Distancing
How Great Leaders Reframe to Make Better Decisions
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Distancing
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About this listen
Brought to you by Penguin.
Distance gives you perspective. Bestselling author of Turn the Ship Around! David Marquet and professor of psychology Michael Gillespie show you how to make better decisions by becoming your own coach.
Be yourself. Be fully present. Be in the moment. That is the message we hear constantly. Yet, the biggest obstacle to making wiser, more successful decisions is often... ourselves. Our limited perspective biases our choices, leading us to defend past actions rather than seek better alternatives. We need to step outside our narrow view and gain an objective, fresh perspective. In other words, we need a coach.
In Distancing, former David Marquet and Michael Gillespie show us how to coach ourselves into making better decisions using a powerful mental technique called psychological distancing. By practicing:
• Self-distancing: we can be someone else, adopting a neutral observer’s perspective.
• Spatial distancing: we can be somewhere else, zooming out and seeing ourselves as part of a larger picture.
• Temporal distancing: we can be sometime else, assessing our decisions through the eyes of our future self.
Backed by compelling scientific research, real-world examples and hands-on exercises,
Distancing empowers you to break free from self-limiting patterns and make clearer, smarter choices. The tools are simple. The impact is profound.
© L. David Marquet 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025
Critic Reviews
'A key challenge we all struggle with at times is the ability to extract ourselves from the immediacy of the moment when we become too overwhelmed to think clearly and objectively. Distancing provides readers with a tactical, science-based blueprint for managing these situations. Clearly written and deeply researched, it’s a tour-de-force' (Ethan Kross, bestselling author of Shift and Chatter)
'Distancing makes so much sense, it should be required reading for Earthlings. The stories are page-turning, the science is dazzling and the advice comes in plain English. Want to level up your life by making smarter decisions? Start with this book' (Lynn Sherr, journalist and bestselling author)
'The best leaders don’t just react—they step back, gain perspective and make better decisions. Distancing unlocks that hidden ability in all of us. If you want to make better decisions, you need to read this book' (Verne Harnish, Founder of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) and author of Start to Scale)
'Distancing promises an approach that transforms the navigation of both professional challenges and personal dilemmas. Learning to gain distance from yourself is the ultimate cognitive hack: the ability to outsmart your own biases and make decisions that truly align with your long-term goals. These psychological techniques aren't just theoretical—they're a radical tool for personal reinvention' (Annie Duke, author of Thinking in Bets)
'Why do bridge teams equipped with the necessary information still make bad decisions? This book answers that question and tells us what we can do about it -- for ourselves and for our teams' (John Konrad V, Founder of gCaptain)