At the moment I will only give a rating to the book and I hope it is possible for me to write down my reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. I am very grateful to you because your publications are great, especially in the topics that interest me most. Thanks and blessings.

Awesome story. Can’t wait to read more from this author!!!

A good self-help book that can help being a better human being. Great exercices!

INSIGHT [REVIEW]

If her book Insight: Why We’re Not as Self-Aware as We Think, and How Seeing Ourselves Clearly Helps Us Succeed at Work and In Life is anything to go by, I think I'd get along really well with author Tasha Eurich.

That's the thought that came to mind as I got deeper into her book, which is ironic because on the surface her profile encapsulates several things about which I am skeptical by default. She is a psychologist by training, and has parlayed this background into a successful career as a consultant and executive coach. More obviously, she's now authored what might be cynically described as a pop psychology self-help book on self-awareness.

Yet, notwithstanding my aversion to psychology, executive coaching, and self-help books, I find it hard to be cynical about what Eurich actually has to say, because her book makes a lot of sense.

Insight caught my attention because its premise was something that resonated with me. I consider myself an introvert and a very reflective person, so it goes without saying that a book which argues that people ought to be more self-aware is the sort of thing that would be in my wheelhouse. Indeed, Eurich makes a solid case that self-awareness is both a vital trait and a skill to be cultivated.

It begins with understanding what self-awareness itself is, which turns out to be more complex that it sounds. It's more than just being introspective, or reflective, or even "mindful" (and I take heart knowing that even Eurich considers meditation and mindfulness as, to use her own terminology, a little "woo-woo"). Rather, self-awareness has two dimensions: internal and external. To simplify, internal self-awareness pertains more to our self-knowledge–like being in touch and at peace with our internal monologue–while external self-awareness is how cognizant we are about the way that others perceive us. Cultivating one's self-awareness can reap dividends in terms of both personal development and relationship-building, especially in a world that increasingly appears to be overridden by what Eurich dubs the "cult of self." Ironically, it's often those who could benefit the most from being more self-aware who are either oblivious to the fact or are plain delusional about how great they already are–in short, the familiar the Dunning-Kruger effect.

In truth, Insight is more than just another book about the Dunning-Kruger effect. Eunich presents readers with the results of various studies on self-awareness, describes various real-life cases of clients she has worked with to improve their self-awareness, and conveys specific approaches and exercises that can help people become more self-aware. Inevitably, it's the latter that gives the book its "self-help" vibe, with several appendices of checklists and guides and to set eager readers along their way. Yet, assuming one were to gloss over these (as I did), the book still has plenty to offer as a treatise on the value of self-awareness in today's world in order for people to do more meaningful work, have more meaningful relationships, and thereby live more meaningful lives.

This book was thought-provoking and dispelled common beliefs about introspection and insight. Some of the research and tools were helpful and really interesting: asking "what" instead of "why"; figuring out who your "loving critics" are; the various questions and exercises in the appendix.

However, at times, this read like a wordy thesis or school essay (repeatedly saying things like "in the following chapters I will explain x, y and z" instead of just...explaining x, y and z!). Also, Eurich used examples that may be "famous" for psychology students or enthusiasts, but to laypeople, required more backstory and explanation to be useful (The Wolfman and Freud, for example). Finally, there were a few "real life" scenarios/case studies sprinkled throughout the "internal" section (the "external" section was overflowing with them), but more (say, one or two for each main idea/chapter) would not only help make the concepts concrete, but would make the book more lively and interesting.

In a pithy book, complete with an exhaustive list of citations, Eurich hypothesizes that self-awareness is the "new EQ" and is a better predictor for success. Unfortunately, the hypothesis and the rationale seems to have built from an assertion that a book need to be written with that focus than a hypothesis derived from first principles... When you wear rose glasses, everything is rosy....when you look from the lens of self-awareness, everything can be attributed to that. That, unfortunately, the weakness of the book.

Nevertheless, a clear articulation of the types of self-awareness and how to baseline, monitor, and perhaps build on it helps redeem the narrative. The portions focusing on personal development is much better than those focusing on corporate/team building - the latter comes across as cliched discussion found in any team building book... In some ways, the book reads as a narrow interpretation or application of the mindfulness bandwagon (Western authors seem to want to analyze Eastern philosophy as if it was an experiment, while keeping their Western biases...). Overall, an OK book that can give you some thoughts on understanding the "external perspective", but the repetitive concepts keep the book a tad too long.

This self-help book does deal somewhat with self-awareness. However, the bulk of useful, actionable information about that topic is in the first few chapters (from a personal growth standpoint which is what I was, personally, looking for). This book is more anecdotal and tells about the author's experiences as a corporate coach, primarily. The final chapter has some helpful tips for dealing with folks who are self-delusional, but the overall takeaway, is that corporate coaching and 360 feedback is the bomb.