{"product_id":"flawed-strategy-why-smart-leaders-make-bad-decisions-paperback-softback-9781509566709","title":"Flawed Strategy; Why Smart Leaders Make Bad Decisions (Paperback \/ softback) 9781509566709","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eFlawed Strategy\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eWhy Smart Leaders Make Bad Decisions\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eBeatrice Heuser (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781509566709, Polity Press\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePaperback \/ softback, published 17 January 2025\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e208 pages\u003cbr\u003e21.3 x 13.7 x 1.8 cm, 0.272 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Using admirably straightforward language, Beatrice Heuser explains why time and again seemingly intelligent and well-informed leaders make poor strategic decisions and thereby wreck people's lives. I urge the wannabe leaders of tomorrow to read her book and learn from the many examples she gives of how making unwarranted assumptions about the adversary and failure to correct for biases leads to disaster.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSir David Omand GCB, King's College London\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Richly animated with historical and contemporary vignettes, \u003ci\u003eFlawed Strategy\u003c\/i\u003e offers a compelling analysis of the challenges associated with assessing adversary intentions. It is an essential read for scholars, students, and practitioners of strategy.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSara Moller, Georgetown University\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"This provocative book shows that attempts to analyse adversarial decision makers in mechanistic terms, either as rational actors driven by mathematical adherence to cost-benefit economics, or in adherence to some international relations theory, are fallacious. It shows that decision-making is emotive, political, and all too human. This book exposes, with searing insight, the biases, influences, and outright failures that punctuate our history.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRobert Johnson, University of Oxford\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Beatrice Heuser is one of the leading strategic thinkers of this generation. Her clarity of thinking and incisive analytical mind is on full display in this excellent tome. It is both a guide for policy makers and a stark warning about the dangers of foggy thinking.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJohn Bew, King's College London\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Punchy and provocative\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eForeign\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e Affairs\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Beatrice Heuser deploys her expertise refreshingly, including explaining where and why she has changed her mind.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eEngelsberg Ideas\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhy did Volodymyr Zelensky doubt that Russia was preparing a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022? Why did British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain decide to 'do business with Herr Hitler' in Munich in 1938? And how was it that Israeli elites dismissed intelligence warnings of the Hamas attack in 2023? Had they not learned their lesson from the Egyptian‒Syrian attack on Yom Kippur fifty years earlier?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn all these cases, smart decision makers misjudged their adversaries, largely because they failed to understand how their enemies' actions and strategies were shaped by different values and beliefs to their own. We may think such beliefs are irrational merely because we do not share them. They may appear confusing and ill judged. But as Beatrice Heuser ably shows in this pithy book, strategy making is a tricky business, marred by bias, irrationality, bureaucratic politics, colliding government interests, and complex procedures and structures. Assessing our adversaries as not only irrational but also illogical is a dangerous game that can lead to flawed and, on occasions, catastrophically bad decisions. This book explains why.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eAcknowledgements\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePreface\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIntroduction\u003cbr\u003e1 The Rational\/Irrational Actor Fallacy\u003cbr\u003e2 Our Biases\u003cbr\u003e3 Knowns and Unknowns (And How We Use Them)\u003cbr\u003e4 Flaws and Quandries of Strategy Making\u003cbr\u003eEpilogue\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eSelect Bibliography\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eEndnotes\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eSubject Areas: Politics \u0026amp; government [\u003ca title=\"See our other books on Politics \u0026amp; government\" href=\"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/search?q=%22Politics%20\u0026amp;%20government%20%5BJP%5D%22\"\u003eJP\u003c\/a\u003e]\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Polity","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52449472872728,"sku":"9781509566709","price":15.55,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0730\/2037\/5320\/files\/9781509566709.jpg?v=1785201082","url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/flawed-strategy-why-smart-leaders-make-bad-decisions-paperback-softback-9781509566709","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}