions. It helps us exercise our imagination.
Writing the review of a book that you have read takes it many steps further. A complex
set of circuitry in our brains comes into play. We not only read, but also try to think and
understand it. We are required to put forth our views on the book in an objective manner.
This improves our reading, writing, thinking and communication skills. The way you put
forth the review, can pique the curiosity, so that people would like to read the book. The
most important thing, though, is the effect it has on our own self. We try to emulate,
what we have read and understood. We learn to communicate, acquire new skills, get
new ideas, etc. We take action to put into practice what we have learnt. In other words,
it can be a life altering experience.
In this regard, a competency assessment and gap analysis was organised for young
managers of CET, and a number of initiatives for development of competencies were
organised. One among these was the unique book reviewing initiative. Based on
individual assessments, a list of books, articles and videos were shared with the young
managers to be read or watched. Further, they were asked to submit the reviews of the
books they were directed to read, and also present it to CET fraternity. This was done
under the aegis of “Books pe Charcha”.
There were over 30 books that were to read and reviewed. The books pertained to a wide
variety of topics such as emotional Intelligence, goal setting, time management, learning
the methodology of other consulting organisations, decision making, mindfulness, etc.
This e-book is a first part in the series of reviews submitted by the young team of CET.
The next set of book reviews shall also be shortly brought forth in e-book form by CET.
Leading by example, the last review in this compilation is by Team CET leader, Shri
Jagdish Arora, ED CET. He has reviewed the book Psychology of Money, which has
been on the bestseller lists for a long time. It gives a grounded approach towards money.
Team CET hopes that all the readers of this e-book enjoy the summaries presented
here, and get curious enough to read the books.
 ATOMIC HABITS
Introduction
The book Atomic habits by James Clear, is a self-help book
that will give one a step-by-step guide on how to build good
habits and also break bad ones.

Summary
The book starts with a short definition of what atomic and
habit means. The word atomic means an extremely small

J
unit of a larger system.
A habit is a routine or ames Clear is a writer and
practice performed speaker focused on habits,
regularly; like an decision making, and
automatic response to continuous improvement. His
a specific situation. An book, Atomic Habits, has sold
atomic habit is a regular over 5 million copies worldwide
practice or routine that is not only small and easy to do. and has been translated into
In the book, its author narrates his story of a baseball accident more than 50 languages. Clear
he had on the final day of his sophomore year in high school. He is a regular speaker at Fortune
was hit in the face with a baseball bat that crushed his nose. He 500 companies. His popular
had to be hospitalized and spent weeks in the hospital. After his “3-2-1” email newsletter is sent
recovery, he felt his life had paused. He struggled with issues out each week to more than 1
with his vision which also affected his ability to drive. All these million subscribers.
compounded and made him depressed. All he wanted was to
get back on the field and play professional baseball.
The author’s turning point in life occurred two years after his injury when he began college at Denison
University. It was where he first discovered the surprising power of tiny habits. He gradually started
building good sleep habits by going to bed early every night and keeping his room clean regardless
of his busy schedule. All those minor improvements accumulated to giving him a sense of control over
his life, and that was how he regained his confidence. All these habits paid off before he graduated
because he was awarded the University’s highest academic honour - the President’s medal. Looking
at his own transformation, the author believes that if he could achieve great things by simply changing
his habits, he can also help others to do more.
The book is divided into six sections: The fundamentals, the first law, second law, third law, the fourth
law, and the advanced.
The fundamentals section has three chapters. In these, the author clearly explains why tiny changes
make a big difference. Chapter one stressed on the need for readers to not just focus on setting goals
but also focus on designing systems as the outcomes do not rise to the level of their goals but fall to
the level of their systems. It also explains how habits are the compound interest of self-improvement
and how just one percent of improvement each day counts in the long run. This chapter also explains
why one needs to be patient when trying to build good habits or break free from bad habits.
The next chapter explains the three levels of change: outcome change, process change, and identity
change. The author made readers understand that the most effective way of changing their habits is to
focus not on what they intend to achieve but on who they wish to become. And also, how their identity
emerges from their habits; how every action is a validation for the type of person they want to become.
So, if one wants to become the best version of oneself, one needs to work on one’s beliefs, upgrade
and expand identity continuously.
Chapter three showcases how the reader can build better habits in four simple steps, which are: cue,
craving, response, and reward. This chapter also captured the four laws of behavior change. The first

ATOMIC HABITS 1
is, make it obvious, the second makes it attractive, the third makes it easy, and the fourth is to make it
satisfying.
The second section of this book focuses on the first law, and has four chapters in it. Chapter four made
it clear that the process of behaviour change always begins with awareness and the need for one to
be aware of one’s own habits before changing them. It also has a Habits Scorecard, a simple exercise
one can use to become more aware of one’s own behaviour.
The following chapter shows the reader the best ways to start a new habit. The sixth chapter made it
known to readers that motivation is often overrated and how the environment matters more. It is often
easier to build new habits in a new environment because you are not fighting against old cues.
The following chapter reveals so many

I
mproving by 1% secrets of self-control. If one has a
isn’t particularly problem with self-control, this chapter
notable, will show practical ways of tackling it.
sometimes it isn’t The third section of this book is about
even noticeable the second law of behaviour change,
– but it can be far making one’s habit attractive. So, it is
more meaningful, the anticipation of reward and not the
especially in the long fulfillment of it that drives us to take
run. action.
The fourth section of this book is about
the third law of behaviour change which
explains how to make one’s habit easy. It would be best to create an environment where doing the
right thing is as easy as possible. So, it would be best if one learned to prime one’s environment to
make future actions easier.
The fifth section explains the fourth law which is focused on how to make habits satisfying. The author
makes readers realize that they are more likely to repeat a behaviour when the experience is satisfying.
The last section of the book suggests advanced tactics on how to go from being good to being great.

Key Lessons from the book

• Impact is made through compact habits -The small things you do on a day-to-day basis can
make a huge difference in your life
• We pick up our habits from the moments we live through - Our habits are created by trial and
error throughout our entire life.
• Steadfast signals activate our habits - Small things trigger a response that eventually becomes
a habit.
• Making your habits appealing to you will help them stay - Habits starting as a pleasurable
experience can help motivate you to repeat it.
• When it comes to creating new habits, keep it simple - The more natural something is to
happen, the more likely it is that you will hold onto it as a habit.

Conclusion
This book not only teaches the importance of good habits, but also teaches one about how to develop
these good habits according to one’s personal goals and also break bad ones.

2 ATOMIC HABITS
 BLINK
Introduction
The This book was written by Mr Malcolm Gladwell. He is a Canadian journalist, author, and public
speaker.
In Blink, Gladwell uses his journalistic style to engage readers in
the process of rapid cognition-what happens in our brains when
we first perceive a situation. Specifically, Gladwell explores how
we transfer meaning and action from our past experiences into a
moment, sometimes to our benefit and sometimes not.
He also provides insight into how experts and novices differ in their
interpretations of the same experience: experts have the ability
to gain significantly more meaning through “thin-slicing” than do
novices.

Summary
There are a number of areas in integrated planning and design
where the lessons of Blink can shed light on our work. Gladwell

I
seeks to explicate how and why “the power of the glance” is
f we can control the both a significant strength and a potential problem when we are
environment in which rapid approaching a situation, particularly a novel one. More importantly,
cognition takes place, Gladwell maintains that we can train or retrain our unconscious
then we can control rapid judgments to make them more helpful to us. While not an expert
cognition. himself, Gladwell weaves together research that creates a
compelling argument for his conclusions.
The first lesson Gladwell presents is that, particularly for experts, it takes very little time-often only
seconds-to apply their knowledge to significant problems. Gladwell presents a variety of examples of
this phenomenon. One of the most powerful is based on the work of John Gottman, a highly regarded
researcher on marital relationships. Gottman began v ideotaping conversations between husbands and
wives more than 20 years ago. At first, he worked on coding all the negative and positive interactions
during a 15-minute period. Over time, he learned that raters really only needed to pay attention to
one type of exchange to be able to predict with nearly perfect accuracy which couples were most
likely to divorce or break up. The thin slice Gottman needed was that of contempt. If one or the other
partner expresses contempt during their discussion, it is very probable that the relationship is doomed.
If Gottman hears contempt, then “blink”, he knows what is likely to happen.
Thin slicing can also predict how likely it is that a medical doctor will be sued for malpractice. Surgeons
who have never been sued average three minutes longer with each patient than those who have. One
study reported by Gladwell found that raters could correctly predict which doctors were likely to be
sued simply by listening to two 10-second clips of their conversations with patients and rating the
doctors on the level of dominance they displayed. Doctors who sounded dominant were significantly
more likely to be sued.
Thin slicing, of course, is nothing new in our world. We all practice it when we receive a first impression
from a person, object, or place. What Gladwell adds to our understanding is just how little sensory input
we use to make those judgments and how often they are right regardless of how quickly we make
them. Our unconscious processes information and acts on it in ways that may never be available in our
conscious decision making. One example Gladwell gives of this phenomenon is the use of scrambled
sentence tests that prime us to behave in certain ways through the words included in the test. One
set of 10 scrambled sentences includes words that subconsciously remind test participants of being
old or of aging. After completing the test, participants walked more slowly down the hall than they did

BLINK 3
when they walked into the room. None of the participants were conscious of this change. Likewise,
participants primed to be polite waited up to one half hour to talk to the experimenter when he was
engaged in conversation with someone else. In a number of cases, the participant never interrupted.
Subtle cues carry powerful messages within our brains.
Whether John Gottman or a professional food taster, experts have an extra set of filters based on
their experience. “Whenever we have something that we are good at-something we care about-that
experience and passion fundamentally change the nature of our first impressions”. This reality has direct
implications for our work on campuses. As experts in planning, our ability to “see” issues and solutions
is often far different from that of the people with whom we work. Walking onto a campus, we are likely
to have immediate, visceral responses to how welcoming it feels, how safe, how accommodating, and
how well-planned it is. While the design may seem chaotic or purposeful to us, less well-schooled
visitors likely do not even have the idea of design anywhere in their experience to use as a way to
gauge their reactions.
Gladwell works to convince the reader that our naive first impressions can be retrained to be more
reflective. How does that happen? First, we need to help those with whom we work to sort through
what created their impressions. Creating opportunities for the unconscious to come to awareness is a
first step. Asking clients what feelings were evoked by a proposed building, actual landscape, or new
academic program can help us link those feelings to the assumptions about place that may or may not
be accurate from our expert point of view. The feelings and actions that follow a first impression are
real to clients, but not necessarily the appropriate basis for future decisions.
Expert planners understand that first impressions cannot be ignored, either their own or those of
others. “This does not mean that when we are outside our areas of passion and experience, our
reactions are invariably

M alcolm Gladwell is the

author of five New York
Times bestsellers — The Tipping
wrong. It just means that
they are shallow. They are
hard to explain and easily
Point, Blink,Outliers, What the disrupted. They aren’t
Dog Saw, and David and Goliath. grounded in real
He is also the co-founder of understanding”. Our job as
Pushkin Industries, an audio planners, then, is to
content company that produces understand our own
the podcasts Revisionist History, grounding and to
which reconsiders things both communicate that in a way
overlooked and misunderstood. that creates understanding
Gladwell has been included in the in those with whom we
TIME 100 Most Influential People interact.
list and touted as one of Foreign
Policy’s Top Global Thinkers. Conclusion
Gladwell’s book offers
insights into how a variety
of experts do that for themselves and for us. Its contents are easily accessible since Gladwell acts
as a boundary spanner between research on first impressions and our own naive views of how those
impressions occur. For those of us who wish to enhance our ability to help others with the translation
between an expert “blink” and an un-trained one, this book offers a good start.

4 BLINK
 CHANGE ANYTHING
Introduction
A strategic, step-by-step guide to breaking longstanding bad habits from
the authors of Crucial Conversations draws on research coming out of their
Change Anything Labs, where they study and work with people struggling
with self-destructive patterns. The authors introduce a system for adopting—
and sticking to—better behaviours in this smart, sensible work. Targeting the
main problem areas—weight, addictions, spending, career advancement, and
relationships—the authors exhort readers to avoid blaming their inability on
willpower in favour of recognizing powerful influences that can counteract
temptation: e.g., offering ourselves financial incentives or radically changing
our physical spaces to see that we stick with healthier habits.

Summary
The authors present a highly detailed holistic plan, illustrated by encouraging case studies, for making
systemic changes that approach problems from every angle and promote active change.

The Change Anything Framework

The Change Anything Model is about changing behaviours to achieve measurable results, and one
changes behaviour by changing motivation & ability
across personal, social, and structural aspects. Things to consider with vital behaviour:
The beauty of the model is that it scales up & down • Behaviours are actions
from personal life style changes, such as losing weight, • Behaviours are not results or qualities
to global changes, such as eliminating diseases.
• Not all behaviours are equal
The key is to identify measurable results, finding vital
behaviours, and analyzing six-sources of influence. • Only a few are genuinely vital

Most change efforts fail because they look at only

one source of influence or they don’t focus on the vital behaviours. Conversely, vital behaviours get
specific on what actions to take that produce exponential results.
Change efforts also fail because they don’t identify crucial moments, which are when the right choices
matter. When you know these things & you have a model to guide your efforts, you can dramatically
improve your effectiveness! The prequel to change efforts is developing or acquiring the required skills
to make change possible! While the change model is simple, the challenge is putting it into practice.
Change is a life-long quest!

The main flow of steps includes:

Step 1: Clarify measurable results.
Effective results are:
Don’t waste time on how to create change until
you’ve clarified what you want, why you want it, 1. Specific & Measurable (quantitative not
and when you want it. qualitative)
Step 2: Find vital behaviours. 2. What you Really Want (the outcome that
If crucial moments tell you when it’s time to act, matters)
vital behaviour tell you exactly what to do & how to 3. Time Bound (requires completion date)
do it. Vital behaviour tends to stop self-defeating
& escalating behaviour. They often start a reaction
that leads to good results.
Step 3: Use six-sources of influence.
Rather than just look to one source for influence, explore all six sources of influence.

