Upshift: Turning Pressure into Performance and Crisis into Creativity

by Ben Ramalingam Narrated by John Sackville

Overview

With over two decades' experience both observing and interpreting how people channel disaster into opportunity in the most extreme circumstances and environments on Earth, Ben Ramalingam has a unique vantage point from which to identify the key principles that can enable anyone to use stress as an opportunity for change.

In Upshift, Ramalingam distils this expertise into an insightful, powerful, and engaging audiobook that will show you how to reframe your set responses to stress and pressure and instead use them to harness the potential they hold not just for improving your work, your relationships, and your mindset, but for transforming them.

Upshift takes listeners on an epic journey from early humans' survival of the Ice Age to present times in our inescapable, pernicious and ever-shifting digital landscape. You will hear remarkable stories from a vast range of upshifters-all of whom carved new routes around perceived barriers using their powers to upshift. Underlying stories of how city commuters navigate train cancellations to how astronauts deal with life-threatening incidents, is one key message: We all have the power to innovate, whether or not we identify ourselves as creative or extraordinary.

Maybe you're the challenger, who thrives by constructively disrupting the status quo like Greta Thunberg. Or perhaps you find yourself constantly tweaking, prodding, breaking, rebuilding, and improving like crafters such as the team that revolutionized space travel called the NASA Pirates. Do you love introducing people whose combined efforts will lead to greater achievements? You might be a connector, like master networker Ariana Huffington.

In a runaway world that is an engine for perpetual crisis, Upshift is not only an essential toolkit for survival, it is a roadmap for positive, and potentially life-changing transformation and influence. You don't have to shut down-you can upshift.

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"Ramalingam is encouraging throughout [Upshift], urging readers to reframe problems and believe in their own innate abilities to enact change. A reassuring guide to empowerment." - Kirkus

Praise for Ben Ramalingam

“Beautifully clear writing and stories.” —Thomas Homer-Dixon, author of The Upside of Down

“Marrying science, policy and practice with a deep moral conscience, [Ramalingam] points to a future that that we should all be working towards.” —Peter Doherty, Nobel Laureate, Medicine

“Takes the readers on an impressive interdisciplinary tour……sets a new milestone…” —The Guardian

"Ramalingam sets out a challenge… to rethink our basic assumptions and to think and act in ways that are more attuned to the real world in all its complexities." —Sir Richard Jolly, Assistant Secretary General, United Nations

“Thought-provoking…ignore to [your] own detriment…” —The Economist

“Ramalingam skillfully draws upon a diverse body of ideas and research to deliver a vital message." —Philip Ball, author of Critical Mass, Winner of the Aventis Royal Society Book of the Year

“Ground-breaking… important and relevant…” —Financial Times

“[Ramalingam] points the way to a common sense far more appropriate to the 21st century world.”—Sir Geoff Mulgan, Chief Executive of the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts

“Ramalingam pushes his reader to question traditional wisdoms, navigate different disciplines, and value [e]xperience… Much needed…” —Noreena Hertz, author of Eyes Wide Open: How to Make Smart Decisions in a Confusing World

Kirkus Reviews

2022-12-23
How to foster positive responses to stress.

Ramalingam, a specialist in international crisis management and executive director of the United Kingdom Humanitarian Innovation Hub, draws on research in neuroscience and psychology, as well as his own experiences, to offer practical advice on how to respond to stress and pressure. “With too little stress and pressure,” he asserts, “we become disengaged, de-motivated, and unfulfilled.” On the other hand, moments of crisis may inspire us “to transcend our limitations, and to overcome the inertia of habits, the weight of accepted practices, and the thick treacle of institutional memory.” He counters the assumption “that stress and pressure kill performance and creativity” by examining many real-life examples—from Capt. Chesley Sullenberger to Greta Thunberg—to show “how there are in fact liberating opportunities to be found even in the most extreme of conditions.” Ramalingam identifies three traits that foster creativity under stress: mental attitude (“our subjective assessment of whether something is a threat or a challenge”); our ability to engage in original thinking; and our having a sense of purpose. He further identifies six styles of “upshifting”: Challengers explore problems to look for “novel adaptations to the new reality rather than expecting reality to adapt to their beliefs.” Crafters, such as Thomas Edison, bring creativity and skill to develop practical solutions to problems. Connectors forge networks to provide support and insight. Combiners build bridges between disciplines and translate different areas of knowledge. Corroborators pose questions, explore approaches, and assess the consequences of actions. Conductors bring the skills of orchestra leaders to problem-solving in areas beyond music by instilling courage, creating space to improvise, and sharing a sense of the big picture. Ramalingam is encouraging throughout the book, urging readers to reframe problems and believe in their own innate abilities to enact change.

A reassuring guide to empowerment.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940176003789
Publisher:	Macmillan Audio
Publication date:	02/07/2023
Edition description:	Unabridged

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