From the Publisher
Daniel Goleman has surpassed himself in the breadth, depth, and readability of this fascinating meditation on what is most important for human, organizational, and planetary flourishing. Focusshows us how to go about paying attention in all the ways that really matter.” — John Kabat-Zinn, founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress-Reduction and author of Mindfulness for Beginners
“With compelling insights, wide-ranging examples, and cutting-edge science, Daniel Goleman makes the convincing case that the ability to focus is a key to excellence, in both our personal and professional lives-and also explains how to boost that focus.” — Gretchen Rubin, bestselling author of The Happiness Project
“Daniel Goleman has written the perfect prescription for today’s deficit of attention in business and life....Highly recommended!” — Chip Conley, founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality and author of Peak and Emotional Equations
“Goleman has provided a highly readable manifesto for turning our smartphones off once in a while.” — Financial Times
“I’ve been studying attention for more than a decade, but I learned something new on every page of Focus. It is a powerful guide for taking control of our attention and will lead you to nothing less than taking control of your life.” — Tony Schwartz, author of The Power of Full Engagement and CEO of The Energy Project
“Attention is so important that ordinary people take it for granted, while scientists subject it to microanalysis. Steering deftly between these extremes, Dan Goleman synthesizes what is known and what we need to know.” — Howard Gardner, John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education
Financial Times
Goleman has provided a highly readable manifesto for turning our smartphones off once in a while.
Tony Schwartz
I’ve been studying attention for more than a decade, but I learned something new on every page of Focus. It is a powerful guide for taking control of our attention and will lead you to nothing less than taking control of your life.
Howard Gardner
Attention is so important that ordinary people take it for granted, while scientists subject it to microanalysis. Steering deftly between these extremes, Dan Goleman synthesizes what is known and what we need to know.
John Kabat-Zinn
Daniel Goleman has surpassed himself in the breadth, depth, and readability of this fascinating meditation on what is most important for human, organizational, and planetary flourishing. Focusshows us how to go about paying attention in all the ways that really matter.
Chip Conley
Daniel Goleman has written the perfect prescription for today’s deficit of attention in business and life....Highly recommended!
Gretchen Rubin
With compelling insights, wide-ranging examples, and cutting-edge science, Daniel Goleman makes the convincing case that the ability to focus is a key to excellence, in both our personal and professional lives-and also explains how to boost that focus.
Financial Times
Goleman has provided a highly readable manifesto for turning our smartphones off once in a while.
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Daniel Goleman has surpassed himself in the breadth, depth, and readability of this fascinating meditation on what is most important for human, organizational, and planetary flourishing. Focusshows us how to go about paying attention in all the ways that really matter.
Kirkus Reviews
2013-08-15
Goleman (Leadership: The Power of Emotional Intelligence, 2011, etc.) argues that the ability to focus is "a little-noticed and underrated asset" that can help overcome problems like "zoning out" and "mind wandering," among many others. The author explains that attention span can be compared with a "mental muscle that we can strengthen by a work out," with memorization and concentration being the forms of exercise that work the "muscle." Showing how much time is spent in day-dreaming and mind wandering--up to 40 percent of the day, according to some estimates--Goleman identifies the changes in psychological and mental habits and activities that he believes will contribute to effectively addressing important contemporary issues like climate change and global warming. Quick, default reactions, which focus on the short term and "favor now in decisions of all kinds," prevent concentration on the long-term objectives that such issues demand. Goleman also believes that such a transformation will require new methods of leadership working through new kinds of institutions. The success of future leaders will depend on their ability to maintain focus on long-term goals and improvements for the widest circles their influence can reach. The author supports his arguments with a psychological framework drawn from the contemporary field of neuroscience. He refers to a Nature magazine study on the ambiguous effects of playing computer games--from "Minesweeper" to poker--and stresses that "face-to-face interactions…pick up a multitude of signals which help us connect well, and wire together the neurons involved." Unfortunately, "during thousands of hours spent online," he writes, "the wiring of the social brain gets virtually no exercise." A lively personalized account of the science of attention, which "ripples through most everything we seek to accomplish."
