Business Analyst Journal

Human beings have a proclivity to garble other people’s feedback to fit their own views. We are often misconstrued by people around, regardless of our efforts to communicate clearly. Communication is vital, however, the irony is that people have a remarkably tough time when it comes to knowing what exactly they are communicating. We assume that other individuals see us as we see ourselves, and that they see us as we truly are. However, the uncomfortable truth is that our daily interactions are often shaped by subtle biases that alters how other people perceive us and also alters our perceptions of them. When people don’t come across the way they intend to, it becomes vexing, resulting in disconnect that may lead to big problems in their personal and professional lives. Heidi Grant Halvorson, author and social psychologist clearly states that “the aim of this book is to facilitate an understanding of how other people really see us, and give us tools to alter our words (when necessary), and actions so that you can send the signal you want to send”.

This is one of the best books I have ever read. It is a boldest taking stock of the state of affairs with respect to environmental harm and welfare in our country, without any apriori ideological blinkers, that leaves the reader with so many uncomfortable truths that evoke “the deepest sighs and the frankest shadows”, so to speak.The author, Sunita Narain (who also represents the spirit of Anil Agarwal the journalist and environmentalist) is the Director General of the Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi; Director of the Society for Environmental Communications, and the editor of the fortnightly magazine, Down to Earth. She indeed represents the most exemplary tradition of political activism for common good in our country, and gives us its concrete flavour through this book.

The beauty of the book lies in the fact that these eight basics of management excellence are not something out of the box theories that everyone must have had expected, but instead these are like those golden phrases of truth that are easy to say and agree upon but very difficult to implement and execute. These all theories are very much interrelated and revolve around the most significant asset or the only ‘natural resource’ of any company – ‘people’.