Tactics. The Art & Science of Success.

by Edward de Bono

What does it take to succeed in today's competitive world? Is it luck? Talent? A touch of madness? Edward de Bono talked to 50 outstandingly successful men and women, all of whom spoke frankly about their own strategy. Among them were David Bailey, Sir Terence Conran, Robert Maxwell, Jackie Stewart, Sir Clive Sinclair, Virginia Wade, Lord Forte and Verity Lambert. De Bono then distilled their wisdom and experience and turned it into a practical strategy that anyone can follow in order to achieve their own ambitions in life and work. The result was this book.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Management, Self Help

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Edward de Bono was a Maltese physician, author, inventor, and consultant. He is best known as the originator of the term lateral thinking (structured creativity) and the leading proponent of the deliberate teaching of thinking in schools.

Reviews

[Ilya Mrz]

Take-Aways
Success is a complex mix of luck, individual style, motivation, genetics, creativity,
environment, talent, skills, work and the industry you join.
Most successful people are focused and lead balanced lives.
Hard work and training can make a difference, especially if you lack natural talent.
The stereotypical successful person – quick-tempered, brash and impatient – is
often not the one who really succeeds.
Many people in leadership roles really do not have a full grasp of their situations.
Successful people believe in their own ideas and create new approaches to old
problems.
They develop a personal style based on their self-knowledge.
They envision themselves reaching their goals.
To use the PMI critical-thinking method, evaluate the positive (P) aspects of a
situation, consider its minuses (M) and evaluate how these factors intersect (I).
Lateral thinking drives humor and creativity, because it connects incongruous
events or ideas to form a new perception.

[Cassandra C]

I hated this book at the beginning, as it seemed to be just a collection of anecdotes as successful people reflected on their paths to success. Then I began to see the genius - de Bono is a leading teacher of how to think. In this book, he does not presume to tell you what to think about what leads to success. Instead, he simply collates a rich sample of information from successful people and presents it in the loosest information frame possible, leaving it to the reader to decide what to think and how to respond to this information. Very thought provoking indeed.

[Ryan Barretto]

This book has the most understated title that I know of, and perhaps a reasonably accurate subtitle.

The author has interviewed successful people from diverse fields to understand their thinking process, and application of their thoughts. The result is a fabulous articulation of insights related to decision-making, planning, people management and so on.

The downside? Nearly all of the examples of successful people are from the last century. For me, this is minor, because in today's world, one will have to apply similar techniques to reach success, though much faster, given the high-speed environment we live in.

The insights I received are tremendous, and yes I will be referring to this book again.

I'd recommend this book to anyone that really wants to be on the path to success.

[Arkam Frz]

So much written about success in this book since this book is a collection of tactics used by successful people

[Prerna]

Read.

[Ankit Nair]

Must read book

[Margaret Ng]

Love this book, simply because it is a 'bible' of tools for success. It is a culmination of interviews with almost 50 professionals, experts, reputable and successful people, the likes of Sir Clive Sinclair, Sting and Malcolm Forbes. Every chapter ends with a list of 10 to 20 Tactics. I need not go back and read every paragraph these lists of tactics refresh my memory and success skills.

[Mike]

I got little from this book as it focusses too much on the first hand experience of a selection of people.

[Abe Hanara]

I like this read. Didn't read all of it.

[Amrita]

To read ...

[Sneha Goley]

it's boring and the author hasn't pointed out a student thing we should know, we know the obvious characteristics which made them successful

[Dr. Vipin Behari Goyal]

One thing I could never learn in my life is Tactics. The book is exhaustive in new ideas and very useful for those who wish to be successful in this materialistic world.

[Andrew]

A fascinating but slightly dated book.

[Iryna]

This book is a compilation of interviews, it's boring to read.