FT Business Book of the Year

Best business books

All the books longlisted for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award

What Works by Iris Bohnet

What Works

Presenting research-based solutions, Iris Bohnet hands us the tools we need to move the needle in classrooms and boardrooms, in hiring and promotion, benefiting businesses, governments, and the lives of millions. What Works is built on new insights into the human mind — Harvard University Press

Synopsis

Gender equality is a moral and a business imperative. But unconscious bias holds us back, and de-biasing people’s minds has proven to be difficult and expensive. Diversity training programmes have had limited success, and individual effort alone often invites backlash. Behavioural design offers a solution. By de-biasing organisations instead of individuals, we can make smart changes that have big impacts. Presenting research-based solutions, Iris Bohnet hands us the tools we need to move the needle in classrooms and boardrooms, in hiring and promotion, benefiting businesses, governments, and the lives of millions.

What Works is built on new insights into the human mind. It draws on data collected by companies, universities, and governments in Australia, India, Norway, the UK, the US, Zambia, and other countries, often in randomised controlled trials. It points out dozens of evidence-based interventions that could be adopted immediately and demonstrates how research is addressing gender bias, improving lives and performance. What Works shows what more can be done–often at shockingly low cost and surprisingly high speed.