Amazon.ca:Customer reviews: Unlocking Leadership Mindtraps: How to Thrive in Complexity

Warmth, insight and leadership wisdom packed into a short consice book

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on May 2, 2019

Unlocking Leadership Mindtraps: How to Thrive in Complexity is the kind of book that is so true it feels instinctive and yet it's also the kind of book you recommend to everyone because you know we all need to hear it. The key to leading in complexity is we all need to keep growing and developing into ever better people, Jennifer shows the traps and offers solutions to the very issues that help us do so.

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Rosanne Carcasole

Great little book

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on December 26, 2019

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Had the book recommended to me, as an executive coach - and I wasn't disappointed. I was on alert for superficial insights, but as I read this enjoyable little book, it was apparent that the author really understands how humans grow and change. It's filled with easy-to-digest wisdom, and I've now recommended it to others!

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Laurie Hillis

Amazing Read, Highly Recommend

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on April 16, 2019

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In the week since I read Unlocking Leadership Mindtraps I've thought so much about my own stories and have shared the book (and bought a few for clients). I highly recommend the way Jennifer has crafted the story within the story is elegant and very applicable to personal and professional relationships. A must read in my opinion!

One person found this helpful

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Bhupinder

Interesting & intriguing

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on February 8, 2020

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Interesting to see examples for each proposed mindtrap. Quite relatable for me in & out of the work.
Provided steps to handle the identified traps.

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William

Easy to follow ideas to move oneself forward amidst complexity

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 12, 2021

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Overall good book, with solid tips to pursue one’s purpose in a VUCA world.

I didn’t like the short story examples that began each chapter. They were contrived to fit the content, hard to follow the story line, and consequently I lost interest. You can skip those segments without losing any of the academic content.

I also have mixed opinions on “the traps”, but you know, I don’t think that’s necessarily that central idea in this book, rather, the pursuit of one’s purpose in a VUCA world (the author failed to attribute that by the way)—and this thesis was revealed in the last 2 chapters.

On the traps: overall I think the were new terms for old concepts. Simple stories/rightness = biases; agreement = groupthink; etc. Still useful tips and tricks to confront these problems though.

I thought the last couple chapters on pursuing one’s purpose were pure gold though. If you take anything from this book, screen shot the two tables she’s included here.

3.5 stars

One person found this helpful

Robbie

On all the most important measures this is an outstanding leadership book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 9, 2019

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In this book Jennifer Garvey Berger delivers a real gem: a leadership book which is not only incredibly insightful, but also incredibly manageable to absorb and use. In it she distills decades of research into how people make meaning of the world - known in the field as 'adult development' - into six mindtraps which will resonate with anyone and everyone (at least anyone who is human). What makes this a book which I have already recommended to many clients and friends is that it takes the incredibly complex and nuanced wisdom of Garvey Berger's work, and makes it absorb-able and manageable to anyone: this is a short, practical and easy-to-read book, full of thought exercises and practices which will help you grow, so that although the mindtraps will still get you sometimes (as long as you are human), you will be equipped to get out of them much more quickly.

I recently undertook a training for coaches where Garvey Berger was part of the faculty, and the training convinced me more than ever that the complexity we - and particularly leaders - face in the modern world is unprecedented. This makes it harder for us to succeed, and also harder for us to know when we succeed. The practices in this book will help any reader adjust their ways of being so that they are more able and ready to cope with the challenges of a complex world. That, combined with the practical nature of the book, has taken this straight to the top of the list of books I would recommend to leaders.

4 people found this helpful

Ronni H.

Not for formal leaders only--a must-read

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 31, 2019

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While I would recommend anything Jennifer has written to anyone, her newest book takes it to a new level. Jennifer conveys big and powerful ideas in a way that is simple but not simplistic--and does so on just about every page of this short and highly readable book. She explores five "Mindtraps" that we get caught in because we are born human--and these Mindtraps are part of the human condition. They serve us when things are simple--and can become liabilities as life become more complex.
Learning to notice the Mindtraps and having an alternative way of responding so that we can gain more choice and open up new possibilities is what this book is all about. Some of the content will be familiar if you know Jennifer's work--and still there's lot of new material and a new lens that makes this a great read. Reading about the Mindtrap of Agreement made me think deeply about the ways I both adopt and even encourage this Mindtrap--and the cost we pay for doing that. Each Mindtrap is illustrated both story and description, and each contains an "antidote" question and practice. Jennifer also shares a set of strategies or practices at the end of the book that can support us more broadly as we navigate in an increasingly complex context.
I've given copies of Jennifer's book to my kids and spouse, and am asking my clients to read it as part of our work together. I believe that if we can each do more to understand and work with these Mindtraps we can live more compassionate (and self-compassionate) lives and make the world just a little bit better.

5 people found this helpful

Lexi

Clear, Concise, Meaningful Content

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 8, 2020

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This was our first book for our 2020 leadership book club, and I really like it. It is clear, concise, to the point, and gives an overview of what these mindtraps are. There is a bit of a storyline in between, which I enjoyed, as it ties it all together, and shows a creative and real-life scenario on how these mindtraps can happen and situations where they do come out and we just do not notice them, or we are not realizing that we are exhibiting these in the moment as we are doing them..

It ultimately makes us more aware of what we think or say, and this awareness leads us to recognize how to change and develop into more mindful and stronger leaders. I recommend this to a lot of our leaders, and anyone in particular, who have the desire to have better personal and professional relationships with others, to have more compassion towards oneself and others, to free oneself from the selfish ways of the ego and the burdensome weight of shame, and to experience the freedom and openness of awareness, mindfulness, and the gift of becoming an overall better person.

2 people found this helpful

Mark A. Smith

Remarkable in the clarity it provides...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 8, 2022

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Phenomenal - this lovely compass is remarkable in its usefulness. The last chapter is a gem and is so helpful to practice.

SirReadsAlot

More books need to be written this way

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 28, 2019

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So many leadership books are inexcusably long as if the authors have something to prove through their exhaustive knowledge. Not so with this book - it uses a mix of storytelling, leadership theory and practices in pithy and well-written 150 pages. I read one of her previous books and she struggled to break free of Kegan and Lahey but this time their work is presented in context not as the main course which is a definite positive. This book captures Garvey Berger’s compassion as well as empathy for what leaders go through in their private lives and thoughts which in and of itself is valuable - more leaders need to know that they aren’t alone and it’s okay to have insecurities and doubts. Key to the author’s work is being self-reflective but also having a mentor or coach to challenge embedded and unseen assumptions. A helpful scaffold of key insights and questions as well as simple but effective practices pepper the book and make it a delight. I will suggest this as a “book study” for my leadership development clients.

4 people found this helpful

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4 star		18%
3 star		10%
2 star		1%
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