CHANGE ANYTHING 5
Here are all six-sources of influence put together in a matrix model: Personal Motivation, Personal
Ability, Social Motivation, Social Ability, Structural Motivation and Structural Ability
Dimensions of Influence
1. Personal Motivation
Although personal impulses can be Motivation Ability
compelling, it is possible to interrupt
these impulses by connecting Personal 1. Personal Motivation 2. Personal Ability
with personal goals during crucial Social 3. Social Motivation 4. Social Ability
moments.
Structural 5. Structural Motivation 6. Structural Ability
2. Personal Ability
A proven way to change habits is to enhance personal ability and to learn new skills.
3. Social Motivation
There is a clear social component to bad habits. When friends encourage bad behaviour and also
engage in it, this is very difficult to resist. If individuals can transform “accomplices” into “friends” who
encourage good behaviour, they are more likely to change their habits.
4. Social Ability
To change longstanding habits, people usually need support from other people. Individuals who get a
life coach or mentor are often more successful at changing behaviours.
5. Structural Motivation
People who connect short-term rewards or punishments to new habits are usually more likely to adopt
those new habits.
6. Structural Ability
Researchers have found that minor environmental changes can have a significant effect on a person’s
choices. Individuals experience faster behaviour changes when they add visual cues to help them
focus on their goals.
Sources of Influence
Source 1: Love What You Hate
One of the greatest challenges to changing Conclusion
behaviour is the fact that the things that people The book teaches about
should do are often tedious or uncomfortable.
However, by facing these things, people can turn • Know what’s influence
their future into a positive force for change. • Know why most change efforts fail
Source 2: Do What You Cannot
• Know what motivates people
When it comes to personal change programs, skills
& knowledge are just as important as willpower. • Use multiple strategies
The authors suggest building skills that will support • Identify effective results
personal change initiatives.
• Know the 3 strategies for finding vital
Sources 3 & 4: Turn Accomplices into Friends behaviours
It is possible to make peer pressure a positive force
for making behaviour changes. • Insist on vital behaviours
Source 5: Invert the Economy • Identify crucial moments
One effective way to change habits is to invert • Motivation & ability
the economy & create penalties for engaging in
• Personal, social, and structural forces
unhealthy behaviours.
Source 6: Control Your Space • Think in six-sources of influence
The physical world, such as the design of a home, • Diagnose why change seems impossible
affects behaviour in ways that are often hard to
detect.

6 CHANGE ANYTHING
 DECISIVE
Introduction
Our decisions are often marred by an array of biases and irrationalities:
We’re overconfident. We seek out information that supports us and
downplay information that doesn’t. We get distracted by short-term
emotions. When it comes to making choices, it seems, our brains
are flawed instruments. Unfortunately, merely being aware of these
shortcomings doesn’t fix the problem, rather anything more than
knowing that we are near-sighted, helps us to provide clarity. The
real question is: How can we do better?

Summary
The authors, based on an exhaustive study of the decision-making
literature, introduce a four-step process designed to counteract
these biases. The book takes readers on an unforgettable journey,
citing numerous real life instances, to a single question that can often
resolve thorny personal decisions.

Four villains of decision making:-

i) Narrow framing - The tendency to define our choices too narrowly, to see them in binary terms.
Often are our options are far more plentiful than we think. However, focussing on our current
options means that other things are out of our spotlight. Analysing the opportunity cost that comes
with various options, help us escape the narrow frame.
ii) Confirmation bias - To develop a quick belief about a situation and then seek out information that
bolsters our belief.
One needs to reality test their assumptions and make sure that they are not looking for just
information that supports their opinion.
iii) Short term emotion – Our decisions are often altered by two subtle short-term emotions:
(a) Mere exposure: We like what’s familiar to us; and
(b) Loss aversion: Losses are more painful than gains are pleasant.

O ne solution to this is to bundle our

decisions with “tripwires,” signals
that would snap us awake at exactly
the right moment, compelling us to
reconsider a decision or to make a
new one. Think of the way that the
low-fuel warning in your car lights up,
grabbing your attention

We are governed in decision making by how we feel about a situation and not necessarily about
the long term effects of a decision. One should distance themselves before making a large
decision as the short-term emotion villain could come in and wreck the decision.
iv) Overconfidence - People think they know more than do about how the future will unfold.
If we think about a normal decision process, it usually proceeds in four steps:-

DECISIVE 7
i) Encountering a choice – But narrow framing makes us to miss options.
ii) Analysing the options – Confirmation bias leads us to gather self-serving information
iii) Making a choice – Short term emotion often tempts us to make the wrong choice.
iv) Living with the choice – We will often be overconfident about how the future unfolds.
In order to make good decisions, the authors have suggested using the WRAP method.
i) Widen your options - To beat narrow framing, one need to widen their options and look at the
opportunity cost.
Basically it means that one shouldn’t be strictly limited to “this OR that”. Instead of deciding
between “either/or”, one should try “this AND that”. When we are in the narrow framing mind set,
we fail to look at the opportunity cost.
Multi-tracking (considering multiple options simultaneously) helps to learn the “shape” of the
problem and keeps egos in check. Decision paralysis can be a concern for people who consider
many options but the payoff could be huge if one looks for more than two options.
When we need more options but feel stuck, look for someone who’s solved our problem. Look
inside and find our bright spots. To be proactive, encode your greatest hits in a decision “playlist.”
A third place to look for ideas: in the distance - Ladder up via analogies.
ii) Reality-test our assumptions –To overcome confirmation bias, one needs to reality test our
assumptions and make sure that we are not looking for just information that supports our opinion.
We need to spark constructive disagreement within our organizations. To gather more trustworthy
information, we can ask disconfirming questions. We can even test our assumptions with a
deliberate mistake. Because we naturally seek self-confirming information, we need discipline to
consider the opposite.
The authors suggest “Zoom out and Zoom in” approach to gather the best information while
making a decision. An outside view (Zoom Out), from an expert of how things generally unfold in
situations similar to ours, combined with a “close-up” can augment well in making decisions with
more clarity.
iii) Attain distance before deciding – To overcome short-term emotion, one should take a pause
and sleep over it before taking a big decision. Making a long list of all pros & cons and doing an
objective analysis helps. We can attain distance by looking at our situation from an observer’s
perspective.
Probably the most powerful question for resolving personal decisions is “What would I tell my best
friend to do in this situation?”
Quieting short-term emotion won’t always make a decision easy. Agonizing decisions are often a
sign of a conflict among one’s core priorities. By identifying and enshrining one’s core priorities,
one makes it easier to resolve present and future dilemmas. To carve out space to pursue one’s
core priorities, we must go on the offense against lesser priorities
iv) Prepare to be wrong – The future has an uncanny ability to surprise. We can’t shine a spotlight
on areas when we don’t know if they exist. One needs to be prepared for failure and shall have
a timely review of the major decisions of life. This helps in learning from mistakes and also to
bounce back faster. Setting a goal/limit helps conquer the overconfidence villain. One should be
always prepared for an uncertain future. Having many alternate plans helps to deal with any kind
of exigency.
Procedural justice is critical in determining how people feel about a decision.
“Process’ isn’t glamorous, but the confidence it can provide is precious. People often regret not what
they did but what they didn’t do.
Trusting a process can permit us to take bigger risks and make bolder choices. A trustworthy process
can help us navigate even the thorniest decisions.

Conclusion
The book offers fresh strategies and practical tools enabling us to make better choices. Because the
right decision, at the right moment, can make all the difference.

8 DECISIVE
 EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
Introduction
Emotional Intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ’ is a real life
practical book by Daniel Goleman. In my opinion this book would
be wonderful in showing the importance of understanding our
feelings and emotions to achieve our goals and solve our problems
it’s essential to know what is going on in our head and talk about
it. Otherwise, we will feel lost, unproductive, unmotivated, and
susceptible to make the wrong choices.
My Favourite quote from the author: “In a very real sense we have
two minds, one that thinks and one that feels”.

Summary
Emotional Intelligence explains the importance of emotions in
our life, how they help and hurt your ability to navigate the world,
followed by practical advice on how to improve your own emotional
intelligence and why that is the key to leading a successful life.
He brings up the ground-breaking idea that emotional intelligence
rather than IQ, plays a greater rol e shaping our success in life. IQ is
rather a genetic given that cannot be changed by life experience.
Emotional intelligence impacts work performance, studies,
relationships, and even our health.
Emotional intelligence will offer assistance us communicate superior,
cope up with uneasiness in troublesome circumstances, and feel
satisfied with our achievements.
This book is for individuals feeling misplaced, with blended sentiments influencing their everyday
activities and compromising their objectives.
It is additionally for those who are seeking out for individual improvement and professional development
and for guardians that need to get it way better their children’s feelings/emotions.
The book has been divided into five parts, briefed each part as below:

1. “The Emotional Brain”

We take rational intelligence into account in most of our decisions. But what we don’t know is that
emotional intelligence affects our actions as much as rationality.
Our emotions generate impulses that affect the senses of our body and the actions taken.
When we are angry, for example, the blood “boils” between the hands, the heart speeds up, and we
tend to act with much more energy. While happiness gives us peace, gratitude, and a greater aptitude
for cooperation.
There are moments when we act on “impulse”, which are called by the author as emotional hijacking.
The neural network takes control and sends a faster response than the neocortex - the thinking brain
- to a situation.
The author states that, we have two brains or two minds. And the best way to deal with hijacking and

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE 9
bad decisions from purely logical thinking is to harmonize the two parts, finding a balance between
reason and emotion. But first, we need to understand what it means to use emotions intelligently.

2. “The Nature of Emotional Intelligence”

Emotional intelligence consists of the following domains:
• Self-awareness : Recognizing our own emotions as they arise;
• Self-regulation : Knowing how to deal with our emotions;
• Motivation : Staying motivated is essential and be more productive;
• Empathy : Recognizing and understanding the emotions of others;
• Social skills: Knowing how to deal with the emotions of others.
The author says that there is no intelligence more important than interpersonal intelligence. When we
don’t know how to deal with it, we are much more likely to choose the wrong profession or the wrong
person to marry, for example.

3. Emotional Intelligence Applied

The author affirms that there is a big difference between how emotions are taught between boys and
girls. While girls are encouraged to talk about their own feelings, boys are not.
The result we have is men who do not know how to express their feelings in a relationship, while
women are misunderstood. As a consequence, a barrier is built with each discussion generated.
It ends up causing emotional stress. Men, because they don’t understand what they feel, have greater
difficulty in recovering from this stress than women.
That way, things get more and more difficult to resolve, and that’s where emotional hijackings come
into play, with people expressing themselves in a harmful and uncontrolled way.
Feedback is the basic currency of emotional intelligence in management. Managers must learn to
promote it and to accept it intelligently.
Daniel Goleman points out the fact that the company’s progress is highly influenced by the application
and quality of feedbacks. Without it, people are in the dark, and don’t know how they are doing, how
they can improve their performance at work, or in any kind of relationship.
However, we will not motivate a person if we use harsh words. For this, the author quotes Harry
Levinson and his advice on how to make a review:
• Be specific; If you are not specific, people won’t know what they did wrong;
• Offer a solution; Instead of just criticizing, help the person to improve, providing a solution, for
example;
• Be present; Criticism is most effective when spoken in person;
• Be sensitive; Exercise your sense of empathy and be alert to the impact your words can have
on the other person.
Keep in mind that an optimistic speech is far more beneficial than pessimistic words. Also, try to see
the situation from a different point of view, searching for reasons that are leading someone to have a
certain behavior.

4. Windows of Opportunity
Some parents raise their children without regard to their feelings. Sometimes, they ignore the moments
of emotion to try to understand why they are crying, for example.
These parents can be constantly rigid and critical, or they can be those who expect the children to
deal with their emotions alone. The result, says Daniel Goleman, are children who believe that nobody
cares about their feelings.
And this influences their personality and decisions throughout life, as a lack of self-confidence. They

10 EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
feel discouraged and resentful, with difficulties in communication and possible disturbances.
The author mentions psychotherapy as an emotional tutorial. It consists of understanding past events
to control the post-traumatic stress, re-educating the emotional brain.

5. “Emotional literacy”
Children who are not taught to develop emotional intelligence can ended up complex young people.
Such issues include both individual disappointment and the threat of influencing the ones around
them.
They can develop specific behaviours determined as:
• Social problems : like they are alone, unmotivated, unhappy & very dependent;
• Anxiety and depression : like they are fearful, worried, sad, demanding too much of themselves
and not feeling loved by friends and family;
• Attention or thinking problems : they are impulsive, dispersed, and unable to concentrate;
• Delinquency or aggression : they are disobedient, liars, desperate for attention, disobedient,
temperamental, and troublemakers.
The author defends the application of “emotional literacy” in schools, since it is the only place that can
improve the emotional and social skills of a child with a family that left something to be desired.

D aniel Goleman is an internationally known psychologist. As a science journalist Goleman

reported on the brain and behavioral sciences for The New York Times for many years. His
1995 book, Emotional Intelligence was on The New York Times bestseller list for a year-and-a-half.
Apart from his books on emotional intelligence, Goleman has written books on topics including
self-deception, creativity, transparency, meditation, social and emotional learning, ecoliteracy and
the ecological crisis.
The Harvard Business Review called emotional intelligence— which discounts IQ as the sole
measure of one’s abilities — “a revolutionary, paradigm-shattering idea” and chose his article
“What Makes a Leader” as one of ten “must-read” articles from its pages. Emotional Intelligence
was named one of the 25 “Most Influential Business Management Books” by TIME Magazine.

The book has an appendix that comments on the results of a project (Social and Emotional Learning)
applied in schools in Northern California, as a result students demonstrated to be:
• More responsible;
• More assertive;
• More pro-social and helpful;
• Better understanding of others
• Better at resolving conflicts and problems.

Conclusion:
• Success correlates mainly with emotional intelligence.
• The manager with high Emotional Intelligence is tend to be more successful than those
manager who do not.
• EQ + IQ = Successful.

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE 11
 EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCE 2.0
Introduction
This book provides a definition and framework for thinking about
emotional intelligence, a quantitative tool to measure your emotional
intelligence quotient (EQ), and practical steps you can take to
improve your EQ.
Summary
The book provides practical steps to improve one’s EQ. It is divided
into 8 chapters.
Chapters 1 & 2: Defining Emotional Intelligence and
Why It’s Important
The authors start with importance of EQ for success with how much
attention we tend to give it. Here are some statistics.
• People with average IQs outperform people with high IQs 70% of the time
• EQ has zero correlation with IQ
• EQ accounts for about 58% of performance in most jobs
• People with high EQ make $29,000 more than people with low EQ, on average
• EQ point increases are highly correlated with salary ($1,300 increase per point)
Unlike IQ, you can substantially increase your EQ
Personal Self Self with effort. Because of our brains’ wiring, it’s a
Competence Awareness Management biological fact that our first reaction to any event
Social Social Relationship will be an emotional one, but only 36% of people
Competence Awareness Management are able to accurately identify their own emotions
as they happen.
So what exactly is EQ? According to the authors, “Emotional intelligence is your ability to recognize
and understand emotions in yourself and others, and your ability to use this awareness to manage
your behaviour and relationships”.

