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![Sidetracked: Why Our Decisions Get Derailed, and How We Can Stick to the Plan by [Francesca Gino]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41iK3zoSPYL._SY346_.jpg)
Sidetracked: Why Our Decisions Get Derailed, and How We Can Stick to the Plan Kindle Edition
Francesca Gino (Author) Find all the books, read about the author and more. See search results for this author |
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Psychologist and Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino has long studied the factors at play when judgment and decision making collide with the results of our choices in real life. In this book she explores inconsistent decisions played out in a wide range of circumstances—from our roles as consumers and employees (what we buy, how we manage others) to the choices that we make more broadly as human beings (who we date, how we deal with friendships). From Gino’s research, we see when a mismatch is most likely to occur between what we want and what we end up doing. What factors are likely to sway our decisions in directions we did not initially consider? And what can we do to correct for the subtle influences that derail our decisions? The answers to these and similar questions will help you negotiate similar factors when faced with them in the real world.
For fans of Dan Ariely and Daniel Kahneman, this book will help you better understand the nuances of your decisions and how they get derailed—so you have more control over keeping them on track.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarvard Business Review Press
- Publication dateFeb. 12 2013
- File size582 KB
Product description
Review
“Similar to Chip and Dan Heath’s Made To Stick and Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, this book will appeal to those looking to build their business platform.”
—Library Journal
“Thoroughly researched and informative, the book’s clarity and simplicity of structure are quite refreshing. Gino possesses a wealth of well-constructed research and experience—both inside university labs and in the business world. This book is filled with carefully explained studies that have taken many years to collect and establish, as well as many insights from the business consulting world.”
—Business World Magazine
“For the general reader desiring to learn more about research studies on some human decision biases and their effects, this book can provide a valuable perspective.”
—Choice Magazine
“A powerful survey outlining the entire decision-making process, how it gets derailed, and how to get it back on track.”
—Midwest Book Review
“What separates Sidetracked . . . from some other books on decision making is an in-depth exploration of the ‘human’ obstacles as opposed to the ‘organizational’ obstacles that can inhibit sound decision-making processes.”
—Business Standard
“If you have always yearned to feel more secure in your decision-making, or at the very least, understand better why even your best-laid plans often go awry, Sidetracked is a straight-forward examination of the forces that affect our decisions which can help raise your awareness and keep you from veering off course.”
—800 CEO READ
About the Author
FRANCESCA GINO is Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Negotiation, Organizations, & Markets Unit at the Harvard Business School. Her research focuses on judgment and decision making, social influence, and ethics and creativity. Her studies have been featured on CNN and NPR, as well as in leading print publications including Economist, Financial Times, New York Times, Newsweek, Scientific American, and Psychology Today.
TAMARA MARSTON has been an actor, singer and director for over 30 years. A career performer / musician, Tami has toured nationally with several groups and appeared on The Arsenio Hall Show and A&E’s Goodtime Café. Dividing her time between acting and singing gigs, choral conducting, music and stage directing, jingle and voiceover work, private and public teaching—and family—Tami feels very fortunate to make her living working in the arts. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product details
- ASIN : B00B77AIOS
- Publisher : Harvard Business Review Press (Feb. 12 2013)
- Language : English
- File size : 582 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 274 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #830,351 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #952 in Career Guides (Kindle Store)
- #1,129 in Business Decision-Making & Problem Solving (Kindle Store)
- #1,151 in Decision-Making & Problem Solving
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Francesca Gino is an award-winning researcher and teacher, and a tenured professor at Harvard Business School. Her consulting and speaking clients include Bacardi, Akamai, Disney, Goldman Sachs, Honeywell, Novartis, P&G, and the U.S. Air Force, Army, and Navy. She has been honored as one of the world’s Top 40 Business Professors under 40 and one of the world’s 50 most influential management thinkers. Her work has been featured on CNN and NPR, as well as in the Economist, Financial Times, New York Times, Newsweek, Scientific American, and Psychology Today.
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Customer reviews
Top reviews from Canada
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The range of experiments and collaborators speak to the author's lively and inquiring mind!
These are among the dozens of business subjects and issues of special interest and value to me, also listed to indicate the scope of Gino's coverage.
o Internal Forces (Pages 15-84)
o Perspectives on relationship forces (87-106)
o Social bonds (107-127)
o Salient social comparisons and evaluation (129-150)
- Wealth-based comparisons (137-147)
o Irrelevant information (153-174)
o Framing information that motivates behavior (175-198)
o Employee orientation (190-196)
o Ethical behavior and ambiance (199-221)
- What about our moral compass? (203-207)
o Dimensions and consequences of self-deception (210-219)
o Sticking to the plan for decisions (223-231)
I agree with Gino about the importance of formulating what can serve as a contingency plan for all manner of situations in which we would otherwise be unprepared. For example, "we rush into negotiations without taking the time to clarify our objectives, interests, and positions; the range of emotions we could experience during talks; and the information we have about the other side." I presume to add another substantial benefit of having a pre-negotiation plan: understanding the forces within us will enable us to be aware of where and why we may be (or at least seem) most vulnerable.
Before concluding her book, Gino reviews nine principles to keep in mind when formulating and implementing plans (227-228). No brief commentary such as mine can do full justice to the wealth of information, insights, and counsel that Francesca Gino provides. However, I hope these remarks indicate why I think so highly of Sidetracked. Obviously not all decisions are sound. Those who read it will be well-prepared to create appropriate plans, then know which to protect from derailment and which to modify or abandon.
Top reviews from other countries

The final star is lost because there was just a little too much overlap with Dan Ariely's excellent `The Honest Truth about Dishonesty' which is no surprise as they worked together on much of the research. I hope that in her future books Francesca will use more of her own story examples.
A quote in the book sums up the key message perfectly:
"Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true." Demosthenes (384- 322 BC),
Sidetracked details this potential for self deception in 3 key areas:
- how our internal world can distract us
- how our social connections impact on us and
- how our external environment can change our behaviour.
This is further broken down into 9 key messages which I've put into my own words below.
Overcoming internal distraction:
- Don't believe your own hype, listen to useful advice from others too
- Check how you feel before making decisions (Emotional Intelligence)
- Step back and see the bigger pattern
Awareness of social influences
- Recognise and value the contribution of others
- Find out how your social network is influencing you
- Question if social comparison is driving your decisions
Maintaining our moral compass
- Look for more evidence to base decisions on
- Ask `why' to understand the context
- Make your values clear and live by them
For me these 9 steps clarify many of the messages in Daniel Kahneman's book Thinking Fast and Slow and offer a practical guide to staying out of the traps our mind can so easily fall into. I've already found the 9 steps a practical way to improve my decision making.


– les forces propres à nous-même : impact de nos émotions sur nos actions et nos jugements, etc.
– les forces liées à nos relations avec les autres : mimétisme social, mécanismes instinctifs d’éviction des rivaux, etc.
– les forces induites par notre environnement : surcharge d’information, etc.

