Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence

For more than two decades, psychologist and journalist Daniel Goleman has been scouting the leading edge of the human sciences for what's new, surprising, and important. In Focus, he delves into the science of attention in all its varieties, presenting a long overdue discussion of this little-noticed and under-rated mental asset that matters enormously for how we navigate life.

Goleman boils down attention research into a three parts: inner, other, and outer focus. Goleman shows why high-achievers need all three kinds of focus, as demonstrated by rich case studies from fields as diverse as competitive sports, education, the arts, and business. Those who excel rely on what Goleman calls Smart Practices such as mindfulness meditation, show more focused preparation and recovery, positive emotions and connections, and mental 'prosthetics' that help them improve habits, add new skills, and sustain excellence. Combining cutting-edge research with practical findings, Focus reveals what distinguishes experts from amateurs and stars from average performers. show less

All the online reviews which point out the irony of this book's complete lack of focus are exactly right. It is a grab bag of short and superficial treatments of diverse subjects which have all been treated better elsewhere. Many of the subjects have only a tangential relationship to what is apparently the main topic of the book, namely attention. For example, global warming gets a guernsey because it is an important problem, so we should all pay attention to it!. And writing about the marshmallow test as if you're not the 98th person to do so in print is an insult to the reader's intelligence.

Goleman's book is a bland melange of politically correct truisms and resume wagging claiming to be science/advice/insight. Claims focus is the key to excellence but spends most of his time talking about mindfulness and saving the world. Title should have been, "Mindfulness can save the world," but that would not have flown off the business shelf at the airport news stand. Goleman is a narcissistic bore. Half his anecdotes seem to revolve around another line on his resume. The story of the online poker fiend ends with the rounder purchasing a copy of one of Goleman's books. Oh, and didn't you know, it was Goleman not Malcolm Gladwell that first reported on the whole 10,000 hours to mastery concept. Goleman is more than happy to spend an show more irrelevant chapter telling you so. show less

In "Focus" Daniel Goleman takes a wide-ranging perspective on the subject of attention. Goleman explains how what individuals and organizations focus on impacts learning, creativity, relationships, parenting, emotional intelligence, systems, gaming, the environment, leadership, and more. Goleman admits in an endnote that such breadth of coverage precludes depth of explanation. However, he provides a helpful section on resources for those wanting to explore in more depth topics the book touches on. Goleman does a good job in identifying the role of focus in many aspects of our personal and organizational lives. His lively writing style stimulates the reader’s curiosity to want to know more. Goleman mentions some ways we can increase show more focus, but this is not a how-to book. Goleman gets us to pay attention to the importance of focus. The reader will need to explore other resources to learn the skills for strengthening focus. show less

Some good stuff, but scattershot. More like a series of magazine articles than a book; more like reportage than writing.

Empieza bien pero poco a poco se va convirtiendo en un manual de coaching para directivos. Un poco peñazo

I admired all the previous works of Daniel Goleman. For me "Emotional Intelligence" and "Working With Emotional Intelligence" stand out as his best works.

Focus - I hate to say this but this book left me very confused. As my fellow reviewers pointed this book lacked focus. Mr. Goleman has rambled and certain sections of the book is discursive.

I felt this books as a dissertation or a white paper than as a self-help book. There are no actionable items. Just a text book.


Some of the sections are very good on their own, but they fail to dovetail into the context of Focus. For example, chapters in section 4, "The Bigger Context" are interesting but left me wondering what they have got to do anything with Focus. To certain the same can be show more said about section 3, "Reading Others" - I felt this section has more to do with Emotional Intelligence than with focus.

I loved the section, "Smart Practice" - to me that's the only take away from this book. show less