Synopses & Reviews
Karl Albrecht's bestselling book Social Intelligence showed us how dealing with people and social situations can determine success both at work and in life. Now, in this groundbreaking book Practical Intelligence, Albrecht takes the next step and explains how practical intelligence (PI) qualifies as one of the key life skills and offers a conceptual structure for defining and describing common sense.
Throughout Practical Intelligence, Albrecht shows how people with practical intelligence can employ language skills, make better decisions, think in terms of options and possibilities, embrace ambiguity and complexity, articulate problems clearly and work through to solutions, have original ideas, and influence the ideas of others. Albrecht shows that everyone's PI skills can be improved with proper education and training and challenges all of usfrom parents and teachers to executives and managersto upgrade our own skills and help others develop their own PI abilities.
In his highly readable and thought-provoking style, Karl Albrecht describes the actual structure of common sense. He outlines the four key mental habits that can unlock mental capacity: developing mental flexibility; affirmative thinking; adopting language habits that are semantically sane; and valuing ideas. Then he shows us, step-by-step, how to develop the four integrative "mega-skills" of Bivergent Thinking, Helicopter Thinking, Intulogical Thinking, and Viscerational Thinking. Albrecht shares plenty of examples, illustrations, stories, and exercises to guide us to ever higher levels of practical intelligence.
Albrecht explains the scientific aspects of practical intelligence and brings it down-to-earth with concrete examples, stories, cases, and practical exercises. Practical Intelligence is the perfect companion of anyone who wants to learn how to think more clearly and effectively.
Review
"Albrecht’s practical intelligence builds on the ideas of multiple intelligence, outlining a series of guidelines and exercises to promote better approaches to problem solving" (Financial Times, Thursday 19th July 2007)
Synopsis
Karl Albrecht's bestselling book Social Intelligence showed us how dealing with people and social situations can determine success both at work and in life. Now, in this groundbreaking book Practical Intelligence, Albrecht takes the next step and explains how practical intelligence (PI) qualifies as one of the key life skills and offers a conceptual structure for defining and describing common sense.
Throughout Practical Intelligence, Albrecht shows how people with practical intelligence can employ language skills, make better decisions, think in terms of options and possibilities, embrace ambiguity and complexity, articulate problems clearly and work through to solutions, have original ideas, and influence the ideas of others. Albrecht shows that everyone's PI skills can be improved with proper education and training and challenges all of usfrom parents and teachers to executives and managersto upgrade our own skills and help others develop their own PI abilities.
In his highly readable and thought-provoking style, Karl Albrecht describes the actual structure of common sense. He outlines the four key mental habits that can unlock mental capacity: developing mental flexibility; affirmative thinking; adopting language habits that are semantically sane; and valuing ideas. Then he shows us, step-by-step, how to develop the four integrative "mega-skills" of Bivergent Thinking, Helicopter Thinking, Intulogical Thinking, and Viscerational Thinking. Albrecht shares plenty of examples, illustrations, stories, and exercises to guide us to ever higher levels of practical intelligence.
Albrecht explains the scientific aspects of practical intelligence and brings it down-to-earth with concrete examples, stories, cases, and practical exercises. Practical Intelligence is the perfect companion of anyone who wants to learn how to think more clearly and effectively.
Synopsis
Praise for Practical Intelligence
"Karl Albrecht has done an excellent job of integrating the many dimensions of practical intelligence into a coherent, sensible framework. This is an eminently practical book."
Daniel Pink, author, A Whole New Mind
"What could be more important than helping people, at every age and stage of life, learn to use their minds more successfully? Karl Albrecht has given us a terrific resource for doing just that. His four 'software upgrades' and four 'mega-skills' provide a wonderfully comprehensive framework for practical intelligence."
Dr. Sidney J. Parnes, co-developer with Alex Osborn of the Creative Education Foundation
"This brilliant, ebullient, and brainy book brings us new means to gray matter. At turns high-minded and hilarious, Practical Intelligence will remain the source book for many years of the best thinking about thinking well."
