Reviews for Rational choice

The average rating for Rational choice based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-05-12 00:00:00 Larry W Plemons Jr It's unfortunate that the system won't let me give this less than one star. Like many business books, this book can be summarized on a postcard: Take more personal responsibility for the problems you encounter. Don't ask questions that blame other people, or express frustration (e.g., "Why is this happening to me?") Instead, ask the "Question Behind the Question (QBQ) (e.g., "How can I improve this?"). The message itself has some value, but the book over-promises on its usefulness and under-delivers on how to actually use it. Let me see if I can summarize all the reasons this is a terrible book: Problems with the book itself (not the message): * No evidence. There is nothing, not even an anecdote, that shows anyone applying the QBQ principle and having their life or business improve. * No structure. The book is a string of platitudes and anecdotes. * Ineffective anecdotes. None of the anecdotes correlate directly to the message. None of the anecdotes are of people using the QBQ method. * Asking the "Question Behind the Question" does not directly correlate with the core message of personal accountability (expressions of frustration and blame can be made without asking a question) * Too many logical fallacies (I won't bore you with a list) Problems with the message: * Personal accountability is fine, but this book presents it as a silver bullet for success and doesn't examine the nuances of it. * Huge difference between using personal accountability to solve a problem (which is what the book focuses on) and using personal accountability to initiate a conversation with others about working to solve the problem. Doesn't explain when you'd want to use which approach. * Encourages people to act, regardless of the consequences. This book seems like it would be best for a passive-aggressive manager to give to his employees to read so that he doesn't have to spend time training them. The biggest problem with the book is that ideally, it's unnecessary. If you focus on other aspects of business, such as building a culture of freedom and responsibility, optimism, and open and honest communication, any problems with "personal accountability" will take care of themselves. If people aren't taking personal accountability in your company, you probably have a deeper problem elsewhere in your corporate culture. Unfortunately, this book encourages you, not to look deeper into the root cause of the problem, but to use "personal accountability" to take action and solve the superficial manifestations of the problem.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-03-26 00:00:00 Joanne Latham This book was required reading at a large retail department store chain, where I worked,when it was taken over by new management. "QBQ" became our new mantra and managers were constantly hounding us to answer the "Question Behind the Question." It's certainly light reading and not much of a challenge intellectually; it does make suggestions that encourage excellent customer service - there is nothing wrong with that, but...the overall premise, that there are no limits to providing such service, is questionable. I believe in civility and respect when dealing with customers, helping them with their needs and making the process as satisfactory as possible, but I also believe that stopping at nothing to give the customer what he/she wants is the best way to create a monster. Customers become arrogant,rude, crazy with power and an attitude that they are entitled to satisfaction at any cost (a cost not to borne by them of course); once you give them what they want, they want - no demand - more. Sorry, I'm going off on a tangent here, but I think books that espouse philosophies such as this book does are actually dangerous. I no longer work for the retail giant, and as far as I know QBQ has fallen by the wayside.