Chapter 3 : A Framework for Understanding, Measuring, and Improving EQ

While the authors’ EQ framework isn’t incredibly complex, the graph they present for visualization is
helpful:
People high in self-awareness understand what they do well, what motivates and satisfies them, and
which people and situations push their buttons. This is the foundational emotional intelligence skill.
The next component of EQ builds upon self-management. Per the authors, “Self-management is your
ability to use your awareness of your emotions to stay flexible and direct your behaviour positively.”
This involves your ability to put your immediate needs aside to focus on long-term goals.
Social awareness is the ability to recognize emotions in other people and understand what is really
happening in a situation. In contrast to the natural tendency to think about what you’re going to say
next or try to anticipate what the other person will say, someone who is high in social awareness
has a perspective much like an anthropologist’s – objectively observing and understanding human
behaviour.
The final and most complex part of EQ is relationship management – using your awareness of
emotions to successfully manage your interactions, both in the moment and over time.

12 EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE 2.0

Chapter 4: Measuring EQ & Creating a Plan to Boost It
The authors arm us with tips for improving the various dimensions of EQ, which we can read in their
entirety, then select specific ones to put into practice. You’ll want to focus on only one EQ component
at a time, and pick only a couple tips within that component to put into practice. If you try to
simultaneously implement more than that, you probably won’t be able to focus enough to recognize
the relevant emotional patterns and create new habits.
Chapter 5,6, 7 & 8
The authors have a given a set of strategies for each EQ component, and how to work upon them.
Self-awareness Strategies
1. Quit treating your feelings as good or bad.
2. Observe the ripple effect from your emotions.
3. Lean into your discomfort.
4. Feel your emotions physically.
5. Know who and what pushes your buttons.
6. Watch yourself like a hawk.
7. Keep a journal about your emotions.
8. Don’t be fooled by a bad mood.
9. Don’t be fooled by a good mood, either.
10. Stop and ask yourself why you do the things
you do.
11. Visit your values.
12. Check yourself.
13. Seek feedback.
14. Get to know yourself under stress.
Social Awareness Strategies
1. Greet people by name.
2. Watch body language.
3. Make timing everything.
4. Don’t take notes at meetings.
5. Clear away the clutter.
6. Live in the moment.
7. Go on a 15-minute tour.
8. Practice the art of listening.
9. Go people-watching.
10. Step into their shoes.
11. Seek the whole picture.
12. Catch the mood of the room.
Conclusion
Emotional Intelligence is not unalterable. We just need to understand and focus on the EQ components
where we are lacking.
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE 2.0
Self-management Strategies
1. Breathe right.
2. Create an emotion vs. reason list.
3. Make your goals public.
4. Sleep on it.
5. Talk to a skilled self-manager.
6. Smile and laugh more.
7. Set aside some time in your day for problem-
solving.
8. Take control of your self-talk.
9. Visualize yourself succeeding.
10. Clean up your sleep hygiene.
11. Focus your attention on your freedoms,
rather than your limitations.
12. Stay synchronized.
13. Speak to someone who is not emotionally
invested in your problem.
14. Learn a valuable lesson from everyone you
encounter
15. Put a mental recharge into your schedule.
16. Accept that change is just around the corner.
Relationship Management Strategies
1. Be open and be curious.
2. Enhance your natural communication style.
3. Avoid giving mixed signals.
4. Remember the little things that pack a punch.
5. Take feedback well.
6. Build trust
7. Have an “open-door” policy.
8. Only get mad on purpose.
9. Don’t avoid the inevitable
10. Acknowledge the other person’s feelings.
11. Complement the person’s emotions or
situation.
12. When you care, show it.
13. Explain your decisions, don’t just make them.
14. Align your intention with your impact.
15. Offer a “fix-it” statement during a broken
conversation.
13
 EFFECTIVE PLANNING
AND TIME
MANAGEMENT
Introduction
Effective Planning and Time Management” contains all the ingredients
required to increase individual productivity by effectively planning
and managing the available 24 hours to make the most out of it. It
also leads to order, clarity of purpose and goals, optimum utilisation
of resources, and a happier and more successful life. Various
techniques and tools suggested can be used for effective planning
and managing time so that goals can be achieved.

Summary
Time management helps to achieve results, improves quality of work,
improves efficiency to work, helps in lower stress levels, improves
work satisfaction, tends to make fewer mistakes, improves overall
health and quality of non-working life. One of the very worst uses
of time is to do something very well that need not to be done at all.
There are many people who are not focused on a single goal and try
to do many things, expecting to be successful in at least one of them.
Managing time is about creating an effective schedule that helps to
keep focus on goal and everyday takes closer to long term goals.
Doing more in less time is about understanding the basic of how brain and body respond. It is
necessary to do more in less time if we want to live better. There is no need of extra hours to become
extraordinary. It is not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about? The
key is not to prioritize what’s on schedule, but to schedule priorities. Start efficiently in wrong direction
never reaches the destination. Scheduling is basically prioritising what will make to reach the right
destination.
In general no time is found for anything, if time is required it must be made. It is the habit of keep piling
up small and easy but important task till they become urgent and get into fire-fighting mode.
Goal setting is the 1st major aspect of time management. Setting goal is the first step in turning the
invisible into the visible. Develop and focus on Big five and Small five goals. One should know the
purpose of what he/she is doing right now? It is important to set goals that keep motivated. Small step
helps to achieve the big goals. Goal setting is not just about finding the right direction; it is also about
assessing how far you are from the finishing line. Writing down a goal makes it concrete and existent.
Planning to some extent is a good idea, whether for our life and career, or simply to better carry out
the functions of our jobs. Planning is a step-by-step sequential list of actions that will help to reach
goal with great deal of time and energy conserved. When knowing how to utilize time well, big thinking
starts. This automatically results in efficiency and effectiveness. Whatever good things we build, end
up building us.
Maintaining Activity diary is a documented record of how time is used in a day. Activity diary presents
true picture of where time is spent and where timed is invested. Logging every task on paper will
help to build an accurate picture. Poor pencil is always better than a rich memory. We must use most

14 EFFECTIVE PLANNING AND TIME MANAGEMENT

productive time of the day completing the most important tasks.
Prioritisation is to decide between activities/task that should be done and that are not to be done. It
is proven that attempt to multi-task is wastage of lot of time. Switching tasks also takes time and then
more time is wasted on coming back to the original task. More attention and time should be given to
the task which holds higher value than others. Only 20 % of work that brings 80 % result. In the same
way focus of those 20 % of the goals that are most essential, as that will bring maximum result. There
are two parameter “urgent” and “important” on which our day to day activities can be prioritized. Do,
Decide, Delegate, Dump are the best way of prioritizing the work.
There are many prioritisation tools available, all work equally well for efficiency and effectiveness.
Two tools are discussed in the book. Paired comparison analysis is the comparison of two criteria or
benefits with each other. Grid analysis is a more comprehensive and elaborated way of prioritising
goals and tasks.
Every time waster comes with a partner called the time. Any activity that takes away focus from any
or one of important goal is time waste/ time stealer/ time robber. Unnecessary phone calls, inability
to say no, procrastination, work over load, drop in visitors, internet surfing, multi-tasking, unnecessary
meetings, overuse of mobile phone etc. are few major time wasters. We are meant to use technology
to increase productivity, but technology is pulling us down. That ping from a social network compels us
to leave the most important work we are doing to check that insignificant message from our network.
“Let me finish small thing quickly and then get back to the big work”, this mentality also takes us away
from our bigger responsibilities. Dealing with procrastination is and avoid wasting more time. It simply
requires motivation from owns end.

Conclusion
Planning gives an individual a sense of direction in the organization and motivates him to complete
assignments on time. Time management means working smarter, not harder, and a good time plan is
the key.

Research shows that you begin learning in the womb and go right on learning until the moment
you pass on. Your brain has a capacity for learning that is virtually limitless, which makes every
human a potential genius.
— Michael J. Gelb

EFFECTIVE PLANNING AND TIME MANAGEMENT 15

 THE EQ EDGE
Introduction
This book has been written by Steven J. Stein, Ph.D. & Howard E. Book.
Steven J. Stein is a psychologist and the founder and CEO of Multi-
Health Systems Inc. (MHS), a leading psychological-test publishing
company in Canada .He was formerly the director of research of a
large treatment center for children and adolescents, and is Past-
President of the Ontario Psychological Association and Chair of The
Psychology Foundation of Canada.
An organizational consultant and psychiatrist, Howard E. Book, M.D.,
D.Psych., F.R.C.P.C., is a founding member of Associates in Workplace
Consultation; a former board member of the International Society
for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations; and a member of the
Family Firm Institute. For more than a decade he has coached CEOs
and senior managers on increasing their emotional intelligence so
they can improve morale, teamwork, staff retention and productivity
within their organizations.

Summary
This book summarizes the basic definition of emotional
intelligence and its application in various facets of life and
15 (Fifteen) areas of EQi (Emotional Quotient inventories)
and the research on how they relate to success. Most
of the self-identification examples are useful, and
there are many good exercises for improving your
emotional intelligence. You can actually increase
your EQi so it’s worth investigating what is holding
you back from fulfillment and how you might improve
your ability to succeed and what is most important to
you. This book is a systematic journey of the Bar-On
EQ model. The book provokes self-reflection because
of the many anecdotes used to bring the different facets
of EQ to life. This book explains various types of emotional
quotients those are very important to life, be it professional
or personal. Authors describe that regardless of how brainy we
may be, if we turn others off with abrasive behavior, and unaware
of how we are presenting ourselves, no one will stick around long enough
to notice our high IQs. This book also explains what emotional intelligence is and how it differs from
IQ, and also tells readers what practical steps may be taken to enhance their emotional intelligence
quotient. It applies the principles and practices of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy and includes
many useful techniques that can help reader’s to lead happier and more effective lives.”
This book has been divided into seven parts dealing with basic understanding of emotional intelligence,
interpersonal and intrapersonal relationship, adaptability and stress management, general mood and
application of the aforesaid in overall management of our personal and professional life. Each chapter
describes its own way into the most critical aspects of what emotional intelligence actually means, and
the book synthesizes the research and the theory in such a way as to make the application of emotional
intelligence in day to day life. This book provides great insight into the theoretical and economic value
of emotional intelligence, as well as the importance it plays in effective leadership. It also demonstrates
the importance of performance predictors in success planning by providing practical examples and
comprehensive data.

16 THE EQ EDGE
This book contains several useful insights which have the power to transform your relationships with
those around you. The book delivers a practical, research based, real-world roadmap on how you can
bolster the odds on achieving success at work and in your personal life. These insights can be applied
to all your relationships, ranging from professional to family. Apart from improving relationships, the
book also specifies how you as an individual can improve your workplace performance. It goes into
great detail about the skills that relate to emotional intelligence and provides exercises to improve
each one..
There are a lot of ideas and good descriptions of common
treats that people associate with “success”. On a scientific
level, the book deals with several of the challenges of social
science, but it’s a helpful map of how emotions may either
W omen everywhere had
higher scores in two of these
categories—social responsibility
help or prevent someone from being successful and what and empathy—while men
traits are typically associated with high EOi and success. universally scored higher on stress
tolerance.
Conclusion
This book deals with specially designed emotional quotients inventories and application of these in
various organizations to improve the overall professional as well as personal traits of employees. Various
organizations like media, air industry, army etc. have got benefits from these techniques. The book
concludes by mentioning which skills proved most beneficial in specific career paths. For business
managers skills like optimism, happiness, self-regard, stress-tolerance and self-actualization proved
most beneficial. For Engineers skills like self-regards, independence, stress tolerance, assertiveness
and self-actualization proved beneficial. In a similar way for every profession ranging from clerks to
university professors, different set of skills have been mentioned. Most of the research and statistics
were explained in a way that could be easily comprehended by ordinary readers. This book is very
useful in day to day life, because this is one of those books that require you to continually apply the
things you’ve learnt.

You cannot open a book without learning something

— Confucius

THE EQ EDGE 17
 FIRST THINGS FIRST
Introduction
“First Things First”, a book about priorities, is a collaborative work
by Stephen R. Covey, A. Roger Merrill and Rebecca R. Merrill. The
author talks about the ways and means to identify one’s true north.
As individuals we have been seeing that people who are most busy
are considered to be the most sincere and hard working. But the truth
is extremely opposite. The author talks about the main idea which is
that with correct time management techniques, one can easily move
from a sense of chaos and urgency to a state of peace and constant
productivity.

Summary
No matter how efficiently one does one’s work, if he/she is doing the
wrong thing, nothing will really improve. The author compares the
difference between efficiency and setting priorities with a compass and
the clock: how fast one goes is not as important as where one is going.
In order to unleash the priorities for his life one has to dive deep into the four main aspects that control
the individual i.e. his Physical needs, like clothing and nourishment; his Social needs, to love and to
maintain relationships; his Mental needs, to learn and to grow and his Spiritual needs, rendition and
contribution.
Only when he could suffice the hunger of the above mentioned four endowments of human existence
one would be able to understand the fire within, the true north one seeks.
These four areas are overlapping and the center in which all needs come together is called ´the fire
within´. The idea is that problems within one of the areas can partly be balanced out by focusing on
one of the other three.
The author talks about the power of prioritizing. The most important aspect of successfully prioritizing
anything, is taking the time to reflect on your past actions and think about what actions you would like
to do next. Covey describes the metaphor in which a garden can only be beautiful if there is a gardener
who is taking care of it. The same holds for our personal life. Be your own gardener!
It is important to identify that one’s decision is not an outcome of a day planning or which is born out
of urgency. The theme is to not to prioritize one’s schedule but to schedule one’s priorities. In an effort
to organize one’s processes one has to realize, what’s most important; what gives one’s life meaning
and what one wants to be and wants to do in one’s life.
Every individual is supposed to write one’s Personal mission Statement. It should be connected to a
deep “Why”, “What” and “How”. Through conscience, one can connect with the passion of vision and
mission and the power of principles. Principle based goal setting involves the full synergistic use of all
the four human endowments. The deep connection within vision gives passion and energy to one’s
roles.
A significant part of the effectiveness in any role is in the balance between developing and doing
between production (P) and increasing one’s production capability (PC). The P/PC balance: It is the
balance between developing and doing that which empowers one to do more effectively by increasing
one’s capacity to do.
The author emphasizes on Self Awareness to empower oneself to build Integrity. The author also
talks about that to bring synergy in our life we have to think deeply on our actions within the Circle of
Concern or within the Circle of Influence. The Circle of action drives one to a path in which one wastes
his/her efforts for which he/ she has no ability to control or affect whereas the Circle of Influence
makes one do things which are good but are at the expense of something better.

18 FIRST THINGS FIRST

The author speaks about the need to increase
the space between stimulus and response. One
should try to minimize one’s decision born out of
urgency, social pressure, expectation of others,
pain avoidance, expediency and quick fix.
To author presents the solution to different
tasks with a famous metaphor which is the pot
with rocks, gravel, sand and water. He compares
the important, non-urgent matters to big rocks
and asks them to be put in first. Then add up as
many gravel as possible which are important and
urgent matters and then add sand to the pot to fill
the little pieces of space in between, the urgent,
unimportant matters. Finally, one would still find
room for some water which is the unimportant,
non-urgent matters.

