Book Review - The Leap: How 3 Simple Changes Can Propel Your Career from Good to Great by Rick Smith
Category Book Review Rick Smith The Leap: How 3 Simple Changes Can Propel Your Career from Good to Great
I had heard about the book The Leap: How 3 Simple Changes Can Propel Your Career from Good to Great by Rick Smith in a few of the productivity blogs and tweets that I follow on a regular basis. These types of books tend to capture my interest, so I was pleased when I was offered a review copy of the book. In short, this is a book that spoke to me deeply for my current situation. You *don't* have to be a daredevil and risk everything to find yourself in a place where your passion and strengths come together in an incredible calling or career.
Contents:
"Great Work, You're Fired!"; The Now Trap - Stuck in the Status Quo; Breaking Away - The Three Rules; Primary Colors - Tapping the Energy Within; What Is My Primary Color?; Big Selfless, and Simple - How Ideas Become Contagious; The Spark Sequence - Stacking the Deck; Aristotle on a Lily Pad - A Perspective on Life-Work Design; Acknowledgments; Index
Rick Smith was like many of us... average. Not outstandingly excellent in what he did, but not at the bottom of the barrel, either. His job as a headhunter was OK, but it didn't light any fires within him. It wasn't until he wrote a book, The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers, that he started to regain some passion. Unfortunately, that passion was not something that fit in his employer's plans, and he found himself unemployed. He used that event and severance to launch an idea he had for a executive level networking group. And it took off far beyond what he could have ever imagined. But he was still just an average Joe. What was it that caused him to succeed in something that most people wouldn't even attempt?
Looking at his experience and the experiences of others who traveled that same path, he found three consistent steps that played out in many of those cases. First, you find your primary color, the spot where your passions overlay your strengths. Next, bring that primary color to bear on an idea that is big, selfless, and simple. These are ideas and plans that attract, inspire, and involve others. Then finally, you let the spark sequence happen. You mitigate your risks and let the idea move towards its inevitability into reality. It's this path that makes it possible to accomplish incredible things even though you're just "average", without the resources of a Bill Gates or a Richard Branson.
As I read The Leap, I kept looking back at some of the things I'd like to do and realized that there's really nothing keeping me from moving in that direction. This is a perfect book for someone who has big dreams but thinks that it'd be impossible to get anywhere on them because they just don't have the resources to pull it off. Leap is an excellent read, packed with practical advice and plenty of motivation to step out and make the jump to something that really matters to you.
Disclosure:
Obtained From: Publicist
Payment: Free
I had heard about the book The Leap: How 3 Simple Changes Can Propel Your Career from Good to Great by Rick Smith in a few of the productivity blogs and tweets that I follow on a regular basis. These types of books tend to capture my interest, so I was pleased when I was offered a review copy of the book. In short, this is a book that spoke to me deeply for my current situation. You *don't* have to be a daredevil and risk everything to find yourself in a place where your passion and strengths come together in an incredible calling or career.
Contents:
"Great Work, You're Fired!"; The Now Trap - Stuck in the Status Quo; Breaking Away - The Three Rules; Primary Colors - Tapping the Energy Within; What Is My Primary Color?; Big Selfless, and Simple - How Ideas Become Contagious; The Spark Sequence - Stacking the Deck; Aristotle on a Lily Pad - A Perspective on Life-Work Design; Acknowledgments; Index
Rick Smith was like many of us... average. Not outstandingly excellent in what he did, but not at the bottom of the barrel, either. His job as a headhunter was OK, but it didn't light any fires within him. It wasn't until he wrote a book, The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers, that he started to regain some passion. Unfortunately, that passion was not something that fit in his employer's plans, and he found himself unemployed. He used that event and severance to launch an idea he had for a executive level networking group. And it took off far beyond what he could have ever imagined. But he was still just an average Joe. What was it that caused him to succeed in something that most people wouldn't even attempt?
Looking at his experience and the experiences of others who traveled that same path, he found three consistent steps that played out in many of those cases. First, you find your primary color, the spot where your passions overlay your strengths. Next, bring that primary color to bear on an idea that is big, selfless, and simple. These are ideas and plans that attract, inspire, and involve others. Then finally, you let the spark sequence happen. You mitigate your risks and let the idea move towards its inevitability into reality. It's this path that makes it possible to accomplish incredible things even though you're just "average", without the resources of a Bill Gates or a Richard Branson.
As I read The Leap, I kept looking back at some of the things I'd like to do and realized that there's really nothing keeping me from moving in that direction. This is a perfect book for someone who has big dreams but thinks that it'd be impossible to get anywhere on them because they just don't have the resources to pull it off. Leap is an excellent read, packed with practical advice and plenty of motivation to step out and make the jump to something that really matters to you.
Disclosure:
Obtained From: Publicist
Payment: Free
| Permalink |
