The Power of Not Thinking: Why We Should Stop Thinking and Start Trusting Our Bodies

Description

Have you ever held out your hand to try and remember your PIN? Or acted out a golf stroke before going for it? Or just listened to your gut on a big decision? In this brilliant new book, leading business anthropologist Simon Roberts breaks down the revolutionary idea of embodied knowledge: the information that is unconsciously picked up by our body for use in almost every area of our lives. Drawing on his own experience working with some of the world's leading industry experts and looking at an incredible range of real-life examples and cutting-edge science, Roberts explains the various ways in which our body acquires, retains and employs information - and shows why we should learn to trust the instincts that inform the most crucial decisions and actions in our life. In The Power of Not Thinking, Roberts shows why Big Data doesn't have all the answers, why there are limits to what's possible with AI and why humans are capable of far more than we are currently led to believe. We just have to stop thinking and trust our bodies.

Simon Roberts is one the world's leading anthropologists in business. He advises some of the largest global organisations, including Intel, Facebook, Spotify, Google and many other Fortune 500 companies, through his London-based consultancy, Stripe Partners. His work has been covered by the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal and BBC Radio 4. This is his first book. He lives with his wife and three children in East Sussex.

Embodied habits matter deeply, as illustrated powerfully in Roberts' timely new book. * Financial Times * A humanistic perspective on tech * Maria Bezaitis, Intel * An incredibly thoughtful and thought-provoking book about the power of not over-thinking * Charles Leadbeater, social innovator and author * 'Has the potential to change the way you think about understanding people' * Martha Cotton, Fjord/Accenture * Roberts shows us that our bodies, as well as our minds, have a vital role to play in the contribution that human beings make * Stefan Stern, author of How To Be A Better Leader * An excellent and delightfully readable book * Christian Madsbjerg, Professor of Applied Humanities * This book is as timely as it is important. Bodies have always mattered but it takes a voice as clear as Simon Roberts to remind us of just how very much, and why embodiment should be a critical part of all our conversations about the future. * Genevieve Bell * A lovely account that explains why executives, financiers, policy makers (and everybody else) needs to embrace walking in someone else's shoes * Guardian *