the book
About Blind Spots
A woman planning a dinner party calls a gourmet caterer and learns that Chateaubriand can be ordered. To which she responds “No thanks, we’re going to take care of the wine ourselves.” The dead silence at the end of the phone is her first clue that something is amiss.
A CEO attempts to put an end to complaints from employees about the demeaning behavior of certain managers by berating the managers before the staff—thus reinforcing the very behavior he’s trying to correct.
We often criticize such incidents with remarks like “How dumb”or “What was he thinking?” But psychologist Madeleine Van Hecke argues that much of what we label stupidity can better be explained as blind spots. Just as the blind spot in the driver’s side mirror can swallow up a passing car, patterns in the way we think can likewise become blind spots.
“This book is a must read for any individual who is trying to get the most out of his or her own thinking or the thinking of a team or organization. Read Blind Spots and have your full vision restored.” —Brad Kolar, Chief Learning Officer and Executive Director of UCMC Academy, University of Chicago.
What Blind Spots Can Do For You
- Are you intrigued by how people think? And why they blunder?
- Do you know that you’re smart, but want to be even sharper—detecting what everyone else is missing?
- Do you feel surrounded by “idiots”—and want to know how to deal with them?
- Are you being treated as an “idiot”— and want to know how to stand up for yourself?
“This delightful romp through the maze of human fallibility should be sent to every CEO of the Fortune 500 companies, along with all the members of Congress.”—Michael Shermer, Publisher of Skeptic magazine, monthly columnist for Scientific American, and author of Why People Believe Weird Things.
Each chapter in Blind Spots deals with a different blind spot, and includes a section on tactics—a bag of tricks you can use to help you overcome the blind spots that limit your thinking and creativity—and that will help you understand and cope with others when their blind spots frustrate you.
Blind Spots: Why Smart People Do Dumb Things
Madeleine Van Hecke, Ph.D.
Prometheus Books, Inc. 2007
Trade Paperback: Popular Psychology
224 pp. (illustrations)
ISBN 978-1-59102-509-2