Exceptional: Build Your Personal Highlight Reel and Unlock Your Potential

by Daniel M. Cable

A Three-Step Process to Access and Activate Your Full Potential

Imagine switching on the television to see a highlight reel of the best moments from your life. Like a professional athlete, with every clip you'd learn how to repeat past successes, pinpoint positive blind spots, and build confidence in your skills.

In Exceptional, London Business School professor and expert social scientist Daniel M. Cable reveals how building your own personal highlight reel—a collection of positive memories about yourself from your network—is key to accessing your potential. Using the latest science and proven research behind best-self activation, his three-step process will help you improve your life by:

- Focusing on what you do best
- Crafting a life around your strengths
- Increasing your confidence and resilience

Cable has worked with tens of thousands of people to create their highlight reels and make the most of their gifts. The three-step process ultimately reveals how living up to your full potential can improve the relationships you value most and transform your mindset to one of possibility.

Each of us can bring forth a version of ourself that is uniquely outstanding. It's a version of ourself that already exists—all we have to do is access it.

- A practical book on how to create one's own human highlight reel, and then use that highlight reel to direct one to success, growth, happiness, and fulfillment in work and life based on scientific results
- Great for readers interested in achieving self-improvement and a sense of purpose.
- Add it to the shelf with books like Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck, Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges by Amy Cuddy, and The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Professional Development

248 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 22, 2020

About the author

Dan Cable is Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School.

His research and teaching focus on employee engagement, change, organizational culture, leadership mindset and the linkage between brands and employee behaviors. Dan was selected for the 2018 Thinkers50 Radar List, the Academy of Management has twice honored him with Best Article awards and Academy of Management Perspectives ranked Dan in the Top 25 Most Influential Management Scholars.

Dan is also a founding partner at Essentic, an organization dedicated to helping people discover their potential and enabling organisations to offer truly personalised fulfilment in the workplace. Essentic assessments offer individuals evidence of their distinctive strengths and the moments when they have the greatest impact on people close to them – colleagues, family and friends.

Dan’s newest book, Alive at Work, will appear in March 2018 through Harvard Business School Press. Dan’s first book was Change to Strange and he has also published two edited books and more than 50 articles in top scientific journals. His most recent research was published in Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, Academy of Management Journal and Administrative Science Quarterly. This research has been featured in The Economist, Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, The New York Times and Business Week.

Dan has worked with a broad range of organizations – from high-tech startups to the World Economic Forum. His recent clients include Carlsberg, Coca Cola, Estée Lauder, EY, HSBC, IKEA, McDonalds, MS Amlin, Prudential, PwC, Rabobank, Roche, Sanofi, Siemens and Twitter.

Reviews

[Anett Rolikova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about building your habits, focusing on your strength not fixing weaknesses. Concentrate on your core values, other people can help us identify our strength values. Make sure your self story reflects the best out of you.
Change your self story, change your habits, change your life. By writing about your life experiences you're literally authoring yourself. Appreciate people around your and let them know they're important to you. Transform your strengths into good, productive habits.
Write letter to your future better self

[Andrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Packed with actionable advice, which while not unique is framed in interesting ways that I haven't come across before. Gives me 3-4 specific ways I can change my behaviours and activities I can practice starting straight away. A must for anyone looking for actionable tips in this area.

[Quinns Pheh · Rating 5 out of 5]

You make your most significant impact when you focus on what you do best. A personal highlight reel could assist in pinpointing your unique strengths. To create one, all you need is a little help from family and friends. According to this book, we could design our lives and work according to our strengths when discovered and activated. Additionally, we should write a letter to ourselves for times in need of a motivational boost. Set aside time to write a long letter to yourself, from the best possible version of you. A future version of you where you achieved everything you wanted- personally, professionally, and socially. Re-read this letter to help visualise the person you'd like to become.

[Andy Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional book

Dan has a unique story telling approach that is at once sincere, educational, poignant and amusing. He has a great way of majing complex issues approachable. This book is his gift to us all and if we do just half of what he says we are truly on the way to being exceptional.

[Todd Mckeever · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title: Exceptional: Build Your Personal Highlight Reel and Unlock Your Potential
Author: Daniel M. Cable
Published: 2020
Pages: 272
Genre: Personal Development, Psychology, Leadership
ISBN: 9781452184258
Publisher: Chronicle Books

A: About the Book

In Exceptional, Daniel M. Cable, a professor of organizational behavior at London Business School, presents a compelling framework for personal growth centered around the concept of a “personal highlight reel.” Drawing from neuroscience, psychology, and real-world examples, Cable emphasizes the power of focusing on one’s strengths rather than weaknesses. By curating moments when we’ve performed at our best, we can build confidence, enhance motivation, and unlock our full potential.

