
Palgrave Macmillan, January 2011
"STOP, THINK, AND DON’T DO SOMETHING STUPID!" This is the warning Dr. Robert Bea drills into his Civil and Environmental Engineering students at the University of California in Berkeley. Bea wants to dramatize what he terms the inevitable "oh shit" moments that present themselves - - before an actual engineering calamity like the Deepwater Horizon/BP disaster happens.
There’s an intangible and invisible marketplace within our lives today where the products traded are four fold: attention, distraction, data and meaning. The stories and examples within Consider demonstrate that the best decisions, insights, ideas and outcomes result when we take sufficient time to think and reflect. While technology allows us to act and react more quickly than ever before, we are taking increasingly less time to consider our decisions before we make them. Reflection supplies an arsenal of ideas and solutions to the right problems. Including interviews with leaders such as General David Petraeus, attorney Brooksley Born and global investor Kyle Bass, Forrester shows us that taking time and giving ourselves the mental space for reflection can mean the difference between total success and total failure.
Hardcover | ISBN: 9780230106079 | Publication Date: January 2011
Reviews:
"Daniel Forrester has sliced through the paradox of our time:
while the world seems to want you to go ever faster and keep up
with ever more, it actually rewards you for being insightful and
for doing work with meaning. I know it's hard to slow down to read
this, but you should."
-- Seth Godin, author of Linchpin: Are You
Indispensable?
"Daniel Forrester has truly identified the biggest leadership
problem we face today. The flood of data and the ease of
communications afforded us by 21st Century technology have led to
snap decision making without the careful thought or processing
necessary for us to make quality decisions. Speed and action have
replaced well thought out strategic thinking. Daniel provides a
valuable guide on how to strategically think and analyze before we
act. This first rate book is a must read for leaders in every
facet of our society."
-- General Anthony C. Zinni USMC (Retired)
"Dan Forrester makes a point that is so incredible, it defies
belief. Put simply, CEO's and other topmost management executives
spend so little time thinking. The irony is that this state of
affairs is understandable. CEOs are activist; they do things. But
many of the things they do would produce greater results if they
spent more time thinking before they take action.Best of all, he
shows how to do it: a disciplined approach to the totality of the
management function -- think first, then act."
-- Harold Burson, Founder Chairman,
Burson-Marsteller
"While technological improvements make it easier to both act and
act quickly, this powerful book reminds us about the value of
reflection. Invest the time to read this wonderful work. Your
professional and personal actions will be that much more impactful
when they are informed by its insights on thoughtfulness."
-- Mark Zupan, Dean and Professor of Economics and Public
Policy, Simon School of Business, University of Rochester
"CONSIDER buying this book; then buy it, read it, and live it.
Daniel Forrester has done a terrific job of laying out the
problems, pitfalls and disasters of today's action-driven, 24/7,
email-overloaded workplace -- and offers breath-catching reporting
and proven examples of the value and rewards of reflection and
THINK TIME. Based on in-depth research and personal interviews
with many of America's top business, social, military, and
cultural leaders; CONSIDER will change how you work, how you run
your business, how you live your life."
-- Dennis Wholey, Host and Executive Producer, PBS-TV's
THIS IS AMERICA and author of The Courage to Change and Why Do
I Keep Doing That?
"THINK and be spared - - egregious mistakes, widespread second
guessing, and embarrassing contrition. That is the simple and
powerful message from Daniel Forrester who has extensively probed
the strum and drang of management. Technologies abundant harvest
of information affords priceless opportunities for reflection to
improve the quality of decisions, if not squandered by a Pavlovian
urge towards instantaneous response. Our cultural bias toward
action limits critical thinking to less than 10% of our day's
activity. Yet thoughtful analysis can spawn great ideas and
prevent bad things from happening."
-- John F. Budd, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Omega
Group
"Daniel Forrester singles out what is potentially the largest
opportunity for corporations and governments of our time: the
power of deep reflection at all levels of the organization.
Through persuasive and insightful examples he provides evidence
that more and better think time is a value creating proposition.
He also contributes useful recommendations to actually implement
think time habits in your organizations. Anyone in the corporate
world should read this book; it may transform your company."
-- Sergio A. Pernice, MBA Director and Professor of
Organizational Design and Financial Engineering and Risk
Management, UCEMA Business School, Argentina
"In a very readable interesting book Daniel Forrester captures the
essence of an organization's power to grow and prosper in both
good and bad times. If you are serious about growing your
organization in these turbulent times do yourself a favor; Buy,
read and act on Daniel Forrester's recommendations."
-- Peggie O'Niell, Co-Founder and Former Director of
Loyalty Management University, Host of Passionate Leaders Powerful
People (TV Show), and Director of Prayer Power Worldwide
"Forrester's book practices what it preaches by taking you--slowly
and with great care--inside the pauses, downtimes and sheer
zoning-outs that trigger most creative thinking. Better yet,
Daniel provides ample ammunition for anybody looking to listen to
that inner voice that says, "I just don't know and NEED to think
about this longer!" A great book for a time in which too many of
us pull back from the data deluge, clinging to unshakable beliefs
instead of exercising our minds. Bottom line: free your time and
the rest will follow."
-- Thomas P.M. Barnett, Author and strategist