Jean Houston, author, The Possible Human
Synopsis
Karl Albrecht's bestselling book Social Intelligence showed us how dealing with people and social situations can determine success both at work and in life. Now, in this groundbreaking book Practical Intelligence, Albrecht takes the next step and explains how practical intelligence (PI) qualifies as one of the key life skills and offers a conceptual structure for defining and describing common sense.
Throughout Practical Intelligence, Albrecht explains that people with practical intelligence can employ language skills, make better decisions, think in terms of options and possibilities, embrace ambiguity and complexity, articulate problems clearly and work through to solutions, have original ideas, and influence the ideas of others. Albrecht shows that everyone's PI skills can be improved with proper education and training and challenges all of us--from parents and teachers to executives and managers--to upgrade our own skills and help others develop their own PI abilities.
Synopsis
Karl Albrecht’s bestselling book
Social Intelligence showed us how dealing with people and social situations can determine success both at work and in life. Now, in this groundbreaking book
Practical Intelligence, Albrecht takes the next step and explains how practical intelligence (PI) qualifies as one of the key life skills and offers a conceptual structure for defining and describing common sense.
Throughout Practical Intelligence, Albrecht explains that people with practical intelligence can employ language skills, make better decisions, think in terms of options and possibilities, embrace ambiguity and complexity, articulate problems clearly and work through to solutions, have original ideas, and influence the ideas of others. Albrecht shows that everyone’s PI skills can be improved with proper education and training and challenges all of us—from parents and teachers to executives and managers—to upgrade our own skills and help others develop their own PI abilities.
About the Author
Karl Albrecht is a management consultant, executive advisor, futurist, speaker, and author. As Chairman of Karl Albrecht International, he oversees the practical application of his ideas through consulting, seminars, and publishing. He is a prolific writer and the author of the bestselling Service America!, The Northbound Train, Brain Power, The Power of Minds At Work, and Social Intelligence.
Table of Contents
Preface.
1. A Problem and an Opportunity.
Accidental Intelligence: The Terminal Assumption.
The Widening "Smart Gap".
The Dumbing of America and the Culture of Amusement.
Knows and Know-Nots: The New Social Divide.
Who Cares? Who Needs to Care?
2. Multiple Intelligences: The Possible Human.
IQ Doesn't Tell the Whole Story.
There Are at Least Six Kinds of "Smart".
Building Out: Applying Theory to Everyday Life.
Build-Out 1: Emotional Intelligence.
Build-Out 2: Social Intelligence.
The Next Build-Out: Practical Intelligence.
3. What Is Practical Intelligence?
Thinking Is a Bodily Function.
Meet Your Biocomputer.
Brain Cycles, Brainwaves, Brain States, and the Daily Trance.
Mind-Modules: You Have Many "Minds".
Mind-Models: Your Portable Reality.
Four Habits That Unlock Your Mental Capacity.
Four Dimensions of PI: Your Mega-Skills.
Getting Started: Upgrading Your Mental "Software".
4. Mental Software Upgrade 1: Developing Mental Flexibility.
Are You a Finished Product?
Dynamic Thinking and Archaic Thinking.
You Might Be a Mental Redneck . . .
The Creative Paradox.
The "Beginner's Mind&": Innocence and Humility.
The "Plexity" Scale.
There Is No Truth--Only Your Truth, His Truth, Her Truth, Their Truth . . .
How I Learned to Stop Arguing with People.
A New Way to Think About Opinions.
Three Phrases That Can Keep Your Mind Open.
5. Mental Software Upgrade 2: Adopting Affirmative Thinking.
Cleaning Out the Attic: Mental Decontamination.
"Sensorship": Choosing What You Will Allow into Your Mind.
Resistance to Enculturation, a.k.a. "Crap Detecting".
Cleanse Your Mind with a "Media Fast".
Re-Engineering Your Attitudes.
The Attitude of Gratitude.
The Attitude of Abundance.
Practical Altruism.
Meditation, Mindmovies, and Affirmations.
6. Mental Software Upgrade 3: Adopting Sane Language Habits.
Language as Mental Software: What You Say Is What You Think.
The "Cookie Cutter" Effect of Language.
Jumping to Confusions: Inferential Thinking.
"Clean" and "Dirty"