Focus: Use Different Ways of Seeing the World for Success and Influence

“A must-read for anyone who wants to understand why they behave as they do.” —Art Markman, Ph.D., author of Smart Thinking

Do you play to win? Or do you play not to lose?

As Tory Higgins and Heidi Grant Halvorson have discovered in their work at Columbia University’s Motivation Science Center, everything we do is motivated either by a desire to be better off or to simply hang on to what we’ve got. And understanding the simple but crucial difference between the two can empower you to motivate yourself and influence everyone around you. Examining how promotion/prevention focus applies across a wide range of situations—from selling products to managing employees to raising children to getting a second date—Halvorson and Higgins show us how to identify, change, and use focus to get the results we want.

Heidi Grant Halvorson is a social psychologist, author, and popular speaker. She is the author of Succeed and Focus.

E. Tory Higgins is the author of Beyond Pleasure and Pain. He is Stanley Schachter Professor of Psychology at Columbia University and Professor of Management at the Columbia Business School. Both authors live in New York City and are directors of Columbia University’s Motivation Science Center.