Friend and Foe

Sep 21, 2024 3:35 PM

Author:Adam Galinsky,Maurice Schweitzer

Friend and Foe

Is it in our best interest to compete or to cooperate?

Some have argued that humans are fundamentally competitive and that pursuing our self-interest is the best way to get ahead. Others believe that we are hard-wired to cooperate and are most successful when we collaborate with others.

In Friend and Foe, leading psychologists Adam Galinsky and Maurice Schweitzer draw on original, cutting-edge research to explain why this debate misses the mark. They argue that it is only by learning how to strike the right balance between competition and cooperation that we can improve long-term relationships and maximise success in work and life.

Galinsky and Schweitzer show how holding these two forces in the right balance can enable us to turn weaknesses into strengths, to recognise deception and build trust, and to improve our powers of negotiation without alienating our counterparts. Along the way, they also offer answers to a number of perplexing puzzles, from how too much talent can undermine a team’s success, to why ending an auction at 2am can get you the best outcome, to when acting less competently can help you gain status.

This book is a guide for better navigating your social world by learning when to cooperate as a friend and when to compete as a foe – and how to be better at both.

Reviews

This book is a treasure trove of golden nuggets of information and gem-like insights into the processes that govern social exchange. We all have to cooperate and compete to succeed. Friend and Foe provides the best roadmap I've ever seen for doing so—by a mile.

—— Robert B. Cialdini, author of INFLUENCE

Galinsky and Schweitzer are star researchers and teachers. Here they use their talents to bring order to the often contradictory research on when to cooperate and compete, and they distill their insights into practical tips that anybody can use.

—— Chip Heath, co-author of MADE TO STICK and SWITCH

Two of the most respected scholars on success explain how you can get along and get ahead. Their guided tour of how to cooperate and how to compete is authoritative, entertaining, and eminently practical!

—— Angela Duckworth, University of Pennsylvania

Friend and Foe is a fascinating voyage through the science of cooperation and competition. Discover why we compare ourselves to our Facebook friends, many gender differences are really due to power differences, and it’s usually best to make the first offer in a negotiation.

—— Adam Grant, author of GIVE AND TAKE

Adam Phillips is single-handedly continuing the tradition of the world's best essayists

—— Observer

He's brilliant

—— John Carey

Phillips radiates infectious charm

—— Sunday Times

Publisher's description. Adam Phillips elegantly unfolds the concept of the 'unforbidden', from the Old Testament to Freud and beyond, exploring the philosophical, psychological and social complexities that govern human desire and shape our reality.

—— Penguin

A fascinating look at the science of food and how our perception is shaped by all our senses, not just taste

—— Sunday Times

If simply changing the name of a dish on a menu or the color of the plate on which it is served can dramatically alter our perception of taste and food quality, then everyone in the restaurant industry needs to read this and take a deeper look at the scientific secrets Professor Spence reveals in Gastrophysics

—— Larry Olmsted, New York Times bestselling author of 'Real Food, Fake Food: What You Don’t Know About What You’re Eating & What You Can Do About It'

Wonderfully curious and thought-provoking . . . brilliant

—— Bee Wilson , Guardian

Spence cheerily whisks the reader through the senses like a magician . . . a mind-bending menu of fascinating insights

—— Nicola Davis , Observer

Revealing, very interesting and well worth understanding . . . highly enlightening

—— Rose Prince , Spectator

Spence takes a jovial pleasure in puncturing our perceptions and showing that there's a lot more going on in our mouths than what we think we're tasting . . . Spence has given us much food for thought

—— Julia Platt Leonard , Independent

A chatty whirl through the latest discoveries and their real-world applications

—— Rachel Laudan , Wall Street Journal

I wanted to reach out and thank you for your absolutely brilliant book Gastrophysics. As a thirty year restaurant veteran just venturing out on my own into the wild world of consulting, I found your research confirmed many of my long-held beliefs while adding tons of things I had never considered.

—— Sean S. Reiter, Chief Synthesist, Sean Reiter Consulting

It can't fail to entertain, inform and ultimately dazzle

—— Heston Blumenthal, chef and owner of The Fat Duck, on The Perfect Meal

This is a book to open the eyes and broaden the mind.

—— World of Cruising

As always, Solomon gets into the far corners of things, including people’s minds… He’s also very sharp on South Africa, China, Libya, Romania, and Brexit Britain, among others. He’s an expert on turmoil.

—— William Leith , Evening Standard

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