- Hardcover: 272 pages
- Publisher: Random House Canada (Jan 18 2011)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0307358623
- ISBN-13: 978-0307358622
- Product Dimensions: 21.3 x 13.7 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 386 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #277,520 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
“A fascinating and eminently readable book, full of information you will want to share and arguments you will want to debate.”
— Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive, RSA
“An intriguing and subtle account of the clash that results when old instincts meet new conditions.”
— Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist
“A really novel book on one of the most important human topics of our time . . . well written, innovative and fun!”
— Professor Cary L. Cooper, CBE, Lancaster University Management School
“The book’s practical suggestions are worth taking seriously.”
— Nature
“Head and shoulders above most management books.”
— Jeremy Hazlehurst, City A.M.
— Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive, RSA
“An intriguing and subtle account of the clash that results when old instincts meet new conditions.”
— Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist
“A really novel book on one of the most important human topics of our time . . . well written, innovative and fun!”
— Professor Cary L. Cooper, CBE, Lancaster University Management School
“The book’s practical suggestions are worth taking seriously.”
— Nature
“Head and shoulders above most management books.”
— Jeremy Hazlehurst, City A.M.
Product Description
A groundbreaking, evolutionary science-based exploration of the history of leadership that explains how and why some men and women evolve into good or great leaders, and some do not.
We are all leaders or followers — or both. We can recognise leadership in almost every area of life: in the workplace, among friends, within families, in politics and religion. But what makes a good or bad leader, and what makes an outstanding one? Selected examines how and why leadership has evolved over tens of thousands of years, and presents a bold and compelling new "mismatch hypothesis": the slowness of evolution means that there is a mismatch between modern leadership and the kind of leadership that our Stone Age brains are still wired for. This makes for all sorts of tendencies, problems and solutions that no author has yet discussed but that affect all aspects of our lives.
Full of fascinating examples drawn from a diverse range of spheres, from politics and commerce to sport and culture, Selected explains why taller political candidates usually win, why women chief executives attract such hostility, why we like it when the boss asks after our children and what prime ministers and presidents can do to improve their chances of electoral success.
This is the first book of its kind — reaching into business, psychology, politics and current affairs — to explore how leadership affects us all. It also offers the first truly scientific theory of leadership: where previous books have provided anecdote, it details empirical evidence. Selected provides deep insight into our personal and professional lives at a time when the world urgently needs to acknowledge great leadership.
We are all leaders or followers — or both. We can recognise leadership in almost every area of life: in the workplace, among friends, within families, in politics and religion. But what makes a good or bad leader, and what makes an outstanding one? Selected examines how and why leadership has evolved over tens of thousands of years, and presents a bold and compelling new "mismatch hypothesis": the slowness of evolution means that there is a mismatch between modern leadership and the kind of leadership that our Stone Age brains are still wired for. This makes for all sorts of tendencies, problems and solutions that no author has yet discussed but that affect all aspects of our lives.
Full of fascinating examples drawn from a diverse range of spheres, from politics and commerce to sport and culture, Selected explains why taller political candidates usually win, why women chief executives attract such hostility, why we like it when the boss asks after our children and what prime ministers and presidents can do to improve their chances of electoral success.
This is the first book of its kind — reaching into business, psychology, politics and current affairs — to explore how leadership affects us all. It also offers the first truly scientific theory of leadership: where previous books have provided anecdote, it details empirical evidence. Selected provides deep insight into our personal and professional lives at a time when the world urgently needs to acknowledge great leadership.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not as bad as the foregoing implies,
By
This review is from: Selected: Why Some People Lead, Why Others Follow, and Why It Matters (Hardcover)
I gave this book 4 stars. There is good and bad here. Let's deal with the good parts. For the general business reader itit has a lot of anecdotal and realistic examples of how "evolutionary leadership theory" appears in our world. EVT is a rather obvious concept, so obvious one could say, "why didn't we recognize this before." Well, to be honest, anthropologist have done so already. Perhaps leadership theorists haven't been listening. The book is also easy to read and is not a lengthy tome. I've read a lot of the leadership literature and still learned a few things. On the critical side, the authors' hypotheses and arguments require a giant leap of faith to go from stone age man to 21st century man in terms of leadership characteristics. Their EVT is really nothing more than anthropological trait theory leadership. Leadership thinking has come a long way since trait theory was conceived. It is also dangerously simplistic. It relies on nature more than nurture to explain, and is impossible to empirically test. It's like suggesting that humans evolved a pinky finger so that they could clean dirt out of their ears. Correlations between evolutionary traits and leadership traits are just that, correlations, not causative factors. Take height. It was arguably an important trait for stone age communities. But to take it forward 30 centuries is simplistic, even if there is evidence suggesting its modern equivalents. Some of the greatest military leaders in history were shorter than average men (Alexander, Napoleon, Grant to name a few). It might be more meaningful to suggest that what leaders acquire is an ability to stand out and get noticed, and sometimes being shorter works in that direction. Secondly, the authors treat servant leadership as the only normative leadership theory worth mentioning. Though they cite James MacGregor Burns in their bibliography, they do not appear to have thoroughly read and understood Burns' "transforming leadership" which is a far more definitive and comprehensive normative theory that actually encompasses every idea embedded in servant leadership. Since I did my dissertation on The Origins of Servant Leadership, it was pleasing to hear Vugt's and Ahuja's belief that servant leadership goes back to the stone age. I only relied on what written records are available. But De Waal and other anthropologists have hypothesized that what is going on here is the development of the capacity to feel empathy that many species have demonstrated. Empathy may have a great deal to do with servant leadership, but it is not the same. At one point the authors even suggest that people can lead without being morally competent (p.16). Somehow I don't think Burns would agree with that. Greenleaf for sure wouldn't. It may be that servant leadership appeals to non North Americans more than Americans. That word "servant" is not one that is culturally accepted in American society. Being Europeans, the authors may not have that prejudice. Even if you don't agree with all the theories presented in this book, you will find them thought provoking and well worth pondering.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not for me,