B: Big Ideas
1. Constructing Your Personal Highlight Reel: Cable introduces the idea of compiling a collection of personal peak moments—instances when you’ve felt most alive, effective, and authentic. This reel serves as a tool to reinforce self-worth and guide future actions. 
2. Positive Feedback Over Self-Criticism: The book challenges the common notion that self-improvement stems from focusing on flaws. Instead, Cable advocates for leveraging positive feedback to build on existing strengths, leading to more sustainable growth.
3. Overcoming Social Norms: Societal expectations often discourage self-praise and open acknowledgment of personal achievements. Cable discusses how these norms can hinder self-awareness and growth, and he provides strategies to counteract them. 
4. Designing Work Around Strengths: By aligning job roles and daily tasks with personal strengths, individuals can experience greater satisfaction and effectiveness in their professional lives. 
5. Visualization and Habit Formation: Regularly visualizing one’s strengths and successes can reinforce positive behaviors and aid in the development of beneficial habits. 

C: Coaching Applications

As a coach, you can integrate the principles from Exceptional into your practice in the following ways:
• Strengths Assessment: Encourage clients to identify and document their peak experiences, creating their own highlight reels to boost confidence and clarity. 
• Feedback Exercises: Facilitate sessions where clients seek and reflect on positive feedback from peers, helping them recognize and embrace their strengths.
• Work Alignment: Assist clients in reshaping their job roles or daily routines to better align with their inherent strengths, enhancing engagement and performance.
• Visualization Techniques: Incorporate visualization exercises that focus on past successes to reinforce positive self-perception and motivate future actions. 
• Challenging Social Norms: Discuss societal barriers that may prevent clients from acknowledging their achievements, and develop strategies to overcome these obstacles.

Notable Quotes
• “The purpose of life is to discover your gift. The work of life is to develop it. The meaning of life is to give your gift away.” 
• “Feeling affirmed by your unique strengths energizes and gives you the resilience necessary to make positive changes in your life.” 

Final Thoughts

Exceptional offers a refreshing perspective on personal development by shifting the focus from fixing weaknesses to amplifying strengths. Its practical approach, grounded in research and real-life applications, makes it a valuable resource for individuals seeking meaningful growth. For coaches, the book provides actionable strategies to help clients recognize their unique value and design lives that reflect their true potential.

[Rui · Rating 4 out of 5]

"We have to create our own standards of what a well-lived life feels and looks like. It is personal, individualized, and uniquely yours to decide."

"Sure, we all need to keep improving the areas in our lives that hold us back. But when we spend all our resources and time fixing ourselves, our achievements become only a frustrated mush of mediocrity across things for which we had little interest in the first place. Anything done in excellence is because people are playing to their strengths, not working on remediation. It is hard to thrive when we are investing the majority of our energy in preventing failure, when we are playing not to lose."

"I saw that I had been living—maybe for five or six years—as if the goal of life was a safe, efficient trip to the grave."

Well written and the messages are very valuable! As you can see above, a lot of parts stuck out to me and helped me reflect on what’s important. The author seemed like a genuinely caring but conversational guy who just wants the best for you, I guess it's appropriate that he's a teacher. He emphasizes that oftentimes, we hear the good things about us too late (post mortem). He introduces terms like ‘eulogy delay’ ‘positive psychology’ and a process to build your own personal ‘highlight reel’. I only did a few of the assignments but coincidentally, one of my close friends gave me a letter recently about what they appreciated about me (one of the main tasks is to ask people close to you for these sort of letters) and that one letter was already very impactful for me so I could see the immense benefit you would gain if you went all the way.

Kindle version thanks to the publisher and Goodreads giveaway

[Karen Hewitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Exception: How to Build a World-Class Team" is a book by Daniel M. Cable that provides a comprehensive and insightful exploration of how organizations can create exceptional teams that thrive and produce exceptional results. The book offers a research-based framework for building a world-class team, and provides numerous real-world examples and case studies to illustrate the effectiveness of the approach.

Overall, I found this book to be a highly informative and practical guide to building exceptional teams. Cable's writing style is clear, engaging, and highly accessible, making even the most complex concepts easy to understand and apply.

One of the key takeaways from this book is the idea that exceptional teams are built on a foundation of purpose, connection, and psychological safety. Cable provides practical advice for creating a sense of purpose and connection within teams, and offers insights into how leaders can foster a culture of psychological safety that allows team members to feel comfortable taking risks and being vulnerable.

