Masterfully written and genuinely appealing; an intelligent, meaningful study of success factors.
A retired corporate executive takes a fresh look at the meaning of success.
Seekri (Organizational Turnarounds with a Human Touch, 2010) distinguishes his work by suggesting that many books about success “are hooked on the methodology and the management of success, not on the most fundamental piece of the puzzle: our mindset of success.” The first section of the work does an admirable job of exploring that mindset, demonstrating that true success is, in fact, “dictated by our mind and guided by our heart.” In discussing mindset, the author calls upon some of his own experiences and offers pertinent observations by experts. Of particular interest is his intriguing chart contrasting the “classic mindset” with the “success mindset” as well as the graphical comparisons of “shock and aftershocks of failure” and “shock and aftershocks of success.” These insightful elements lend welcome illustrative support to the text. Section 2 is the most compelling portion of the volume; it presents detailed sketches of “seven role models.” These individuals exemplify “authentic success,” writes Seekri, who searched for five years to identify them. The group is made up of four men and three women of various ages and diverse backgrounds. Each person is accorded a substantial chapter that includes biographical information, extensive quotes from the individual, and the author’s astute comments about the triumphs each attained. Enrique Brower is one relevant example; a Cuban refugee who came to the United States as a child, he ultimately became a professor and executive consultant. “Success for me,” says Brower, “is equilibrium of mind, body, and spirit.” Seekri’s perceptive assessment of Brower’s achievement is summarized in “three priceless lessons” at the end of the chapter. The other six stories are equally mesmerizing. The author closes this section with an excellent encapsulation of the lessons learned from the seven subjects. The third part of the book lists the “ten commandments” for developing a “success mindset.” Here Seekri reprises some of the highlights of the seven tales and reinforces his own thoughtful views on the topic.
Masterfully written and genuinely appealing; an intelligent, meaningful study of success factors.Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5320-1409-3
Page Count: 286
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Readers unfamiliar with the anecdotal material Greene presents may find interesting avenues to pursue, but they should...
Greene (The 33 Strategies of War, 2007, etc.) believes that genius can be learned if we pay attention and reject social conformity.
The author suggests that our emergence as a species with stereoscopic, frontal vision and sophisticated hand-eye coordination gave us an advantage over earlier humans and primates because it allowed us to contemplate a situation and ponder alternatives for action. This, along with the advantages conferred by mirror neurons, which allow us to intuit what others may be thinking, contributed to our ability to learn, pass on inventions to future generations and improve our problem-solving ability. Throughout most of human history, we were hunter-gatherers, and our brains are engineered accordingly. The author has a jaundiced view of our modern technological society, which, he writes, encourages quick, rash judgments. We fail to spend the time needed to develop thorough mastery of a subject. Greene writes that every human is “born unique,” with specific potential that we can develop if we listen to our inner voice. He offers many interesting but tendentious examples to illustrate his theory, including Einstein, Darwin, Mozart and Temple Grandin. In the case of Darwin, Greene ignores the formative intellectual influences that shaped his thought, including the discovery of geological evolution with which he was familiar before his famous voyage. The author uses Grandin's struggle to overcome autistic social handicaps as a model for the necessity for everyone to create a deceptive social mask.
Readers unfamiliar with the anecdotal material Greene presents may find interesting avenues to pursue, but they should beware of the author's quirky, sometimes misleading brush-stroke characterizations.Pub Date: Nov. 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-670-02496-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The Stoics did much better with the much shorter Enchiridion.
A follow-on to the author’s garbled but popular 48 Laws of Power, promising that readers will learn how to win friends and influence people, to say nothing of outfoxing all those “toxic types” out in the world.
Greene (Mastery, 2012, etc.) begins with a big sell, averring that his book “is designed to immerse you in all aspects of human behavior and illuminate its root causes.” To gauge by this fat compendium, human behavior is mostly rotten, a presumption that fits with the author’s neo-Machiavellian program of self-validation and eventual strategic supremacy. The author works to formula: First, state a “law,” such as “confront your dark side” or “know your limits,” the latter of which seems pale compared to the Delphic oracle’s “nothing in excess.” Next, elaborate on that law with what might seem to be as plain as day: “Losing contact with reality, we make irrational decisions. That is why our success often does not last.” One imagines there might be other reasons for the evanescence of glory, but there you go. Finally, spin out a long tutelary yarn, seemingly the longer the better, to shore up the truism—in this case, the cometary rise and fall of one-time Disney CEO Michael Eisner, with the warning, “his fate could easily be yours, albeit most likely on a smaller scale,” which ranks right up there with the fortuneteller’s “I sense that someone you know has died" in orders of probability. It’s enough to inspire a new law: Beware of those who spend too much time telling you what you already know, even when it’s dressed up in fresh-sounding terms. “Continually mix the visceral with the analytic” is the language of a consultant’s report, more important-sounding than “go with your gut but use your head, too.”
The Stoics did much better with the much shorter Enchiridion.Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-42814-5
Page Count: 580
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
