Scan barcode
ibenmoulton's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
This book was my first professional development type book I've read, so I'm not really sure how to rate it in terms of stars. The final part was definitely the best part because it tied everything together and included some interesting factoids. I also was able to glean some good leadership techniques from this section, which was good and I hope to use them in some way. The sections where he included his personal experiences was also nice because it made it read less like a non-fiction book and more like a memoir; however, some of those anecdotes felt unnecessary and/or redundant--how many times do I gotta read something like "you might be wondering why I just moved to Nebraska".
I was also kind of put off by how neutral he was being about companies' disregard for employees. In my mind, they behave like that because of capitalism and the entire system we've created to consider companies people (at the expense of the actual people), but Buckingham kept saying it was because they were being "practical" or some other reason. While I understand needing to be less incendiary in a book that isn't about politics, I just found that reasoning to be a very watered down version of reality; I wanted it to introduce new insights and reframe my perceptions, but it didn't really do that for the bigger picture. Admittedly, I do have more tools and knowledge to move forward with love at the center of what I'm doing, which is nice, but I just wanted a more critical view of the business world I think. Maybe that's another book/genre all together, though, and this book was a good representation of what professional development books should be. I just don't have anything that I can compare it to.
The way he handled the data was also interesting. It was a weird mix of well-researched topics/information and vague ideas that felt like they were being passed off as factual. Idk, just saying that you're used to dealing with data/statistics and this book is a departure for you doesn't negate the fact that the information presented should still be based in something--and clearly stated otherwise if that's not the case. Overall, reading this book wasn't a waste of time because I did gain some good little nuggets, but I do think it could've been a lot shorter and accomplished the same thing.
I was also kind of put off by how neutral he was being about companies' disregard for employees. In my mind, they behave like that because of capitalism and the entire system we've created to consider companies people (at the expense of the actual people), but Buckingham kept saying it was because they were being "practical" or some other reason. While I understand needing to be less incendiary in a book that isn't about politics, I just found that reasoning to be a very watered down version of reality; I wanted it to introduce new insights and reframe my perceptions, but it didn't really do that for the bigger picture. Admittedly, I do have more tools and knowledge to move forward with love at the center of what I'm doing, which is nice, but I just wanted a more critical view of the business world I think. Maybe that's another book/genre all together, though, and this book was a good representation of what professional development books should be. I just don't have anything that I can compare it to.
The way he handled the data was also interesting. It was a weird mix of well-researched topics/information and vague ideas that felt like they were being passed off as factual. Idk, just saying that you're used to dealing with data/statistics and this book is a departure for you doesn't negate the fact that the information presented should still be based in something--and clearly stated otherwise if that's not the case. Overall, reading this book wasn't a waste of time because I did gain some good little nuggets, but I do think it could've been a lot shorter and accomplished the same thing.
thepopbot's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
1.5
Another book from work that was so slow to read. I hate these kinds of books and just want them off my shelf. Nothing against the author - just not my style. I enjoyed the chapter on education and how not everyone is fit for college and how the system is messed up. Everything else was just things i’ve read in other leadership books. Nothing new.