The above is explained beautifully

by the author as a Time Management
Matrix:
One should try to narrow down one’s activity into the Quadrant 2 which deals with activities which
are important but not of urgent nature. Only then one would be able to contribute to the fullest. One
should also remember that no planning process can empower one to know that everything that’s
going is to happen in advance or one can control it. It’s just a deep inner knowing in performing the
“right” thing to do with the confidence that doing it would produce the quality results.
Amidst all this, the author also brings out the importance of the concept of “sharpening the saw” in the
areas of physical, social, mental and spiritual because the success in one role cannot justify the failure
in another. It is important to create synergy in our lives. One is generally more effective when one is
prepared.
Nothing can be complete until one evaluate one’s actions. The author emphasizes on the importance
of evaluation being the final and first step in a living and learning cycle which brings about an upward
spiral of growth.
The author also talks about that there should be initiative to learn from each other and help each
other to grow. Trustworthiness is the key element to build relationships. Many objectives can be
accomplished when one cooperates than being competitive. One should always think for Win- Win
process, try to understand others first and bring in synergy.

Conclusion
The foundation to first things are the four needs and capacities: to live, to love, to learn and to leave
a legacy. First Thing First nurtures PEACE. One should try to inculcate the principle-centered living
concept.
Last but not the least, as Gandhi Ji said: “ We must become the change we seek in the world”

It’s not enough to dream. It’s not enough to try. It’s not enough to set goals or climb ladders. It’s
not enough to value. The effort has to be based on practical realities that produce the result. Only
then can we dream, set goals, and work to achieve them with confidence.

FIRST THINGS FIRST 19

 GOAL SETTING
Introduction
Goal Setting is a self-improvement book which describes a number
of approaches to plotting out goals and road map to achieving them.
This revised and updated edition of Goal Setting features worksheets,
quizzes, and other practical tools, giving readers powerful techniques
they can use to set a goal, make a plan, and acquire the resources
and power necessary to achieve their objective.

Summary
The book is divided into four parts along with introduction to the book:
Each part is further sub divided into chapters where the authors
discusses bit by bit how to priorities/select a goal from the various life
area and how to overcome the obstacles and use various managerial
skills to achieve that targeted goal.

Section I: Setting Personal Goals

Chapter :1 Getting Started
In this chapter the author discusses the virtue of setting goal and writing it down. The author gives
ten guidelines for evaluating and writing down your goals. These include Effective goals are written,
in specific, measurable terms, can be visualized, are achievable, have realistic deadlines, are analyzed
for their potential problems etc.
Chapter: 2 Potential obstacles to reach your goal
Here the author explains various obstacles which we may face while achieving the goals. The list of
obstacles include the need to feel secure, fear of failure, self-doubt, etc.
Chapter: 3 Eleven strategies to optimize reaching your goals
In this chapter author discusses strategies which raises the probability of reaching your target goal. .

Section II: Effective Goal Setting & People Skills

The second section had helpful chapters on recognizing passive, aggressive, and assertive behaviors
and dealing with them.
Chapter: 4 Assertive behavior
Significance of assertiveness and assertive behavior is explained by examples and there helpfulness
in achieving once goal. Author gives guidelines for developing assertiveness.
Chapter: 5 Changing people’s behavior
In this chapter author discusses how other people’s behavior who are related to our goal affect our
achievement of goal and needs and ways to change people’s behavior for attainment of goal. The
author describes various principles to change people’s behavior to strengthen our ability to reach our
goals through the efforts of others.
The author also describes principles for reinforcing behavior by applying different strategies, such as
rewarding desired behavior immediately after it occurs, reinforcing the small successes, etc.
The author has also suggested applying different methods for correcting people’s behavior.

Section III: Effective Goal Setting & Management Skills

The third section describes on management skills required to achieve goal. It included chapters on

20 GOAL SETTING
setting priorities, planning, delegating, and time management.
Chapter: 6 Setting Priorities
In this chapter how to set priorities and to determine which goals receive the investment of our time
and energy is described. The author provides evaluation criteria table to priorities our goal and work.
Chapter: 7 Planning
Planning as an effective tool for achieving personal and organizational goal is highlighted in this
chapter. Benefits of effective planning and mismanagement due to unplanned working are set out
through examples.
Key planning steps for achieving a goal is to establish answer to this six questions of- Who, What,
When, Where, Why, and How.
The author insists on establishing a fair method for providing specific feedback to those working the
plan, so that praise is given when warranted and correction is provided as needed.
Chapter: 8 Delegating
In this chapter the benefits of delegation and losses due to lack of delegation to organization is
described. The author provides a self-audit to assess once delegation skills. Strategies for developing
once delegating skills are described here.
Chapter: 9 Time Management
Time is precious. Time spent in unproductive or low-priority activities is a resource taken away from
activities that is required to achieve our goals. Managing our time more effectively can help us to reach
our goals more quickly and efficiently. The author provides strategies for effective time management.
The combination of dedication and perseverance, and the application of time-management strategies,
will be our key to successful goal achievement.

Section IV: Achieving your Goals

The fourth section has chapters called “Getting Help in Reaching Your Goals,” “Getting the Power to
Get Things Done,” and “Project Management for Goal Achievers and mainly for organizational goal
setting. This section would be great for a new manager or for someone brushing up on management
skills.
Chapter: 10 Getting Help in Reaching Your Goals
In this chapter author explained man management and to understand human psychology to motivate
senior and subordinates to help in achieving your goal.
In this chapter we learned about the role of motivation and negotiation in working with other people.
Three attributes why people don’t help anyone in achieving goals are : Inability, Ignorance and choice.
The chapter provides assessment form to help us diagnose people’s behavior towards our goal. The
author further discuss win-win negotiations with examples and provides attributes to reach a win win
situation by analyzing the following four points: your Position, your interest, the other sides position,
and their Interest
Chapter: 11 Getting the Power to Get Things Done
The chapter starts with office politics and defines power and politics in term of management.
The author describes 6 types of power and their attributes. The author provides evaluation sheets for
each type of power to help us to introspect ourselves. The six type of power include- Reason, Role,
Respect, Rhetoric, Resource-Driven, and Relationship
Chapter :12 Project management for goal achievers
In this chapter author concludes goal setting and how to achieve it through planning and power. The
author says that planning falls under the heading of project management—managing temporary
activities to achieve specific goals within the fundamental constraints of time, resources, and

GOAL SETTING 21
performance. This chapter gives six step guidelines for achieving the targeted goal.
Finally the book provides a goal achievement worksheet in appendix as a quick for achieving
once goal.

Conclusion
The book shows readers how to:
• act upon their objectives in a precise, targeted way
• recognize obstacles and overcome them
• become more assertive
• change counterproductive behavior
• establish priorities
• make the most of their time
• Achieving goals takes hard work and discipline.

The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we
continue to live
— Mortimer Adler

22 GOAL SETTING
 JUDGMENT IN
MANAGERIAL DECISION
MAKING
Introduction
This book is basically written for managers, students, and
researchers by author for improving their judgment capabilities
and to make the area of judgment a more central part of the
management literature as it clearly specifies in the preface, but
my conclusion for the book is that it will help any individual in
their daily life to make complex decision like choosing right kind
of groceries to choosing right type of investment schemes for
themselves.

Summary
The author starts by mentioning the power of human minds are
far beyond the abilities of even the most powerful computers
and sophisticated robots, yet most of the people are unaware
of how to accomplish complex tasks, just because of the lack of
“Operating Manual” for our mind.
Author talks about the anatomy of decision making and also
explains it with a nos. of exercises, case studies and day to day
life experiences.
In this book, the author explains the decision-making process
that logically expected to lead to the optimal result. Author also Behavioral decision research
talks about the heuristics, which are simplifying strategies, or provides manyimportant insights
rules of thumb that people rely upon while making their decision. into managerial behavior. From
Author also mentions that there are four general heuristics that negotiation to investment
they can be applied across the population and these heuristics decisions, the authors weave
are: behavioral decision research
into the organizational realm by
1. The availability heuristic: The availability heuristic describes examining judgment in a variety
the inferences we make about event commonness, based of managerial contexts.
on the ease with which we can remember instances of that
event.
2. The representativeness heuristic: When making a judgment about an individual (or object or
event), people tend to look for traits an individual may have that correspond with previously
formed stereotypes
3. Positive hypothesis testing: An intuitively use of selective data when testing hypotheses, such
as instances in which the variable of interest is present, this phenomenon is termed as positive
hypothesis testing
4. The affect heuristic: Most of an individual judgments are evoked by an affective, or emotional,
evaluation that occurs even before any higher-level reasoning takes place and people use them
as the basis of their decisions rather than engaging in a more complete analysis and reasoning
process, these heuristic is termed as affect heuristic

JUDGMENT IN MANAGERIAL DECISION MAKING 23

Author explains the above heuristics in detail along with the examples of day to day life. Heuristics
provide efficient ways to simplify complex decisions and that’s why people rely on heuristics while
making decisions.
Further in the book, it is explained that the people’s decisions are biased in ways that seriously
compromise their potential and also tells how habit leads people to rely on heuristics that limit the
quality of their decisions.
Author also identifies and illustrates a series of specific biases that affect the judgment of individuals.
These biases are caused by the four heuristics described above.
In Chapter 2 of the book author explains availability heuristics by describing some problems and
then asking the readers about their probable solutions, there by describing how an individual draws
the solution based on most common event or easy retrievable without thoroughly collecting the
information about the solution of the problem. This works well when there is a time constraint and need
to review, but some time it may lead for the blunders in decision making. Here author also mentions
that the heuristics leads to biases among individuals and also, some of the biases are created by
emotions and the self-serving motivations of individuals.
Author also explains representativeness heuristics by having a case study. Representativeness
heuristics sometimes leads to error in decision making due to ignorance of base rate when many such
data are available and an individuals failed to decide on which data will be termed as base data.
The book talks about bounded awareness, which means within specific domains, we can identify
information that is systematically left outside the awareness of most decision makers. Bounded
awareness prevents the focused mind from seeing the information that is readily available. Further,
new research on bounded awareness shows that sharp focus degrades the quality of decisions.
The book also has a chapter that helps readers becomes wiser investors. Author tells about the
Psychology of poor investment decisions. In this chapter it is also mentioned that overconfidence can
lead into a tendency to be extra sure that you know in which direction the market is headed or that
you can pick the right fund in which to invest. The author is also able to explain the psychology behind
investment mistakes, and one must learn to confront them and identify a better plan for the future.
This plan should include taking the time to formulate an asset-allocation plan. Finally author asked the
investor to carefully review their fund allocations keeping in mind the tax implications and follow the
advices given in this chapter while planning for new investment.
The final chapter of the book tells about the framework for decisions to be made during negotiations
and judgmental mistakes we make in negotiations. Book also guides how an individual can make
decisions to maximize the joint gain available to both sides, while simultaneously thinking about how
to obtain as much of that joint gain as possible for themself and one can should strive to achieve this
allocation in a low-cost manner; avoid paying fees to people and companies who do not truly add
value.
Author also talks about the rational decision making in negotiations and mention a number of methods
for increasing the potential for successful negotiations
Finally the author tells us six strategies for improved decision making which will enable the readers to
permanently improve their decisions.

Conclusion
This book would raise awareness of the importance of the decision-making process itself, rather than
just the results of its process. Further, most managers reward results rather than good decisions. Thus,
identifying new issues may be more important than providing new answers to old questions

24 JUDGMENT IN MANAGERIAL DECISION MAKING

MIND FULL TO MINDFUL
Introduction
Om Swami’s “Mind full to Mindful” is a brilliant illustration of the
immense positive effects that meditation in moderation and a condition
of complete awareness may bring forth in an individual’s life.

Summary
The book commences with the realization of Siddhartha that he was
emphatically attempting to attain enlightment by means of depriving his
body and mind in an extremely detrimental manner. The deliberations of
certain village folks aroused his consciousness regarding the fact that
apt meditation could be practiced by not impairing the body or mind,
but by leading a life in moderation. The folks communicated amongst
themselves and one of them pointed out to the actuality that the
melodies of tunes produced by a musical instrument could be created
only by maintaining the rigidity of the strings to an optimal level and not
by making the strings too rigid or too lax.
Accordingly, Buddha started to lead a life in moderation and within a considerably short period of time
he attained ample wisdom. His core-concepts of meditation did not encompass difficult endeavours
like concentrating intently whilst mediating. Rather he advocated for a philosophy wherein a meditator
needed to just have a centre of awareness focussing upon the activities that the latter undertook at
the present moment. Siddhartha claimed that an individual could meditate even whilst performing
the most mundane chores of life if he/ she could just focus on whatever he/ she did in the present
moment. In the subsequent portions of the book, the author also gives his/ her audiences effective
hints regarding how to get rid of distractions whilst meditating in the Zen manner. Buddha had preached
his disciple Sariputra that all forms and beauties are noting but utter emptiness. He claimed that the
worries and negative emotions could be easily shunned if an individual realized that the same were
merely elements with temporary existence. Life was like a beautiful flower whose fragrance needed
to be enjoyed in the present as irrespective of whatever happens any flower is destined to wither away
sooner or later. Hence, the author urges his audiences to ignore the persistent babbling of the mind
and attain inner calmness and stillness.
The author tries to make his audiences knowledgeable about disparate methods of meditation in line
with Zen principles like “Zazen”, “Wall-gazing”, “Chado”, and “Kinhin” which can all be practiced with
open/ partially open eyes and which do not call for sitting in exceedingly difficult postures. The author
also preaches decluttering of the soul and mind once in a while i.e. emotional hygiene and cleansing
(Osoji). However, Om Swami opines that effective meditation could be undertaken only if certain
fundamental virtues were consciously cultivated amongst humans aspiring to become enlightened.
These virtues may be perceived as the four wheels of a vehicle with the mind as the engine. A vehicle
with a robust engine and chassis can never move if its tyres are punctured or become dysfunctional.
Om Swami mentions these primal virtues as compassion, humility, being disciplined, and forgiving
people.
Each and every human being needs
to be compassionate towards his/ her
Y our mind is not chasing after thoughts of yesterday
and tomorrow, but is dwelling fully in the present
moment, children.
co-mortals. Random acts of kindness
render immense warmth inside and The tangerine is truly present in your life. Living in
provide a sense of fulfilment. Humility mindful awareness means living in the present moment.
on the other hand makes a human being Your mind and body dwelling in the very here and now.
respectful towards others irrespective A person who practises mindfulness can see things in
of their social, financial, and spiritual the tangerine that others are unable to see.2
statures. Being disciplined is another

MIND FULL TO MINDFUL 25

significant trait of human beings that help in becoming enlightened to a substantial extent. Zen
meditation needs to be practised regularly in order to arouse ample calmness and stillness inside. Om
Swami opines that it is acceptable that an individual may not feel like meditating on specific instances,
but that should not be made a routine happening. A meditator may skip meditating procrastinate in
particular days, but like all important obligations, this should be made a frequent occurrence. Similarly,
the author advices his audiences to complete difficult or boring tasks assigned to him/ her in the early
hours of the day so that the individual may concentrate on other more interesting tasks in the later
part of the day. This keeps the mind free from the worries of undertaking difficult assignments in the
later part of the day and allows an individual to focus on other things that the individual ought to do.
Discipline also includes the tendency of leading a healthy life. The author states that a healthy body
could never reside within a healthy mind and averting a sedentary lifestyle along with a detrimental
diet is almost imperative. Forgiving people is a part of decluttering the mind (Osoji) which needs to be
practiced sincerely. Thinking about the wrongdoer or his/ her wrong-doings is nothing but a method
of inflicting pain on oneself again and again. Om Swami says that in most instances the wrong-doer
will never return to apologize for his/ her mistakes and thinking about him/ her or his/ her misdeeds
only increases an individual’s pain and suffering. Om Swami recommends that a prudent method
of forgiving is just to jot down the name(s) of the wrongdoer(s) in an individual’s life and a very brief
description of the wrongdoings that the offender has committed. Subsequently, the piece of paper
needs to be destroyed and disposed as a mark of forgiving and forgetting the wrongdoer. This method
will allow an individual to attain an inner bliss wherein the latter is enabled to get rid of all malicious
thoughts related to vengeance.
Lastly, but not the least, Om Swami also prioritizes the importance of following a path of non-violence
in life. By non-violence, the author does not indicate acts of heinous violence that one may commit
against others, but also all forms of violent words and thoughts that one may possess. In this context,
the author gives an example of Siddhartha saving a swan from the delinquency of his brother Devadutta
and thus creating a remarkable example of practising extreme non-violence.

