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alyssakate's review against another edition
2.0
This is 100% a business book and not a book about life. I was immediately enticed by the title and thought it would have a lot of meaningful reflections and thoughts on how to create and live a life you are happy with, but I was wrong. It was such a letdown. Using grad school business cases to describe a marriage and life values doesn’t work for me.
laserlotus's review against another edition
5.0
I wish I could rate this book 10 out of 5 stars. I feel like I grew as a person and gained 5 years of experience after reading it.
rashmijha's review against another edition
Not rating because I don’t think I’m the target audience. Most of the content seemed pretty common-sense to me, but then again I can see how it would be really valuable to people who are entrenched in grindset mentality. Some interesting anecdotes and connections though.
anilkbhat's review against another edition
5.0
A very simple read, but very insightful. Found answers to some of the profound questions that I personally have been pondering over for a long time.
The first insight was into what makes someone motivated at work. The author gives the example of the hardest working people being employed in nonprofits and charitable organizations and the military. Another example is US Marines, who achieve a deep sense of attachment to the organization, peers and their country. The job almost kills them and they sacrifice so much for the corps. But you can see "Semper Fi" (always faithful) bumper stickers on cars all over the US. It is not because the work was easy, they feel this way because they gave so much of themselves for this cause. Probably answers why some people stay longer with a particular organization.
Few nuggets from the book to cherish-
"You can talk all you want about having a clear purpose and strategy for your life, but ultimately this means nothing if you are not investing the resources you have in way that is consistent with your strategy."
"When a company is faced with making an investment in future innovation, it usually crunches numbers to decide what to do from the perspective of its existing operations. It may decide to forego the investment if the marginal upside is not worth the marginal cost of undertaking the investment. That is the trap of marginal thinking. You can see the immediate costs of investing, but it is really hard to accurately see the costs of not investing. But the company that makes all its decisions through this marginal-cost lens will, eventually, pay the price. "
The first insight was into what makes someone motivated at work. The author gives the example of the hardest working people being employed in nonprofits and charitable organizations and the military. Another example is US Marines, who achieve a deep sense of attachment to the organization, peers and their country. The job almost kills them and they sacrifice so much for the corps. But you can see "Semper Fi" (always faithful) bumper stickers on cars all over the US. It is not because the work was easy, they feel this way because they gave so much of themselves for this cause. Probably answers why some people stay longer with a particular organization.
Few nuggets from the book to cherish-
"You can talk all you want about having a clear purpose and strategy for your life, but ultimately this means nothing if you are not investing the resources you have in way that is consistent with your strategy."
"When a company is faced with making an investment in future innovation, it usually crunches numbers to decide what to do from the perspective of its existing operations. It may decide to forego the investment if the marginal upside is not worth the marginal cost of undertaking the investment. That is the trap of marginal thinking. You can see the immediate costs of investing, but it is really hard to accurately see the costs of not investing. But the company that makes all its decisions through this marginal-cost lens will, eventually, pay the price. "
fairchildone's review against another edition
3.0
This was an expansion of Christensen's commencement address. The reason I give this a 3 is because I don't think the address really needed expanding. Some of it was repetitive, and sometimes I think his analogies between business principles and living life weren't quite there. If the book existed independent of the original address, I'd gladly give it a 4.
However, that said, lots of important lessons to take away from the book/speech. I think the most important takeaway is simply to think about how you will live your life: what are the values you will espouse, what is your purpose, how will you achieve your goals? The book gives us some tools to tackle those questions, and there's value in simply asking the reader to confront those questions. Reading the book with my wife led to interesting discussion--time well spent.
However, that said, lots of important lessons to take away from the book/speech. I think the most important takeaway is simply to think about how you will live your life: what are the values you will espouse, what is your purpose, how will you achieve your goals? The book gives us some tools to tackle those questions, and there's value in simply asking the reader to confront those questions. Reading the book with my wife led to interesting discussion--time well spent.
rodcasts's review against another edition
4.0
This book is a great overview of essential aspects of successful businesses, from the HR perspective to cultural and financial decisions. It is a useful book if you’re a leader of an organization like me or has ambitions to undertake not only managerial but general higher-up positions like becoming a parent.
TL;DR: Valuable takeaways for your career and life, highly recommend.
TL;DR: Valuable takeaways for your career and life, highly recommend.