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Great at Work: How Top Performers Do Less, Work Better, and Achieve More by Morten T. Hansen
christyjoreads's review against another edition
2.0
Well, I was okay with this book until he started describing a train-wreck of a patient. He explained all of this patient's extensive health problems then blamed it on the lack of collaboration between doctors and specialists. Absolutely not. More than likely this fellow he described had a lifetime of neglect and destructive habits that led to his poor health. It wouldn't matter how many or how few doctors someone has if the fundamental problem lies in non-compliance and poor decision making. Unfortunately, the author's leap from business success does not translate to the health care industry where people assume medicine is a commodity. Not at all true. He really makes assumptions he was not qualified to make. Yes, as a nurse, we have lots of issues to work on in healthcare, but personal responsibility is that patient's issue not a lack of collaboration on his MD's part. Poor quality healthcare exists, but so do patients who fail to take an active role in their health and just expect us to dole out another pill. If you don't know the cause of the problem, which this author clearly didn't understand healthcare, then don't comment on it. Two thumbs waaaaay down.
theficster's review against another edition
4.0
This is a good book on how to be a better performer. How to work in a team and how to get more out of other people. I enjoyed it.
dani_c's review against another edition
4.0
Best work-development/career-development book I've read so far. Practical and easy to read but the depth of the research (and fact that it's all included in the book) make this a much read for any worker who wants to improve their work life.
theficster's review against another edition
4.0
This is a good book on how to be a better performer. How to work in a team and how to get more out of other people. I enjoyed it.
jgn's review against another edition
4.0
As business books go, this is a good one. Morten T. Hansen's Great at Work is an attempt to explain how high-performers outdo their peers and deliver higher-quality work. The essential teaching of the book is that such performers "do less, then obsess": That is, they are very good at prioritizing, focusing on the top one to three things -- then they really bear down on those things to the exclusion of everything else. There's a lot more going on, but I think almost anyone would appreciate reading his chapter two, where he explains this idea in great detail. I was just looking over my own work goals for the coming year, and based on this book, I don't think I have enough focus. I have not created challenges for myself that will allow me to "do less, then obsess" and truly succeed at the genuinely most important things. I need to declutter my work for the coming year.
Chapter 4 provides guidance on how to discover your high-value work so that you can "do less, then obsess." The later chapters expand outward regarding how you get buy-in from others in your organization, how you unite passion and purpose, and, finally, how you can use the ideas from the book to better balance your work/life conundrum. All the way through, due attention is paid to have the claims sometimes need adjustment according to gender.
Longer review here: http://7fff.com/2018/03/hansen-great-at-work-how-top-performers-do-less-work-better-and-achieve-more-book-review/
Chapter 4 provides guidance on how to discover your high-value work so that you can "do less, then obsess." The later chapters expand outward regarding how you get buy-in from others in your organization, how you unite passion and purpose, and, finally, how you can use the ideas from the book to better balance your work/life conundrum. All the way through, due attention is paid to have the claims sometimes need adjustment according to gender.
Longer review here: http://7fff.com/2018/03/hansen-great-at-work-how-top-performers-do-less-work-better-and-achieve-more-book-review/
arirang's review against another edition
3.0
Morten T. Hansen 2018 book Great at Work: How Top Performers Do Less, Work Better, and Achieve More reminded me in many respects of Angela Duckworth's Grit and Carol Dweck's Mindset, both of which he references, although the title is more directly self-explanatory and the focus is very much on the world of work.
He develops seven rules (and yes he admits - 'it always seems to be 7 doesn't it') for high performers, based on a detailed study of 5000 people. There are the usual anecdotes in the book, but it is backed up by statistics, and (unusually and pleasingly for a book of this nature) statistics that feel robust, are explained in detail in an appendix and where he acknowledges and addresses the potential limitations of his methods.
Of personal takeaways, his advice to match passion and purpose certainly resonated with my professional life, and it was interesting to see him take the well-documented (see e.g. Grit) concept of 'deliberate practice', which has been drawn from observations on world class sportspeople, musicians, and adapt it much more practically for a work environment, suggesting taking just 15 minutes a day to put the idea into practice.
If one had a criticism it would be, oddly, that the book is too comprehensive - 7 ideas, all of which are quite fundamental, doesn't lead to one easy takeaway and can be hard to put into practice, particularly when there are other books and concepts as well. But given the key link in all 7 of Hansen's practices is to focus on what is important to you, the reader is well advised to pick one of the areas to study and try to implement - do less, then obsess, as Hansen says.
He develops seven rules (and yes he admits - 'it always seems to be 7 doesn't it') for high performers, based on a detailed study of 5000 people. There are the usual anecdotes in the book, but it is backed up by statistics, and (unusually and pleasingly for a book of this nature) statistics that feel robust, are explained in detail in an appendix and where he acknowledges and addresses the potential limitations of his methods.
Of personal takeaways, his advice to match passion and purpose certainly resonated with my professional life, and it was interesting to see him take the well-documented (see e.g. Grit) concept of 'deliberate practice', which has been drawn from observations on world class sportspeople, musicians, and adapt it much more practically for a work environment, suggesting taking just 15 minutes a day to put the idea into practice.
If one had a criticism it would be, oddly, that the book is too comprehensive - 7 ideas, all of which are quite fundamental, doesn't lead to one easy takeaway and can be hard to put into practice, particularly when there are other books and concepts as well. But given the key link in all 7 of Hansen's practices is to focus on what is important to you, the reader is well advised to pick one of the areas to study and try to implement - do less, then obsess, as Hansen says.