Conclusion
Throughout the entire book, Om Swami speaks only about spreading the message of love and peace.
The methods and ideologies mentioned by the author in his book are not only instrumental in making
a person more mindful and in eradicating his/ her agonies to a considerable extent, but are also
effective in making the world a more congenial place to dwell.

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays
young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.
— Henry Ford

26 MIND FULL TO MINDFUL

 THE POWER OF YOUR
SUBCONSCIOUS MIND
Introduction
This book by Dr. Joseph Murphy, one of the pioneering voices of
affirmative thinking, will unlock for you the truly staggering powers
of your subconscious mind. Combining time-honored spiritual
wisdom with cutting edge scientific research, Dr. Murphy explains
how the subconscious mind influences every single thing that
you do and how, by understanding it and learning to control its
incredible force, you can improve the quality of your daily life.

Summary
As the title of the book suggests, it promises to be an insightful
look into powers beyond the scope of our daily expertise. There
is a lot of information imparted in the book, which is divided into
sections, and the theories that grow in their complexity as we near
the end. It’s easy to follow the examples stated in the book that act
as vivid expressions to break down complex statements.
At times, it can also be read like a self-help book for those who
lack the motivation to push through their defenses and will their
thoughts into actions. That makes total sense because we can be
one of the biggest obstacles in our path due to personal prejudices whether we like to address them
or not. The information heaped in our subconscious influences our behavior to a great deal. I am
in agreement with the author that our subconscious directs out body. Subconscious works chiefly
through recognized patterns and makes a perceptible difference in our lives. The subconscious is
always working whether you act upon it or not. For instance, when we associate our subconscious
mind with good events, our beings automatically become happier and more cheerful.
The book tries to annotate that, how only a mere belief of our subconscious mind possesses the power
to drastically change our life. It explains how repeating the same prayer every day and night can cure
a disease and how the tireless action of the subconscious mind can help us keep all the vital functions
of body under good control. Example: breathing. When we sleep, the subconscious is in charge of our
breathing and lung function. Our breathing is controlled by the subconscious and not only breathing
but also all the other wondrously complex operations of the body. But when we are in a state of anger
or when we are anxious our subconscious as well our bodily functions are interfered, thus making us
difficult to breathe.
We have only one mind, but it has two areas with different functions. One part is our conscious mind.
That’s our “objective mind,” our waking mind or our “surface” mind. It can make choices. The other
part is our subconscious mind. It is our “deep self” and our “sleeping mind.” Our conscious mind can
reason. Our subconscious mind doesn’t reason or argue. Our conscious mind is the gardener, but
the subconscious is the garden itself. Our conscious mind plants seeds in the subconscious, which
blossoms with what we have planted. You will be happier and more successful if you learn how our
mind works. Our conscious mind does the thinking, and its thoughts sink into the subconscious. Our
subconscious accepts these thoughts and acts on them. Whatever our conscious thoughts are, they
produce a similar result in the subconscious. Think good things, and good will appear in our life. Think
bad things, and bad things will appear. The subconscious faithfully and immediately accepts instruction
from the conscious mind. our subconscious stays open “to the power of suggestion.”

THE POWER OF YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 27

The author elucidated that in ancient times also people worked out many effective ways to tap the
incredible power of the subconscious mind and used it for the healing purposes. In every religion faith
holds a very powerful position and every religion believes that if we put our faith in God everything will
fall in the right place. But have you ever wondered what actually faith is? What power it has to make
everything fall in the right place? Why our religions talk about it all the time? Why that is when doctors
fail to treat a certain condition all they say is have faith?
I am very religious person and I believe that faith is a medium to have conversation with our subconscious
state and to instruct it repeatedly what we and our body wants. People don’t believe in miracles but I
say that miracles are just the way of our subconscious to prove that it possess great power over your
life.
The subconscious mind has always fascinated us on some level ever since. The idea that we can learn
while not actively concentrating on a topic or by listening to a tape while we sleep astonishes my mind
even today. The origin of an idea, the journey of how electrical impulse firing inside my brain can lead
to a physical manifestation in the form of something as simple as a chore to complexities of my daily
job as high underplayed on a daily basis. It’s like driving a manual car, once you have reached a certain
level of experience; the body just reacts to a situation. In fact, actively thinking about a gear change or
depressing the clutch in response to a traffic event slows down our reaction times because the mind
is much faster when operating with the body on a subconscious level.
In ancient times also people worked out many effective ways to tap the incredible power of the
subconscious mind and used it for the healing purposes.

Conclusion
To conclude, this book is a stupendous way to make people trendy about the powerhouse they carry
within. In our deeper mind is infinite intelligence and power, we just have to calmly think what we
want; visualize its coming into execution from this moment forward. Our subconscious will accept our
blueprints and brings all those things to pass.

W hat the other person says or does cannot really annoy or irritate you except you permit him to
disturb you. The only way he can annoy you is through your own thought. For example, if you
get angry, you have to go through four stages in your mind: You begin to think about what he said.
You decide to get angry and generate an emotion of rage. Then, you decide to act. Perhaps, you
talk back and react in kind. You see that the thought, emotion, reaction, and action all take place in
your mind. When you become emotionally mature, you do not respond negatively to the criticism
and resentment of others.

The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we
continue to live.
— Mortimer Adler

28 THE POWER OF YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND

 START WITH WHY
Introduction
Simon Sinek is a British-American motivational speaker and
marketing guru who has outlined his theories of effective
leadership skills in Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire
Everyone to Take Action (2011).
Simon had noticed that great leaders from Martin Luther King Jr.
to Steve Jobs thought in similar ways. They enacted their deepest
philosophies each day, a consistent decision that often put them
at odds with more mainstream personas or products.

Summary
Start with Why- The book has six parts. Part 1, “A World that
Doesn’t Start with Why,” looks at organizations that do not dig for
the deeper meaning behind their daily work.
Simon opens with a description of a political leader. The
description can accurately describe both Adolf Hitler and John F.
Kennedy. Most people assume it describes JFK when, in fact, the
passage was written about Hitler. Simon uses this example to note
the importance of not only collecting sound data but also accurately applying those insights to real-
world events.
Simon presumes that truly effective leaders understand the long-term mission of an organization;
they are not content to offer a series of short-term tactical plans that work for a while but that do not,
over time, accumulate to anything great.
Simon discusses why many products today are interchangeable, but consumers, when asked, will
say that they purchase one thing over the other because of quality, price, or service. He looks at
common manipulative techniques that occur when selling a product: fear of missing out; promotions
not meant to really save the customer money; and playing on insecure aspirations. Instead of a
manipulative marketing or leadership style, Simon finds more long-term value in building loyalty, i.e.,
inspiring customers rather than manipulating them.
In Part 2, “An Alternative Perspective,” Simon introduces his theory of “The Golden Circle.” Companies
that demonstrate this circle ask the what (product or service), how (unique value proposition), and
why (what is the driving belief behind one’s actions). The why is particularly important. If one knows
the why, then managers and employees can work through tough times and limited resources, as
Simon demonstrates using the Wright Brothers who successfully flew a plane for the first time while
a government employee with more money failed to do so on account of a lack of passion and
urgency.
Simon also points to biological research that suggests the what, how, and why corresponds to regions
in the brain. It is human nature, Simon says, to trusts those people whom we perceive to share our
values. Brands such as Apple have tapped into universal values such as innovation, originality, and
simplicity of design.
Other brands or individuals who want to pinpoint the why of their actions should develop “how”
statements that manifest their values; these how statements must be verb-focused, so instead of
“We value innovation,” a successful how statement is “We look at every issue from a unique angle.”
Once the how is made clear and consistent, consumers will understand why a company is in business
and the possibility for authenticity will grow.
In Part 3, “Leaders Need a Following,” Simon looks at how trust between consumer and business
is built. When consumers understand that a business is driven by more than self-interest, they are

START WITH WHY 29

more likely to look forward to doing business with that enterprise. This is why it is so important to hire
people who believe as a business believes; when those people are hired, their work for the company
will be imbued with the kind of energy that builds trust.
In finding the right people for your company, Simon suggests finding people who are already aligned
with your vision and motivated to succeed; this is more important than having proven proficiency in
certain skills. When employees understand the why, they are more efficient and display a great
originality of thought. It’s up to leaders to collect these type of motivated people and to encourage
the kind of environment in which they can flourish. Employees must also trust their superiors enough
to entertain risky ideas that are often the seeds of innovation.
“How to Rally Those Who Believe,” Part 4, focuses on targeting your services to the appropriate people.
When introducing a product, Simon says it is best to target those people who would understand the
why of your mission business; they are far more likely to be genuine about their excitement for your
product, and their authentic interest will show to all those they interact with.
Simon looks at how a firm understanding of why one performs an action generates charisma. He
reviews the great leaders who have demonstrated this charisma by channelling a vision that was
larger than themselves (e.g. Warren Buffett, Martin Luther King, Jr.). The most successful companies
and leaders are those where people who get the “what” pair up with those who understand the
“how.”
In Part 5, “The Biggest Challenge is Success,” Simon discusses companies that, as they became
more successful, continued to give back to their employees. He also observes that many companies
start with a passion, but they do not have a why-structure to keep them going through difficult and
unexpected terrains
“Discover Why” is the last part of Start with Why. Simon considers the foundations of a why-structure.
He compares the process of finding the “why” to pulling back an arrow: the potential energy is gained
by pulling back from the world and being introspective, not doing market strategy or taking polls. He
writes that the best way to encourage people to want to join your organization is to compete only
with yourself.

Conclusion
Companies that compete with themselves keep their why-statement at the forefront of their
attention. They thus waste less energy on comparing themselves to others and spend more time
accomplishing all the tasks they feel they were born to complete.

S imon Sinek is an unshakable optimist. He believes in a bright future and

our ability to build it together.
Simon has devoted his life to help advance a vision of the world that does not
yet exist; a world in which the vast majority of people wake up every single
morning inspired, feel safe wherever they are and return home fulfilled at the
end of the day.
Every day is an opportunity to inspire someone.

If knowledge is power, then learning is a superpower

— Jim Kwik

30 START WITH WHY

 THINKING AND
DECIDING
Introdution
Jonathan Baron is Professor of Psychology at the University of
Pennsylvania. He is the author and editor of several other books, most
recently Against Bioethics. Currently he is editor of the journal Judgment
and Decision Making and president of the Society for Judgment and
Decision Making (2007).

Summary
Baron splits the book into three sections: Thinking in General, Probability
and Belief, and Decisions and Plans.

1. What is thinking?
Thinking is important to all of us in our daily lives. The way we think
affects the way we plan our lives, the personal goals we choose, and
the decisions we make. He splits thinking into three parts: thinking about
decisions (instrumental rationality), thinking about beliefs, and thinking
about goals.

2. The study of thinking

Thinking is, in its most general sense, a method of finding and choosing among potential possibilities,
that is, possible actions, beliefs, or personal goals. Baron discusses a number of the methods used to
learn about human cognition, mentioning a few of their pitfalls.

3. Rationality
Again, Baron identifies rationality as “the kind of thinking that helps us achieve our goals.” Refreshingly,
he focuses on optimal search, keeping in mind the costs of decision-making and information-gathering.

4. Logic
What is fascinating, though, is the section of the chapter that delves into the four-card problem and
variations of it. Particularly noteworthy is the variation designed so that most people’s intuitions are
correct- people give the correct explanations of why they selected the cards they selected, and why
they didn’t select the cards they didn’t select. But when their intuition is wrong, they give explanations
that are just as sophisticated- but wrong. He presents a method of mental modeling that makes logical
statements easier to correctly evaluate, and then there are a few logical inference exercises.

5. Normative theory of probability

Baron focuses primarily on Bayesianism (called the “personal” theory of probability) This chapter is
very useful for someone who doesn’t have a firm probabilistic foundation, but holds little interest for
others.

6. Descriptive theory of probability judgment

This chapter primarily covers biases related to numerical probability estimates, many of which are
classics in the heuristics and biases field. The chapter shines when Baron goes into the detail of an
experiment and its variations, as that gives a firmer view of what the experiment actually shows-
descriptions of biases where he only quotes a single experiment (or single feature of an experiment)

THINKING AND DECIDING 31

feel weaker.

7. Hypothesis testing
Baron discusses different models of scientific advancement, focusing on the sorts of likelihood ratios
that they look for, as well as discussing the sort of mistakes people make when choosing tests for
hypotheses.

J
8. Judgment of correlation and contingency onathan Miller Baron is
It begins with a description of correlations and then discusses a Professor Emeritus of
human judgment of correlations. Unsurprisingly, people suffer Psychology at the University of
from the illusion of control- they think there’s more likely to be a Pennsylvania in the science of
correlation if their effort is involved- and from confirmation bias. decision-making.

