Overview

"How understanding the signaling within social networks can change the way we make decisions, work with others, and manage organizations.How can you know when someone is bluffing? Paying attention? Genuinely interested? The answer, writes Alex Pentland in Honest Signals, is that subtle patterns in how we interact with other people reveal our attitudes toward them. These unconscious social signals are not just a back channel or a complement to our conscious language; they form a separate communication network. Biologically based ""honest signaling,"" evolved from ancient primate signaling mechanisms, offers an unmatched window into our intentions, goals, and values. If we understand this ancient channel of communication, Pentland claims, we can accurately predict the outcomes of situations ranging from job interviews to first dates. Pentland, an MIT professor, has used a specially designed digital sensor worn like an ID badge-a ""sociometer""-to monitor and analyze the back-and-forth patterns of signaling among groups of people. He and his researchers found that this second channel of communication, revolving not around words but around social relations, profoundly influences major decisions in our lives-even though we are largely unaware of it. Pentland presents the scientific background necessary for understanding this form of communication, applies it to examples of group behavior in real organizations, and shows how by ""reading"" our social networks we can become more successful at pitching an idea, getting a job, or closing a deal. Using this ""network intelligence"" theory of social signaling, Pentland describes how we can harness the intelligence of our social network to become better managers, workers, and communicators."

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Reviews

A technology poised to change the world. -- Technology Review Honest Signals has a lot to offer. It's evolutionary, with apes and human ancestors popping up throughout. It's systems-oriented, driven by the recognition that 'an effective group can potentially be smarter than any of its individual members.' It offers data to support its theory. -- Barbara J. King, Bookslut Pentland's lucid treatment of complicated psychobiological principles effectively enables lay readers to grasp difficult but significant concepts... Similar in scope to Malcolm Gladwell's Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Pentland's book is better-suited and recommended for university collections. -- Library Journal People are communicating more now than ever before, and we frequently joke about how great it would be to simply turn off our cell phones. Well, you should, for at least as long as it takes to read Sandy Pentland's Honest Signals. Sociometers are now gathering early data on the dominance of our nonlinguistic communications and their importance in increasing our 'network intelligence.' This book will help shape the future of communication. --Bob Metcalfe, 3Com founder, Ethernet inventor, and National Technology Medalist Sandy Pentland, always ahead of everyone, has captured in this snappy and well written book, the deep signals we use to communicate and how they shape and reveal our social behavior. A must read. --Michael S. Gazzaniga, Director, Sage Center for the Study of Mind, University of California, Santa Barbara A new understanding of organizational effectiveness. --Strategy+Business

A technology poised to change the world. Technology Review A technology poised to change the world. -- Technology Review A new understanding of organizational effectiveness. -- Strategy+Business A new understanding of organizational effectiveness. Strategy+Business Pentland's lucid treatment of complicated psychobiological principles effectively enables lay readers to grasp difficult but significant concepts... Similar in scope to Malcolm Gladwell's Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Pentland's book is better-suited and recommended for university collections. Library Journal Sandy Pentland, always ahead of everyone, has captured in this snappy and well written book, the deep signals we use to communicate and how they shape and reveal our social behavior. A must read. -- Michael S. Gazzaniga , Director, Sage Center for the Study of Mind, University of California, Santa Barbara

Pentland's lucid treatment of complicated psychobiological principles effectively enables lay readers to grasp difficult but significant concepts... Similar in scope to Malcolm Gladwell's Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Pentland's book is better-suited and recommended for university collections. * <i>Library Journal</i> * A new understanding of organizational effectiveness. * Strategy+Business * A technology poised to change the world. * Technology Review *

Pentland's lucid treatment of complicated psychobiological principles effectively enables lay readers to grasp difficult but significant concepts... Similar in scope to Malcolm Gladwell's Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Pentland's book is better-suited and recommended for university collections. -Library Journal A new understanding of organizational effectiveness. -Strategy+Business A technology poised to change the world. -Technology Review

Pentland's lucid treatment of complicated psychobiological principles effectively enables lay readers to grasp difficult but significant concepts... Similar in scope to Malcolm Gladwell's Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Pentland's book is better-suited and recommended for university collections. -Library Journal

Author Information

Alex Pentland holds a triple appointment at MIT in the Media Lab (SA+P), School of Engineering, and Sloan School of Management. He directs MIT's Connection Science initiative, the Human Dynamics Laboratory, and the MIT Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program. He is the author of Honest Signals- How They Shape Our World and coeditor of New Solutions for Cybersecurity (both published by the MIT Press). One of the most-cited computer scientists in the world, with international awards in the Arts, Sciences, and Engineering, he was chosen by Newsweek as one of the 100 Americans likely to shape this century.

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