By
This review is from: Selected: Why Some People Lead, Why Others Follow, and Why It Matters (Hardcover)
I threw this book away after reading about half of it. It would have made a very good 20 page booklet, but instead the authors filled about 250 pages with repetitive anecdotes and scientifically unsupported conclusions. The authors do make a few points about leaders and followers, but I found little I did not already know. I did learn a little about the behaviour of selected species of animals. While the authors make a big thing about this. it was about as relevant as learning about the evolutionary history of animal warefare in half of a book on how to play chess.-- Alan Scharf
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.8 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews) 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A different approach,
By C. P. Anderson - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Selected: What Evolutionary Psychology Tells Us about Leadership (Hardcover)
This book appears to be listed under "management." It is, however, unlike any other management book I've even seen. To me, the average leadership book is mostly about cheerleading, fads, and selling the author's services. Very rarely do I run into any actual science.And that's what puts this book apart from all the rest. It's based on the discipline of Evolutionary Psychology (EP). EP posits that some of the ways we behave and think and feel were selected through evolution. For example, humans evolved in an environment of limited nutritional choices. That's why we crave sweets, fats, and salt. While that was effective hundred of thousands of years ago, when these things were scarce in the natural environment, it's very unhealthy and counter-productive today, when these things are cheap and available everywhere. These kind of mismatches are a central theme to Naturally Selected. As another example, when we were still on the African savanna, leaders naturally came from among tall, strong males who could hold their own against wild animals, rivals within their own tribe, and rivals from other tribes. Unfortunately, we still tend to think that way. That's why, for example, the taller candidate tends to win the election, get the job, get the girl, etc. There are plenty of positives in this book, but I think it's rather unique in the way it treats leadership in a much more circumspect, wholly objective way. Another good example of this is the "babble effect." That states that the people who talk the most are typically recognized as leaders among groups of strangers (juries, lab experiments, travellers, etc.). I could go on and on. Probably the biggest thing I got out of this book is what causes so many people (usually males) to want be leaders in the first place. It's mostly a matter of increasing one's status. From an EP perspective, increased status means increased sexual partners, which is how such a propensity tends to get passed down. I actually came to this book from the EP side of things. To me, I think this is an excellent application of EP. I'm really curious to know what more business-oriented types might think. 3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Scientific study of how evolution affects modern-day leadership,
By Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Selected: What Evolutionary Psychology Tells Us about Leadership (Hardcover)
Thousands of books discuss how to become a great leader. This unusual book discusses the "why" of leadership. Why do leaders exist, why do they lead and why do others follow them? Psychology professor Mark van Vugt and London Times writer Anjana Ahuja take you back two million years, when humanity's ancestors first walked upright in perilous African savannahs, clustering in groups for protection and following leaders who could help them stay alive. Leadership proves so ancient that it predates language. The instincts for leadership and followership, both adaptive behaviors, are indelibly hard-wired into human brains thanks to the evolutionary process. This distinctive book scientifically examines leadership's ancient roots in fascinating fashion. getAbstract believes it will engage all kinds of leaders, although Machiavellian types may be distinctly uncomfortable to see their sinister traits analyzed with such devastating precision.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A daring new book...,
By Patrick Vermeren - Published on Amazon.com
The authors have shown great courage to give their scientifically based view on how leadership should really look like. An inconvenient truth for the authoritarian, Machiavellian and narcisistic leaders...The book takes us on a fascinating journey: game theory perspective, the link between followership and leadership, the origins of altruism and collaboration, etc. It describes how the EEA (Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness)'shaped' us to become democratic and egalitarian. The book proves how the vast majority of our time as humans, distributive leadership developed, only being disrupted some 13,000 years ago when agriculture allowed us to become sedentary. This changed the "game" dramatically, and this gave rise to the collection of wealth and power, so that warlords and kingdoms could develop themselves, and followers suffered from leadership rather than benefiting from it. The ultimate driver beyond this acquisition of power stayed the same however: status to get to sex... In nowadays life, we see no else: huge salaries help people (mainly men) to display their status and have access to more sex-partners. The authors rightly argue this is not in the interest of the group or the company. The finish the book with a nice chapter of 10 important, almost take-away points for the 'new' organization to deal with the bright and dark sides of human behavior, especially from those in leadership positions. There are only a few (although) important side-remarks to be made: it takes skill and a lot of knowledge to discover some hypotheses and some hypotheses which have already proven wrong: the notion of group selection (overwhelming data prove that kin selection is a much better explanation, also with great predictive power), the hypothesis that operant conditioning of leadership behavior can lead to a kind of template that can be passed on to next generations (this is a strange Lamarckian idea). The sidesteps to psychoanalysis (which can to a large extent be considered pseudoscience) are also very disturbing and maybe the biggest flaw is the idea that there is a kind of ratio: a ratio of followers (let's say 95%) and leaders (5%) in a population. This is impossible since genes in the gene pool always spread to the whole population, and it is impossible to have a sub-population of leaders. But admittedly, that takes quite some evolved knowledge of how evolution works. But these forgivable flaws should not prevent us from reading this nicely written book! |
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