Another important theme in the book is the idea that exceptional teams require a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Cable provides practical advice for building diverse and inclusive teams, and offers insights into how organizations can overcome common barriers to diversity and inclusion.

Overall, I highly recommend "Exception: How to Build a World-Class Team" to anyone interested in building exceptional teams and achieving outstanding results. The book is well-written, highly informative, and provides a wealth of practical advice and real-world examples that are sure to be helpful to anyone looking to build a more effective and fulfilled team.

[Vanessa Princessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is nice, give it a shot if it sounds interesting to you, it just wasn’t for me.

I read this book thanks to Blinkist.



The key message in these blinks:

You make your biggest impact when you focus on what you do best. A personal highlight reel can help you pinpoint your unique strengths. All you need to create yours is a little help from family and friends. Once you’ve found what makes you special, you can design your life and work to activate your strengths.



Actionable advice:

Write yourself a letter from the future.

Here’s one last exercise to help you visualize the person you’d like to become. Set aside a good chunk of time to write a long letter to yourself from the perspective of a future you. But not any future you – the best possible version of you! Imagine what your life would be like if you achieved everything you wanted – personally, professionally, and socially. What does your day-to-day look like? How’s your mental state? Keep this letter accessible so you can re-read it whenever you need a motivational boost.



What to read next:

Presence, by Amy Cuddy

Now that you discovered all your best qualities, you may be wondering how you can present them better to the world. Do you want to find out how to use your body language to influence others and even change the way you see yourself?

Backed by the latest discoveries in social science and neurochemistry, our blinks to Presence reveal how your posture can change your mood. If you’ve always wanted to learn how to power pose, head over to the blinks now to find out!.

[Gonzalo Cordova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exceptional is based on the premise that focusing on our strengths will lead us to our maximum potential. Daniel Cable starts the book with a well-documented background to support using strengths instead of development opportunities to achieve success. Next, the author provides a framework to identify and use one's strengths, which he calls the highlight reel.

I found the framework to develop one's highlight reel interesting and, for the most part, practical. However, what I really liked about this book was the highlight reel's applications toward life crafting and work crafting.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in self-development or Positive Psychology.

[Aisha_W · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains some valuable information. However, the whole book is centered on creating your own highlight reel (basically a eulogy while you’re still alive) and how that can motivate & inspire you to work around your strengths to become a better person/do a better job. (I should’ve realized that from the front cover).

I did enjoy the chapters on life and work crafting though. I found that they included very helpful information on how to create a more fulfilling life for yourself.

[Batu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good concept, long explanation

The idea/concept described by the author is a good one, however, the entire book seems to try to prove to you that this is indeed a good concept by providing too many examples and facts. The whole book can be summarized into alon essay instead. After awhile it gets too repetitive.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a book

That is about all I can say. Once I got into the standard fare about learning to accept positivity and accept eulogies, I was checked out. It was an interesting read until that point, then I was out.

Who needs to know what irked think about you you when you're dead? You're dead already, you won't know nor care.

Buy if you are looking to bolster your positivism.

[Lisa Hoenig]

I heard the author speak at a virtual conference. He was energizing and sold me on his concept. So smart and funny -- someone you'd love to learn from. I won a copy of the book. I read about 3/4 of it and decided although I'm sure this would be amazing to try, it's not happening for me. At least not now. It's been on my "currently reading" shelf for more than a year at this point.

[Armen Shirvanian]

My interview with Professor Dan Cable about "Exceptional" on The Armen Show Podcast

http://www.armenshirvanian.com/podcas...

[Dr Tim Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Creative Approach To Living A Great Life

Daniel did a great job providing an original approach to a better life. It’s easy to read and contains lots of anecdotes and research to validate his approach.

[Ada · Rating 5 out of 5]

Different from the traditional Buckets effect, Prof. Cable in this book or more broadly himself advocates excellence - one should discover/understand one's strengths and remember the moments of being one's best self. Also a good reminder of gratitude!

[mikhayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this book. I think it drew upon some interesting ideas that really resonated me. I do feel, however, that since it was written very anecdotally, some of the focus on things I can do was lost.

[Dejan Simic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book!

Bravo! Everything is well done, from the style to the flow of the book, with an excellent ideas and a great practical tips, 5+ for this book!

[Anshu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Headway

[Bhavya Pandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

A neatly structured, 3 step framework for creating your “highlight reel” which I believe every self-doubter can massively benefit from.