Driven: How Human Nature Shapes Our Choices

Rating:
Summary: Who Is In Your Driver's Seat?
Review: At first glance this book seems to be leaning too much toward the scientific/academic side. I was actually dreading to read the book, however the authors have done a magnificant job of livening up each academic part with real world case studies. The main theme of this text is how we base our decision making on four psychological drives that every person is born with regardless of religion, race or other factors:

1.) The Drive to Acquire (D1) - We all have it, it is normal but some have too much of it. Those who have an overdose of D1 tend to teeter on the edge of self-destruction and those around them.
2.) The Drive to Bond (D2) - Everybody likes to feel wanted and belong to some type of organisation (family, cultural, religion, hobby, etc., When a person engages in decicion making, they will usually decided positive for the person who has something in common with them.
3.) The Drive to Learn (D3) - Learning is a part of life and when this drive is not satisfied in people they become aggressive and restless. Have you ever seen a highly intelligent well-paid co-worker leave a job although this person never had any problems with peer or superiors? Chances are that this person was in dire need of a cerebal orgasam i.e. The person was somebody who needed to be mentally challenged.
4.) The Drive to Defend (D4) - We have learned certain beliefs and take them to be true until proven otherwise. When somebody attacks or tries to show us otherwise we become agitated, angry or beligerent because deep down in our subconscious we have a defense mechanism that does not want to be proven wrong.

This is an excellent book for markets, negotiators and employers. What makes us tick inside our crainium. The authors have excellent examples taken from Hewlett-Packard and how they created a bond between employees and the company. Other scenarios show why some companies work extremely well with labour unions and some companies never seem to have any peace between management and unions. Why do we prefer a product over another? All of these answers are in this text.

Rating:
Summary: Applies sociobiology to business
Review: Excellent book that synthesizes recent research in sociobiology (a term coined by E.O. Wilson in On Human Nature)psychology, evolutionary biology and anthropology and applies the results to organization behavior and business management.

Even if you disagree with the basic findings of Lawrence and Nohria the book contains a wealth of information explained pragmatically via case studies (Russia, HP etc). You can immediately apply as a framework to understand your daily life.

If you enjoy it I recommend checking out "On Human Nature, and Jared Diamond's books "The Third Chimpanzee" and "Guns, Germs and Steel".

Rating:
Summary: Cause & effect in the human machine
Review: The authors advance the theory that the interplay between our 4 key biological drivers - getting, loving, learning and defending - is the catalyst of the decisions and, ultimately, the paths we choose in life. As a student of cause & effect, I found their attempt to elevate the discussion of "what drives us" beyond the typical psycho-bable to be laudable. How many of us act in the complete dark when it comes to some framework within which to understand our behavior?

Their theory is especially timely given the rapid evolution of the intersecting fields of biology, nanotechnology and computing. Isn't it time to investigate the biological drivers behind what is still the most fascinating machine - man? Yes.

Nor does the investigation by Nohria and Lawrence fall prey to a mechanistic characterization of human kind. They draw on a rich database of workplace experience for validation and move from here to compelling insights on the broad tapestry of human interaction. The ride is at times controversial and provocative, but never boring or mechanistic. Well worth the read.

Rating:
Summary: Great concept
Review: The book lays out the concept of four human drive. To Acquire, To Bond, To Learn, and To Defend. The concept is pretty much lecture by the Franklin Covey seminars and many books as preaches by the great Stephen Covey, the author of 7 habits of highly effective people. It says 4 things drive people. To Live, To Love, To Learn and To Leave a Legacy. The fourth drive from this book and Franklin Covey is similar but not the same. Overall its a good book.