What Keeps Leaders Up at Night

April 15, 2013
Clinical and business psychologist Lipkin helps readers understand how to realign their thoughts so they can stay calm and do good work. According to Lipkin, good bosses become ineffective because they’re too busy to win, too proud to see what’s going on, and too afraid to lose. Most executives are hardwired to act like stereotypical TV bosses—ignoring advice and clinging to their status as leaders—and they have to reset their thinking. Lipkin makes excellent points about understanding the difference between what the voice in one’s head is saying and what is really happening. If business leaders leap to disastrous conclusions after minor incidents, they need to retrain their brains not to panic. These cognitive distortions keep leaders in a state of frenzy. Lipkin shows readers how to deal with assumptions and expectations; help teams work with change; understand why good teams go bad; resist the tendency toward group conformity; keep competition from becoming warfare; and simply deal with the usual problems in running a business. Lipkin’s emphasis on understanding the psychology behind these issues and her conversational, engaging tone will appeal to readers flummoxed by their all-too-human teams. Agent: Michael Snell from Michael Snell Literary Agency.