This is the Read to Lead podcast episode 562, February 2025.

It gives us a more holistic understanding of individuals, and it also allows us to break out of this notion

that we're just being put in a box. I think that's always what people didn't like when it

comes to personality psychology is like, yeah, you're just really putting me in this box here,

and that's why I have to stay. That's no longer true. As algorithms become increasingly adept

at assessing the human mind, they also become more and more

powerful at controlling it, enticing us to buy a certain product or vote for a certain political

candidate. Some of us say this technological trend is no big deal. Others consider it one of the

greatest threats to humanity. But what if the truth is more nuanced and mind-bending than that?

Hi, I'm Jeff, and this is the Read to Lead podcast with our second installment of 2025.

Our February book is Mindmasters, the data-driven science of predicting and changing human behavior by Sondra Matz.

There are more pieces of digital data than there are stars in the universe.

This data helps us monitor our planet, the cipher our genetic code, and take a deep dive

into our psychology.

And in Mind Masters, Columbia Business School professor Sondra Mats reveals in fascinating detail how big data offers insights into the most intimate aspects of our psyches and how these insights empower and external influence over the choices we make.

This can be creepy, manipulative, and downright harmful.

Yet big data also holds enormous potential

to help us live healthier, happier lives. Mindmasters is a riveting look at what our digital

footprints reveal about us, how they're being used for good and for ill, and how we can gain

power over the data that defines us. If you like what you hear today and want to join a community of like-minded people,

where we dig deeper into these topics face-to-face in our live monthly trainings and in numerous other ways,

then you want to be a member of the Read to Lead community.

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