9. Actively open-minded thinking Baron’s work has occurred

primarily within the field
Good thinking consists of (1) search that is thorough in proportion to of judgment and decision
the importance of the question, (2) confidence that is appropriate making, a multi-disciplinary
to the amount and quality of thinking done, and (3) fairness to area that applies psychology
other possibilities than the one we initially favor. to problems in economics, law,
business, and public policy.
10. Normative theory of choice under uncertainty This field began by contrasting
This chapter is an introduction to utility theory, describing how human decision behavior to
it works, how multiple attributes can be consolidated into one theories of individual decision
score, and a way to resolve conflicts between agents with making and judgment such
different utilities. It’s a good introduction to decision analysis / as probability theory and
utility theory, and there are some exercises, but there are no expected utility. Baron’s
surprises for someone who’s seen this before. research has extended the
focus of judgment and decision
11. Descriptive theory of choice under uncertainty making to social problems
This chapter is an introduction to different theories of how humans of resource allocation and
actually make decisions, like prospect theory and regret theory. ethical decisions. Among the
There are a handful of exercises for understanding prospect concepts associated with his
theory. Baron takes an even-handed approach to deviations from work are omission bias (the
the normative theory. tendency for people to excuse
acts of omission more easily
12. Choice under certainty than acts of commission) and
Focusing on the problem of thinking about goals. Most people protected values (principles on
favor categorical goal systems- Baron gives a great example, which people are unwilling to
from Gardiner and Edwards, of the California Coastal Commission, accept tradeoffs).
tasked to decide which development projects to allow on the
Pacific Coast. The commission was split into pro-development
and pro-environment factions, which almost never agreed on
which projects to allow and disallow.

13. Utility measurement

This descriptive chapter discusses the difficult challenge of
measuring utilities. It introduces both decision analysis and cost-
benefit analysis- the latter converts outcomes to dollars to guide
decisions, while the former converts outcomes to utility values to
guide decisions.

14. Decision analysis and values

This chapter is a more prescriptive approach to the same
problem- given that utilities and values are hard to find, where
do we look for them? A dichotomy familiar to LW readers-
instrumental and terminal values- appears here as “means-ends

32 THINKING AND DECIDING

objective hierarchy” or “means values” and “fundamental values.”

15. Quantitative judgment

This chapter describes three common quantitative problems- scoring, ranking, and classifying,
and discusses some biases that hamper human decision-making along those lines and some
recommendations. Statistical prediction rules make an appearance, though they’re not called that.
One fascinating suggestion is that models of people can actually perform better than those people,
since the models don’t have off days and people do.

16. Moral Judgment and Choice

This chapter discusses morality from the point of decision-making- which is a refreshing perspective.
Baron strongly endorses consequentialism and weakly endorses utilitarianism, providing a host of
moral questions in which many people deviate from the consequentialist or utilitarian position.

17. Fairness and justice

This chapter is an extension of the previous chapter, focusing on intuitions dealing with fairness and
justice. Baron details situations in which they agree and disagree with utilitarian analysis. Noteworthy is
the undercurrent of adaptation-execution and not utility-maximization - fairness has tangible benefits,
but people will often pursue fairness even at the cost of tangible benefits.

18. Social dilemmas: cooperation versus defection

This chapter focuses on descriptive experiments- how people actually behave in social dilemmas-
finding them to be much more cooperative than normative theory would recommend. There is
some ambiguity, which he discusses, in what the “normative theory” is- utilitarianism recommends
cooperation on the prisoner’s dilemma, for example, because it maximizes total utility, whereas
expected utility theory recommends defection on the prisoner’s dilemma, because it’s a dominating
strategy.

19. Decisions about the future

A fine introduction to discounting, both exponential and hyperbolic, and thus dynamic inconsistency.
Also interesting (but too brief) is the discussion of goals in the context of time and plans and of goals
as malleable objects.

20. Risk
This chapter focuses on descriptive approaches to risk- survey responses and government regulation-
as the normative approach to risk has mostly been detailed in the rest of the book: use expected utility
theory. Most people are beset by biases and innumeracy, though, and so there’s a whole chapter of
material on misjudgments of risk and insurance.

Conclusion
This is a very useful book for understanding human judgement, decision making and rationality.

Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.
— — Anthony J. D’Angelo

THINKING AND DECIDING 33

 THE ART OF SETTING
SMART GOALS
Introduction
The book speaks about self-goal setting, goal achievement,
encouragement and improvement in life which can be achieved
after smart goal setting. Author further elaborates that how people
can improve their lives by setting smart goal & writing it down to
make it easy and attainable. This whole book kept me motivated and
inspired by writing my goal and achieving it in small steps, finding
my WHY and seeing the broader picture of my accomplishment. It
guides us to find out exactly…. What you want to accomplish, why
you want to accomplish and how you are going to accomplish.

Summary
Author thinks that everyone can change, improve themselves at
any stage of life, nobody is never too old to achieve their goals and
dream. Only thing is that if you never start, you will never reach the
final line. For most people, changing their mindset is most difficult
and we get too hard on ourselves. Many of us don’t have great
support system, and that can be challenging, this shouldn’t stop
us from reaching the goal. After all, if we don’t believe we can do
something, how someone else is going to believe if we can.
Author explains in detail how anyone can set and achieve his goal for better future in these seven
steps. She gives example of her goal setting and how she keeps herself motivated throughout her
goal achievement.
i) First step of setting goal : Start to write down the goals and break them into smaller task, immediately
we can see what a difference it made. Before you knew it, you were achieving your goals. She
elaborates her own goal, difficulty and challenges while achieving it.

H
ii) Introduction to S.M.A.R.T Goals : Goals are more like stepping stones
ave you ever
laid in the ground. If we follow them, there is a path that will lead to
thought of how
where we want to go. S.M.A.R.T goals are not the same as regular
your life would change,
goals. They are stronger and more detailed one. It will help create a
if you accomplished
road map for success.
something really
Categorize the S.M.A.R.T goals into different areas such as: Personal, important? If you haven’t
Professional, Family, Financial and Travel goals. We can also set our already figured out what
smart goals in short term and long term planning this big, important thing
iii) Create your vision board : Vision board is a collage of images, words, is, don’t worry. This book
or both that serves as a motivational tool to help in reaching the goals. will be your guide to
Before we start putting together vision board, we need to prioritize find out exactly: 1. What
what is most important to us. We need to visualize the big picture in you want to accomplish
head. 2. Why you want to
accomplish it 3. How you
iv) Find your passion find your why : Without the WHY, this whole are going to accomplish
process does not work because there is no one and nothing motivating it Are you ready to get
to work for it. We should have enough motivation, and WHY is important started? Let’s go!
enough to keep us on track. To achieve a goal we need to be persistent,
self-discipline and also courage.

34 THE ART OF SETTING SMART GOALS

v) The power of goal setting : Just writing any goal down on a piece of paper won’t make it happen.
However, by taking the necessary steps (even small steps) towards end goal, we will make it happen
before we even know it. That is the power of goal setting.
vi) Possibilities are endless : We have set your goals and know what we want (and why we want it),
it’s time to work on the how. Always try to remind ourselves why we set these goals in the first place.
It will keep going forward.
vii) Letting go of what doesn’t serve you : In order to keep up the stamina to meet goals and improve
the areas of our life that need improving, it’s very important to let go of anything that is weighing down
or holding you back.

Conclusion
With preparation, planning, and dedication, we can start to see transformation in our life before our
eyes. Visualizing the big picture of what we want to achieve should be written down. Find WHY, which
will motivate us to work on goals every day. Make S.M.A.R.T goal; break it down by task and time. Hold
accountability and also don’t forget to reward, repeat the process and make it a habit. Once habits are
formed and they will stay forever. This whole process should be repeated, and every time it is going to
be easier and more exciting to achieve something we really are passionate about. And when we get
overwhelmed working towards goal, keep in mind that………

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot
learn, unlearn, and relearn.
— Alvin Toffler

THE ART OF SETTING SMART GOALS 35

 THINKING FAST AND
SLOW
Introduction
The aim of this book is to make psychology, perception, irrationality,
decision making, errors of judgement, cognitive science, intuition,
statistics, uncertainty, illogical thinking, stock market gambles and
behavioral economics easy for masses to grasp.

Summary
This book is about the biases of our intuition. That is, we assume
certain things automatically without having thought through them
carefully.
Daniel Kahneman calls these assumptions heuristics*.
*Heuristics have following synonyms Roughly, rules of thumb,
presuppositions etc.
In this book of about 500 pages (contains five parts and total 38
chapters), research that Kahneman conducted over decades,
often in collaboration with Amos explained in detail with examples
over examples about these heuristics.
These heuristics or we can say big ideas influence our day-to-day decision making.
Before start of summary writing, I will discuss briefly about the characters of the story which has been
explained by Daniel Kahneman in detail in Chapter 1 of his book.
Our brains are comprised of two characters:
One that thinks fast, system 1 which operates automatically, intuitively, involuntarily and effortlessly
based on our past good or bad experiences which we came across during our daily activities. This
is, we can call most of the time, illogical, irrational, more prone to error. But at the same time it is
important for our survival also.
Second that thinks slow, system 2 requires slowing down, deliberating, solving problems, reasoning,
computing, focusing, concentrating, considering other data. This system is mostly logical, rational, less
error prone but sometimes creates laziness.
From our daily life experience, we can say that both the systems- system 1 and system 2 are important.
Problem occurs when we use system 1 in place of system 2 or vice-versa or decisions taken by system
2 are influenced by system 1 or vice-versa.
Some important heuristics discussed in the book are presented here
1. Priming effect: Conscious or subconscious exposure to an idea primes us to think about an
associated idea. Things outside of our conscious awareness can influence how we think.
e.g. if we have been talking about gym equipment or about cleanliness around us and we are
asked to fill in the blank F_T and SO_P, we will fill in first one I and in second one A. We can also
fill A and U in both the words respectively but as our mind has been primed with fitness and
cleanliness, we tend to fill in I and A respectively.
2. Anchoring effect: Anchoring effect is applied when we have some reference point in the
discussion and we do not know anything about that thing. This limits our thinking around that

36 THINKING FAST AND SLOW

 reference point i.e. we are anchored to be near that point. E.g. Steve who used to sell old items
at pawn shops. One day he went to the shop with an old toy of a soldier which was lying on the
roof of his house. He expected few dollars against that item. But the pawn shop owner was very
clever. He took that toy and to confuse Steve he said 25 dollars will be enough for this. Steve
thought slowly that its price should be thirty dollars. Pawn shop owner gave him thirty dollars.
Next day when Steve was passing through that shop, he
was surprised when he saw a price tag of Two hundred
dollars on that statue. I
ntelligence is not only the ability
to reason; it is also the ability to
find relevant material in memory
The pawn shop owner Anchored Steve around 25 dollars and
he could not realize that its price could be in hundreds of and to deploy attention when
dollars. This effect is mainly used in marketing. needed.

2. Availability effect: Our decisions are based on the
information available with us. We never go into detailed
analysis of those information but we make our mind
based on the available information. E.g. if somebody
has to go on vacation to Kashmir and he neither reads
newspaper nor watches news on TV, he will plan to go
to Kashmir without any hesitation. However, if somebody
who is always reading newspapers and watching news
on TV and he sees that terrorist attacks are happening
in Kashmir, he will not plan to go to Kashmir. But if we
observe around us, deaths due to car accidents are more
than terrorist attacks in Kashmir. But as we are watching,
listening, reading news about attacks in Kashmir, our
thinking becomes like Kashmir is not a suitable place to
go on vacation as these news are presented in such a way
that it is fixed in our mind and influences our decision.
In this effect we often over-estimate or under-estimate things
based on availability and our past experiences with such
situations.
3. Framing effect: Different ways of presenting the same information evokes different emotional
responses. E.g. A doctor can tell his patient about the consequences of a surgery he is going to
perform on him in following two ways:
• A chance of survival after surgery is 90%.
• A chance of death after surgery is 10%.
This is the essence of intuitive
heuristics: when faced with
a difficult question, we often
answer an easier one instead,
usually without noticing the
substitution.
The general “law of least effort”
applies to cognitive as well as
physical exertion. The law asserts
that if there are several ways of
achieving thesame goal, people
will eventually gravitate to the
least demanding courseof action.
In the economy of action, effort is
a cost, and the acquisition ofskill is
driven by the balance of benefits
and costs. Laziness is built deep
into our nature.

D aniel Kahneman is an Israeli psychologist and economist notable

for his work on the psychology of judgment and decision making,
as well as behavioral economics, for which he was awarded the 2002
nobel memorial prize in economic sciences (shared with Vernon L.
Smith).
He is professor emeritus of psychology and public affairs at
Princeton University’s Princeton school of Public and international
affairs. Kahneman is a founding member of TGG Group, a business
and philanthropy consulting company. He was married to cognitive
psychologist and royal society fellow Anne Treisman, who died in
2018.

Logically both the statements are true. But saying a patient that chances of death after the surgery are
10% will make him feel sad. Though the fact is same that chances of success of surgery are 90% in this

THINKING FAST AND SLOW 37

statement also. On the other hand when we tell a patient that chances of recovery after the surgery is
90%, he is happy. Here again the fact remains same that chances of death are 10%.
But two statements with same meaning have different emotional responses. This means if we present
good/positive side of the picture, people will accept it happily without thinking so much on the
negative side of the information presented to them. Now-a-days this effect is used by news anchors
dominantly to show a news suiting to them.
4. Sunk cost fallacy effect: This prevents us to accept/regret our last mistake we committed. We
are not ready to take responsibility of our wrong decision, rather we keep on investing/putting
in more money in the project knowing that ultimately the whole money is going to be wasted.
This basically satisfies our ego and maintains an untrue belief in ourselves. E.g. Concord fallacy
which is a real life module for sunk cost fallacy, related to revolutionary model of air plane.
This was a joint project of UK and French governments and a huge chunk of investment was
made initially in the project but considering the safety of planes, it was true that nobody was
going to purchase these planes and it was sure to be a failure project. There was no economic
sustainability for this project. But for high officials, it was difficult to accept their mistakes and
they kept on putting more money in it but all in vain at last.

Conclusion
The book makes us aware about the heuristics and biases of our intuition, that affect our decision
making

You don’t understand anything until you learn it more than one way
— Marvin Minsky

38 THINKING FAST AND SLOW

 THE McKINSEY MIND
Introduction
The McKinsey Mind is written by Ethan M. Rasiel and Paul N. Friga.

Summary
It is a six-step model of which three steps are discussed in detail in
this book.

INTUITION AND DATA

Data without intuition are merely raw information, and intuition
without data is just guesswork. Balance the two together, however,
and you have the basis for sound decision making.

