The Spirit of Kaizen

This little book isn't strictly clinical, but is written by a psychologist and largely overlaps with his other great Kaizen book, One Small Step Can Change Your Life, hence my categories. Dr. Maurer's insight is really helpful to read after having a managerial role for a year, and heading into a new one now; I hadn't had this thought before, but there is a lot about Kaizen in the workplace that dovetails beautifully with Alison Green's approach on Ask a Manager, which is such a beacon of workplace sanity in late-stage capitalism. To summarize, which risks making this approach to personal and professional excellence sound less sophisticated and wise than it is, using Kaizen principles entails always looking for the smallest steps and most sustainable approaches to change, which is both psychologically healthy for individuals and the larger ecosystem of workplaces, and how to maintain gains over time. It's the opposite of “disruption,” and I wish a lot more people had the patience and long-range vision to utilize these principles. I'm certainly going to be trying to.