Book recommendation

The book ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman is a summary of several of his research papers. He wrote most of this work together with Amos Tversky.

The main message of the book is that humans think in two systems: System 1 and System 2. While System 2 comprises slow, resource-intensive, rational and logical thinking, System 1 represents fast, resource-conserving, emotional and instinctive thinking. As many research studies by Kahneman and Tversky show, System 1 in particular is susceptible to cognitive biases, partly due to the use of heuristics.

The fact that people do not always think rationally and logically, but are also prone to emotional-instinctive shortcuts or distortions, helps us in our business practice. Especially in change processes (e.g. restructuring), in which the human being as a member of the organisation plays a central role, if not the central role, it happens again and again that an emotional overload exists or arises.

As a result, those affected find it difficult to think rationally, which makes it harder to achieve acceptance – a key pillar of successful change processes. This also significantly inhibits the shaping of their own and the organisation’s future.

At this point, we try to use our expertise to create more clarity by raising awareness of the two systems of thought in order to guide our customers through change processes in the best possible and successful way.