ANALYZING
FRAMING THE PROBLEM
Use structure, like defining the boundaries of the problem and
breaking it down into its component elements and form initial
hypotheses about possible solutions.
• MECE (Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive) Separate your problem into distinct, non-
overlapping issues. This will make it easier for the team to identify the key drivers of the problem.
• Logic tree Hierarchical Managing Leadership
listing of all the  Team  Vision
components of a  Client  Inspiration
 Self  Delegation
problem, starting at the
“20,000-foot view” and
moving progressively Business Need Implementation
downward. Logic tree  Competitive  Dedication
Organizational Problem Intuition Solution Reaction
should be MECE.  
 Financial  Completion
• Take advantage of any  Operational Data  Iteration
existing frameworks if
possible. Analyzing Presenting
 Framing  Structure
• Squeezing every  Designing  Buy-in
Gathering
problem through same 
 Interpreting
framework will only get
you so far. Fig. Strategic Problem-Solving Model
Without a recognizable structure or factual support people tend to move towards ad-hoc decision
making.
HYPOTHESIZE
• Solve the problem at the first meeting. A good hypothesis will point out potential blind alleys
much more quickly and allow you to get back to the main issues if you do go down the wrong path.
• An initial hypothesis will save you time. People start at the beginning and wade through all the
data until they come to the end—the solution. When you form an initial hypothesis, you leap all the
way to the solution, and it’s easier to work your way backward.
• Its better if individuals have their own initial hypotheses already developed to discuss.
• Resist this temptation of taking the client’s diagnosis of his problem at face value.

THE McKINSEY MIND 39

• Quick and Dirty Test (QDT) Establish what assumptions must be true in order for your hypothesis
to be correct. Use an issue tree (laying out of issues and sub-issues into a MECE progression of
preferably yes or no questions).

DESIGNING THE ANALYSIS

Bear in mind that your initial hypothesis is a living document, and it feeds off your analysis.
• Pluck the low-hanging fruit. Figure out which analyses are quick wins - easy to complete and
likely to make a major contribution to proving or refuting the initial hypothesis.
• Don’t take analysis to the point of diminishing returns. Avoid analyses that don’t relate to your
hypothesis.
• Take time to do the little checkoffs to make sure you have the right solution.
• Forget about absolute precision. Answers should be directionally correct and of the right order of
magnitude.
• Analyse similar issues to generate ideas for the tough problems.
• Plan your work

Issue/Hypothesis Analyses Dala Sources End Responsibility Due Date

Product
Does the new Technical Articles, Chart Tom 3-Jun
process require Specifications interviews
special facilities ?
List ot facilities Facilities List Tom 5-Jun
No
that meet new management,
criteria Interviews
Fig. Work Plan

GATHERING THE DATA

• You want to get the most important information as quickly as possible.
• Assess the present situation of data collection efforts honestly. Redress any imbalances that you
discover.
Interviewing
• Generates primary data and can also identify great sources of secondary data.
• Serves as a mechanism to test ideas and increase buy-in.
• Sending an interview guide beforehand helps the interviewee to prepare.
• Don’t squeeze the interviewee dry and leave him regretting the process afterward. Instead, take
time to explain the positive impact the information may make.
• Post-interview, give document findings as feedback to the interviewee to make sure we
understood him properly.
Knowledge Management
• Build extensive databases that codify all studies and expertise within the organisation.
• Develop a rapid-response culture to data requests from other employees.
• Allow purchase of right journals and reports. Evaluate their usefulness.
• Control the quality of your input: garbage in, garbage out.
• Provide incentives for knowledge sharing. In performance evaluations include an assessment of
how well a consultant supports and develops others.

40 THE McKINSEY MIND

INTERPRETING THE RESULTS
Understanding the data
• 80/20 rule. 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes (Pareto principle). Whenever you see
80/20 in action, you should look for the opportunities it implies.
• Don’t make the facts fit your solution.
• Test of “So what?” Weed out the irrelevancies that does not help you get closer to a solution.
• Ask a few pointed questions about your analyses before you put together your big presentation.
End product: a course of action
• Make sure the solution fits your client. Respect the limits of your client’s abilities. Know what
management can and cannot do.
• Ask how your decisions will add value to your client. Is this really going to make a difference?
• ‘CEO focus’. See through your client’s eyes to find the key drivers.
• Your analysis should be understandable to those who have to decide on and implement it.
• Once you have all the facts (the results of all your analyses), your job is to piece together a story
from some, but not all, of those facts.

PRESENTING
You may have found a solution, but it has no value until it has been communicated to and accepted
by the client.

STRUCTURE
• The presentation must take the audience down the path of your logic in clear, easy-to-follow
steps. Show graphically with a chart or schematic.
• The elevator test. Know your solution to explain it clearly and precisely to your client in the course
of a 30-second elevator ride. If you fail the elevator test, it not only says that the communication is
not clear, but that the underlying issue is perhaps not compelling.
• Keep it simple - one message per chart.
• “So what” analysis of ideas before incorporating in the presentation.
• Start with your conclusion. Inductive reasoning gets to the point a lot more quickly, takes less
time to read, and packs a lot more punch. It also allows you to control how far you go into detail in
your presentation.
• If you are presenting data, always document your sources.

BUY-IN
Practice the gentle art of generating buy-in for increasing acceptance of your solution.
• Bridge the information and trust gaps between you and your client. The information gap exists
because you know more about your findings than your audience does.
• Prewire everything. Take your audience through your findings before you give your presentation.
Keeps you from getting blindsided by major objections to your solution. Helps you build a
consensus in favour of your solution.
• Tailoring. Adapt your presentation to your audience. Some people want to go into the minute, while
others just want to hear your top-line arguments. Use client’s language - the thought processes
they rely on and the jargon they use.

THE McKINSEY MIND 41

MANAGING
Success of the problem-solving process requires good management at several levels.

MANAGING YOUR TEAM

• Consider not just demonstrated ability, but potential ability during team selection.
• Internal communication. Keep the information flowing within your team. Over-communication is
better than under-communication.
• Treat everyone with respect, get to know each other, and feel others’ pain. Plan events. Reward
well. A certain amount of bonding improves performance within the organization.
• Individual development. To be satisfying, a job should provide ample opportunities for the
employee to develop.
• “Stretch” target forces the employees and the organization to deploy all their creativity and energy
toward reaching the goal.
• Formalize listening training and launch a personality profile program.
• Feedback programs. Too few comments leave employees in the dark. Too many comments
(positive or negative) can have a negative effect on motivation.

MANAGING YOUR CLIENT

Obtaining Clients
• Sell without selling. McKinsey publishes books; performs extensive community service; sponsors
workshops. All of these efforts get McKinsey’s name out there.
• Don’t overpromise because you’re bound to under-deliver, which is no way to get follow-on
business.
• Identify the client. Client can be your CEO or another organisation or both.
• Identify the client needs and the build expertise around them. After that, you can begin the subtle
art of indirect selling by making people aware of what you know.
Maintaining Clients

M
Engage the client in the process. Strive not to report or deliver
to them but to jointly create with them. cKinsey & Company is the
most respected and most
Retaining Clients secretive consulting firm in the
• The key to retention is meeting and exceeding client world. This book is a follow-
expectations. up to the hands-on guide to
putting McKinsey techniques to
• Be rigorous about implementation. Focus on the ability
of the client to implement your solution.
work in any organization. While
the The McKinsey Way used
• Make the client a hero. Give your clients more credit and case studies and anecdotes
give them opportunities to succeed - with you.
from former and current
MANAGING YOURSELF McKinseyites to describe how
“the firm” solves the thorniest
Strike a balance between life and career to meet the
business problems of their A-list
expectations while not “burning out.”
clients, The McKinsey Mind
• Find someone senior in your organization with experience explains, step-by-step, how to
to be your mentor. use McKinsey tools, techniques
• Hit singles. You can’t do everything, so don’t try. Just do and strategies to solve an array
what you’re supposed to do, and get it right. of core business problems and
to make any business venture
• If you make your boss look good, your boss will make you more successful.
look good.
• A good junior staff is a lifeline. Be clear about your wants

42 THE McKINSEY MIND

 and needs, and give them opportunities to grow in their responsibilities and careers.
• Delegate around your limitations.
• Build your own network. Stay in touch with your school alumni associations, former colleagues,
clients, or even competitors.

Your personal life

• Respect your time. You have to decide how much of your time you will devote to work.
• You will also have to get others to respect your time. There’s an old saying, “Stress is the feeling
you get when your gut says, ‘No,’ and your mouth says, ‘Yes, I’d be glad to.’” You have to train your
mouth to say, “No.”
• In a routine of long hours and constant demands, take a step back and look at the big picture, at
what matters to you.
• Share the load. It’s just as tough to be a one-man band at home as it is at the office. Having
someone to share the load with can make all the difference.

Conclusion
This book shows how to adapt McKinsey’s highly successful methods of problem-solving and decision-
making process in any organization.

Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.
— Albert Einstein

THE McKINSEY MIND 43

 THE ROAD LESS
TRAVELLED
Introduction
Written in a voice that is timeless in its message of understanding,
The Road Less Traveled helps us explore the very nature of loving
relationships and leads us toward a new serenity and fullness of life.
It helps us learn how to distinguish dependency from love; how to
become a more sensitive parent; and ultimately how to become one’s
own true self.

Summary
The book has 4 chapters i.e., Discipline, Love, Growth & Religion and
Grace.
Life is difficult. This is a great truth. It is a great truth because once
we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly understand and
accept it – then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted,
the fact that life is difficult no longer matters. Most do not fully see this
truth and instead they moan incessantly or subtly about the enormity
of their problems, their burdens, and their difficulties as if life were
generally easy, as if life should be easy. Life is a series of problems, and we must solve them.

Discipline
Discipline is the basic set of tools we require to solve life’s problems. Without discipline we can solve
nothing. With total discipline we can solve all problems. What makes life difficult is that the process
of confronting and solving problems is a painful one. Basic set of tools of discipline are delaying of
gratification, acceptance of responsibility, dedication to truth, and balancing.
• Delaying gratification is a process of scheduling the pain and pleasure of life in such a way as to
enhance the pleasure by meeting and experiencing the pain first and getting it over with. It is the
only decent way to live.
• Acceptance of responsibility is an art. The difficulty we have in accepting responsibility for our
behavior lies in the desire to avoid the pain of the consequences of that behavior. A neurotic
assumes too much responsibility; the person with a character disorder does not assume enough
responsibility. When neurotics are in conflict with the world, they automatically assume that they
are at fault. When those with character disorders are in conflict with the world, they automatically
assume that the world is at fault.
• Dedication to truth requires to update our understanding of reality frequently. The process of
actively clinging to an outmoded view of reality is the basis for much mental illness. Psychiatrists
refer to it as transference. Transference is that set of ways of perceiving and responding to the
world which is developed in childhood and which is usually entirely appropriate to the childhood
environment (indeed, often life-saving) but which is inappropriately transferred into the adult
environment.
• Balancing is about assuming total responsibility for ourselves, but in doing so must possess the
capacity to reject responsibility that is not truly ours. The essence of this discipline of balancing is
‘giving up.’ Balancing is a discipline precisely because the act of giving something up is painful.
When we teach ourselves and our children discipline, we are teaching them and ourselves how to
suffer and how to grow. By this the author means let us teach ourselves and our children the necessity

44 THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED

for suffering and the value thereof, the need to face problems directly and to experience the pain
involved.
Discipline has been defined as a system of techniques of dealing constructively with the pain of
problem-solving – instead of avoiding that pain – in such a way that all of life’s problems can be solved.
Discipline is a system of techniques - the strength, energy and willingness to use these techniques are
provided by love.

Love
The energy for the work of self-discipline derives from love, which is a form of will. Self-discipline is
usually love, translated into action, but also that any genuine lover behaves with self-discipline and
any genuinely loving relationship is a disciplined relationship. If I truly love another, I will obviously
order my behavior in such a way as to contribute the utmost to his or her spiritual growth.
Genuine love, on the other hand, implies commitment and the exercise of wisdom. When we are
concerned for someone’s spiritual growth, we know that a lack of commitment is likely to be harmful
and that commitment to that person is probably necessary for us to manifest our concern effectively.

Growth and Religion

Science tends to say, ‘What is very difficult to understand doesn’t exist.’ The author calls this as
‘Scientific tunnel vision’. By virtue of its success, measurement has become a kind of scientific idol. The
result is an attitude on the part of many scientists of not only skepticism but outright rejection of what
cannot be measured. It is as if they were to say, ‘What we cannot measure, we cannot know; there is
no point in worrying about what we cannot know; therefore, what cannot be measured is unimportant
and unworthy of our observation.’ Because of this attitude many scientists exclude from their serious
consideration all matters that are – or seem to be – intangible. Including, of course, the matter of God.
This strange but remarkably common assumption that things that are not easy to study do not merit
study is beginning to be challenged by several relatively recent developments within science itself. One
is the development of increasingly sophisticated methods of study. Using hardware such as electron
microscopes, spectrophotometers and computers, and software such as statistical techniques we are
now able to make measurements of increasingly complex phenomena which a few decades ago were
unmeasurable. The range of scientific vision is consequently expanding. As it continues to expand,
perhaps we shall soon be able to say: ‘There is nothing beyond the limits of our vision. If we decide
to study something, we can always find the methodology with which to do it.’ The other development
that is assisting us to escape from scientific tunnel vision is the relatively recent discovery by science
of the reality of paradox. A hundred years ago paradox meant error to the scientific mind. But exploring
such phenomena as the nature of light, electromagnetism, quantum mechanics and relativity theory,
physical science has matured over the past century to the point where it is increasingly recognized
that at a certain level reality is paradoxical.
Mystics have spoken to us through the ages in terms of paradox. Is it possible that we are beginning
to see a meeting ground between science and religion? When we are able to say that ‘a human is
both mortal and eternal at the same time’ and ‘light is both a wave and a particle at the same time,’ we
have begun to speak the same language. Is it possible that the path of spiritual growth that proceeds
from religious superstition to scientific skepticism may indeed ultimately lead us to a genuine religious
reality? This possibility of unification of religion and science is the most significant and exciting
happening in our intellectual life today. But it is only just beginning.
For the most part both the religious and the scientific remain in self-imposed narrow frames of
reference, each still largely blinded by its own tunnel vision. Examine, for instance, the behavior of both
regarding the question of miracles. Even the idea of a miracle is anathema to most scientists. Over the
past four hundred years or so science has elucidated a number of ‘natural laws,’ such as ‘Two objects
attract each other in proportion to their mass and in inverse proportion to the distance between them’
or ‘Energy can neither be created nor destroyed.’ But having been successful in discovering natural
laws, scientists in their world view have made an idol out of the concept of natural law, just as they
made an idol out of the notion of measurement. The result is that any event that cannot be explained
by currently understood natural law is assumed to be unreal by the scientific establishment. Regarding
methodology, science has tended to say, ‘What is very difficult to study doesn’t merit study.’ And

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED 45

regarding natural law, science tends to say, ‘What is very difficult to understand doesn’t exist.’
The church has been a bit more broad-minded. To the religious establishment what cannot be
understood in terms of known natural law is a miracle, and miracles do exist. But beyond authenticating
their existence, the church has not been anxious to look at miracles very closely. ‘Miracles need not be
scientifically examined’ has been the prevailing religious attitude. ‘They should simply be accepted as
acts of God.’ The religious have not wanted their religion shaken by science, just as the scientific have
not wanted their science to be shaken by religion. Events of miraculous healing, for instance, have
been used by the Catholic Church to authenticate its saints, and they are almost standard fare for
many Protestant denominations. Yet the churches have never said to physicians, ‘Would you join with
us to study these most fascinating phenomena?’ Nor have physicians said, ‘May we get together with
you to examine scientifically these occurrences which should be of such interest to our profession?’
Instead, the attitude of the medical profession has been that miracle cures are nonexistent, that the
disease of which a person was cured did not exist in the first place, either because it was an imaginary
disorder, such as a hysterical conversion reaction, or else because it was a misdiagnosis.
Fortunately, however, a few serious scientists, physicians and religious truth-seekers are currently in
the process of beginning to examine the nature of such phenomena as spontaneous remissions in
cancer patients and apparently successful examples of psychic healing. These miracles need the
God’s grace.

Grace
When we nurture ourselves and others without a primary concern of finding reward, then we will
have become lovable, and the reward of being loved, which we have not sought, will find us. A major
purpose of this section on grace has been to assist those on the journey of spiritual growth to learn
the capacity of serendipity. Serendipity can be redefined not as a gift itself but as a learned capacity to
recognize and utilize the gifts of grace which are given to us from beyond the realm of our conscious
will. This capacity, will help find that our journey of spiritual growth is guided by the invisible hand
and unimaginable wisdom of God with infinitely greater accuracy than that of which our unaided
conscious will is capable. So guided, the journey becomes ever faster. One way or another, these
concepts have been set forth before – by Buddha, by Christ, by Lao-tse, among many others. If one
requires greater understanding, then by all means proceed or return to the ancient texts. Seek greater
understanding, but do not expect greater detail. There are many who, by virtue of their passivity,
dependency, fear and laziness, seek to be shown every inch of the way and have it demonstrated to
them that each step will be safe and worth their while. This cannot be done. For the journey of spiritual
growth requires courage and initiative and independence of thought and action. While the words of
the prophets and the assistance of grace are available, the journey must still be traveled alone. No
teacher can carry you there. There are no preset formulas. Rituals are only learning aids; they are not
the learning. Eating organic food, saying five Hail
Mary’s before breakfast, praying facing east or west,
or going to church on Sunday will not take you to "Life is difficult.
your destination. No words can be said, no teaching this is a great truth,one of the greatest
can be taught that will relieve spiritual travelers from truths.
the necessity of picking their own ways, working out it is a great truth because once we truly
with effort and anxiety their own paths through the
see the truth, we transcend it.
unique circumstances of their own lives toward the
identification of their individual selves with God. once we truly know that life is difficult-
Even when we truly understand these matters, the once we truly understand and accept it -
journey of spiritual growth is still so lonely and then life is no longer difficult.j
difficult that we often become discouraged. The because once it is accepted,
fact that we live in a scientific age, while helpful in
the fact that life is difficult no longer
some respects, serves in others to foster
matters."
discouragement. We believe in the mechanical
principles of the universe, not miracles. Through our
science we have come to learn that our dwelling m scott peck
place is, but a single planet of a single star lost amid the road less travelled
one galaxy among many. And just as we seem lost

46 THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED

amid the enormity of the external universe, so science has also led us to develop an image of ourselves
as being helplessly determined and governed by internal forces not subject to our will – by chemical
molecules in our brain and conflicts in our unconscious that compel us to feel and to behave in certain
ways when we are not even aware of what we are doing. So, the replacement of our human myths by
scientific information has caused us to suffer a sense of personal meaningless. Of what possible
significance could we be, as individuals or even as a race, buffeted about by internal chemical and
psychological forces we do not understand, invisible in a universe whose dimensions are so large that
even our science cannot measure them? Yet it is that same science that has in certain ways assisted
the author to perceive the reality of the phenomenon of grace. The author has attempted to transmit
that perception. For once we perceive the reality of grace, our understanding of ourselves as
meaningless and insignificant is shattered. The fact that there exists beyond ourselves and our
conscious will a powerful force that nurtures our growth and

G
evolution is enough to turn our notions of self-insignificance topsy-
enuine love is volitional
turvy. For the existence of this force (once we perceive it) indicates
rather than emotional.
with incontrovertible certainty that our human spiritual growth is of
The person who truely
the utmost importance to something greater than ourselves. This
loves does so because of a
something we call God. The existence of grace is prima facie
decision to love. This person
evidence not only of the reality of God but also of the reality that
has made a commitment
God’s will is devoted to the growth of the individual human spirit.
to be loving whether or not
What once seemed to be a fairy tale turns out to be the reality. We
the loving feeling is present.
live our lives in the eye of God, and not at the periphery but at the
...Conversely, it is not only
center of His vision, His concern. It is probable that the universe as
possible but necessary for a
we know it is but a single stepping-stone toward the entrance to
loving person to avoid acting
the Kingdom of God. But we are hardly lost in the universe. To the
on feelings of love.
contrary, the reality of grace indicates humanity to be at the center
of the universe. This time and space exist for us to travel through.

Conclusion
When people lose sight of their significance and are disheartened by the effort of the work they are
doing, the author sometimes tell them that the human race is in the midst of making an evolutionary
leap. ‘Whether or not we succeed in that leap, is your personal responsibility.’
The universe, this stepping-stone, has been laid down to prepare a way for us. But we ourselves must
step across it, one by one through disciplined action, helping others with unconditional love. Through
grace we are helped not to stumble and through grace we know that we are being welcomed. What
more can we ask?

Change is the end result of all true learning.”

— Leo Buscaglia

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED 47

 The Psychology of
Money
Introduction
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel is one of the best personal
finance and investing book I’ve read. Morgan Housel is a partner at the
Collaborative Fund and a former columnist at The Motley Fool and The Wall
Street Journal. Two topic impact everyone, whether you are interested in
them or not: Health and Money. Morgan believes that we are taught about
money like science and not like psychology with emotions and nuisances
and that is important to him and has brought in appreciation for the same. The
book is concise and to the point containing 20 short chapters and revolve
around a common theme and author shares19 short stories exploring the
strange ways people thinks about money and teaches how to make better
sense of one of life’s most important matters.

Summary
Doing well with money isn’t necessarily about what you know. It’s
about how you behave and behaviour is hard to teach. Morgan starts
with two quotes from Napolean and Sherlock Holmes “The world is
full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes”.
Morgan starts with the concept that people behaving differently due
to different environment, different economies, different generation
and different values and they learn differently thus views about how
money works that vary widely from person to person. What makes
sense to you might seem crazy to me. Your personal experiences
with money make maybe 0.00000001% of what‘s happened in the
world but maybe 80% of how you think the world works.
Morgan explains that every outcome in life is guided by forces
other than individual effort and they are Luck and Risk which is
hard to measure. Luck and Risk are siblings. The world is too ‘complex to allow 100% of your actions
to determine 100% of your outcomes’. You are a small part of infinite moving parts and impact of
actions outside of your control can be more impactful than the ones you consciously take. Luck is
something we tend to ignore, despite it being as powerful and prevalent as risk. To identify your
success not as the product of hard work, but the result of a fickle and random force, reduces
the celebratory feeling and satisfaction of achievement. Alternatively to accuse others success
as being the product of luck makes you seem rude and jealous. He explains this concept with
reference to story of Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Kent Evans , Bill Dougall and Lakeside school. Kate
Evans experienced one in a million risks by never getting to finish what he and Gates set out to
achieve. For every Bill gates there is a Kent Evans who was just as skilled and driven but ended up
on the other side of life roulette.
He believes we should focus less on specific individuals and case studies when studying success
and failure, and study more on broad patterns. “The more extreme the outcome, the less likely
you can apply its lessons to your own life, because the more likely the outcomes was influenced
by the extreme ends of luck and risk.” Bill Gates once said, “Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces
smart people into thinking they can’t lose”.
Morgan brings out a very valid and powerful point that “ There is no reason to risk what you have

48 The Psychology of Money

and need for what you don’t have and don’t need” . He explains with two famous stories of Rajat
Gupta and Bernie Madoff. To make money they didn’t have and didn’t need, they risked what they
did have and did need.
There are plenty of ways to get wealthy, but only a few ways to stay wealthy: Getting wealthy
requires risk taking, optimism and shooting for the fences, whereas staying rich requires frugality
and a healthy dose of paranoia. Good investing is not necessarily about making good decisions. It’s
about consistently not screwing up. Morgan has lividly explained this with stories of Germansky
and Livermore. They both were very good at getting wealthy and equally bad at staying wealthy.
He suggest to appreciate three things:
• The power of compounding: Compounding only works if you give it the time to grow. He observes
that good investing isn’t about necessarily earnings the highest return but about earning moderately
good returns for the longest period of time. This is where compounding really works wonders.
• Planning is important but the most part of every plan is to plan on the plan not going according
to plan
• A barrelled personality – optimistic about the future, but paranoid about what will prevent you
from getting to the future – is vital.
Give yourself chance to win and take advantages of long tails which our minds are not built to
handle. Tail events (rare outlying events) drive the majority of outcomes. Tails drive everything in
business and investing. He cited many examples from Buffet to Apple. $ 81.5 billion of Warren Buffett’s
$ 84.5 billion net worth came after his 65th birthday. This is similar to Pareto rules.
Money’s greatest intrinsic value is the ability to give you control over your time. Having the ability to
do what you want, when you want is the ultimate form of wealth. The highest form of wealth is the ability
to wake up every morning and say, “I can do whatever I want today”. Angus Campbell did a research
on happiness and suggested that “having a strong sense of controlling one’s life is a more dependable
predictor of positive feelings of wellbeing of the objective condition of life we have considered”.
Morgan points out that no one is impressed with your possessions as much as you are. He says humility,
kindness and empathy will bring you more respect than horsepower ever will. He further points to one
of the ironies that wealth is what you don’t see. He says wealth is hidden and option not yet taken to buy
something later. Its value lies in offering you options, flexibility, and growth in future.
Morgan says that building wealth has little to do with income or
investment returns, and lots to do with saving rate. Morgan says
that we don’t need a particular reason to save; savings can just
be a “hedge against life’s inevitable ability to surprise the
“M oney’s greatest intrinsic
value—and this can’t be
overstated—is its ability to give
hell out of you at the worst possible time.” Value of wealth is you control over your time.”
relative to ones need.
“Progress happens too slowly to
Be reasonable than rational and is more realistic. Morgan notice, but setbacks happen too
stresses that human being is not spread sheet but an emotional quickly to ignore.”
person. It has been explained in the context of fever that fever
“You are one person in a game
are beneficial medically but we fight them universally because
with seven billion other people
it hurts and people don’t want to be hurt. It may be rational to
and infinite moving parts. The
want a fever if you have an infection but is not reasonable.
accidental impact of actions
Morgan brings out one interesting bias in human psychology outside of your control can be
that history is a study of surprising events and study of change, more consequential than the
ironically used as a map of the future. Things which have never ones you consciously take.”
happened before happen all the time. It has been explained
beautifully with many developments and many personalities.
He says try to imagine how different the global economy and the whole world would be today if sevn of
them never existed: Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Gavrilo Princip, Thomas Edison, Bill Gates,
Martin Luther King. He says structural changes in the economy makes history a poor guide to the
future. Tiny number of unprecedented events account for the majority of what is happening in the
global economy.

The Psychology of Money 49

Morgan stresses that long term planning is harder than it seems because peoples goals and desires
change over time. At every stage of life’s we make decisions that will profoundly influence the lives of
the people we are going to become and then we become those people, we are not always thrilled with
the decisions we made. Gilberts research shows that people from age 18 to 68 underestimates how
much they will change in the future. He suggests that we should avoid the extreme ends of financial
planning and we should accept the reality of changing our minds. Embracing the idea that financial
goals made when you were a different person should be abandoned without mercy versus put on life
support and dragged on can be a good strategy to minimise future regrets.
He says people are greedy and greed is an indelible feature of human nature. Social comparison is a
problem and thief of all joy. Remember there is always a big fish. Run your own race. Reduce your ego,
wait for the best opportunities. These can happen only when you save.
Morgan brings out very important aspect that nothing in life and investing is free, there is a price, but
it isn’t always obvious. He stresses that we need to identify the price, see it as a fee and decide if we
want to pay it. But if we view this fee as fine then we will never enjoy the magic.
Morgan brings out very common and interesting fact of our life’s and points out that beware taking
cues from people playing a different game than you are. He says that different people have different
time horizon and playing different game thus can’t be copied.
In eighteenth chapter he brings out the fact that fictions and stories are more powerful than statistics.
This brings out that the more you want something to be true, the more likely you are believe a story
that overestimates the odds of it being true. Everyone has an incomplete view of the world but form
a complete narrative to fill in the gaps. Daniel Kahneman explains that : The ability to explain the past,
gives us the illusion that the world is understandable. It gives us the illusion that the world makes
sense, even when it doesn’t make sense. That’s ta big deal in producing mistakes in many fields.

Conclusion
The Author sums up with following short recommendations:
• Go out of your ways to find humility when things are going right and forgiveness/compassion
when they go wrong.
• Saving money is the gap between your ego and your income and wealth is what you don’t see.
• Manage your money in a way that helps you sleep at night
• If you want to do better as investor, the single most powerful thing you do is increase your time
horizon.
• Become OK with a lot of things going wrong. You can be wrong half the time and still make a
fortune.
• Use money to gain control of your time.
• Avoid the extreme ends of financial decisions
• Define the game you are playing

Learn continually. There’s always ‘one more thing’ to learn!

- Steve Jobs

50 The Psychology of Money

 About CET
ISO 9001:2015 certified Centre for Engineering & Technology (CET) provides the in-house design,
engineering & consultancy services to SAIL, especially in brownfield areas. It covers the ISPs in co-
ordination with HQ at Ranchi and sub-centres in Bhilai, Rourkela, Bokaro, Burnpur and Durgapur along
with an IPSS secretariat.
The range of services provided by CET include –
• Feasibility Studies
• Conceptualization,
• Project evaluation & appraisal,
• Design & engineering and
• Project management.
Retaining its competitive edge through innovation, CET is always
exploring ways to improve the business processes and services in
areas covering mining, coal coke & chemicals, iron & sinter making,
steel making, finishing mills and environmental projects.
Special emphasis, in the recent past, has been in logistics, mineral
beneficiation, iron ore pelletisation, material handling, power plant,
slag granulation plant, blast furnace stoves, recycling of waste water
for zero liquid discharge, automation and related areas.

51
Editorial Board

Special thanks
Nitish Swarup

Manju Haridas

Manish Kumar.

Published By Arun Jose Mathews

Center for Engineering & Technology
Steel Authority of India Ltd
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Jharkhand, India, 834 002

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