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Return on Ambition: A Radical Approach to Your Achievement, Growth, and Well-Being
How do you become highly successful—while living a fulfilling life and growing as a person?
Most ambitious people struggle in at least one of these areas, yet they feel they don’t have the tools to improve their situation. Return on Ambition is the culmination of an ambitious effort to harness insights from recent research in psychology and neuroscience to help people pursue their ambitions more fruitfully. The result is a radical and holistic approach to achievement, growth, and well-being that includes:
• The Return on Ambition Self-Assessment: instructive, clear measures of how well you are currently doing in getting the return you aspire to
• The Trinity of Achievement, Growth, and Well-Being: research and wisdom that show that compromises in any of these three elements will cause declines in the others over time
• The 7 Frenemies: descriptions of personal attributes that are your core strengths as an ambitious person, but that can also be the biggest obstacles to your success and fulfillment in life
• The Return on Ambition Toolbox: 4 tools that will help you articulate and pursue your ambition, expand your self-awareness, and help you learn consciously
• 4 Self-Coaching Sessions: instructions for 30–60-minute contemplations inspired by thought-provoking questions
Nielsen and Tillisch have tried-and-tested experience inside the world of grand ambitions. This means that readers will find not only concepts brought to life with rich interviews and stories, but also two authors who inherently understand their audience.
Nicolai Chen Nielsen is an associate partner at McKinsey & Company, where he advises clients on leadership development, culture change, and agile transformations. He is the co-author of Leadership at Scale and has published several articles on personal development. He is currently based in New York with his wife, Samira, and their two dogs, Napoleon and Caesar.
Nicolai Tillisch works with Cultivating Leadership, the global coaching firm, and is a co-founder of Deliberate Development, the venture behind the StepUpYourDay software solution. He has been a consultant with McKinsey & Company and was an executive with DDB Worldwide, Hutchison, and Nokia Siemens Networks. Nicolai lives with his wife Ida and their children, Margaux and Axel, in Denmark.
Most ambitious people struggle in at least one of these areas, yet they feel they don’t have the tools to improve their situation. Return on Ambition is the culmination of an ambitious effort to harness insights from recent research in psychology and neuroscience to help people pursue their ambitions more fruitfully. The result is a radical and holistic approach to achievement, growth, and well-being that includes:
• The Return on Ambition Self-Assessment: instructive, clear measures of how well you are currently doing in getting the return you aspire to
• The Trinity of Achievement, Growth, and Well-Being: research and wisdom that show that compromises in any of these three elements will cause declines in the others over time
• The 7 Frenemies: descriptions of personal attributes that are your core strengths as an ambitious person, but that can also be the biggest obstacles to your success and fulfillment in life
• The Return on Ambition Toolbox: 4 tools that will help you articulate and pursue your ambition, expand your self-awareness, and help you learn consciously
• 4 Self-Coaching Sessions: instructions for 30–60-minute contemplations inspired by thought-provoking questions
Nielsen and Tillisch have tried-and-tested experience inside the world of grand ambitions. This means that readers will find not only concepts brought to life with rich interviews and stories, but also two authors who inherently understand their audience.
Nicolai Chen Nielsen is an associate partner at McKinsey & Company, where he advises clients on leadership development, culture change, and agile transformations. He is the co-author of Leadership at Scale and has published several articles on personal development. He is currently based in New York with his wife, Samira, and their two dogs, Napoleon and Caesar.
Nicolai Tillisch works with Cultivating Leadership, the global coaching firm, and is a co-founder of Deliberate Development, the venture behind the StepUpYourDay software solution. He has been a consultant with McKinsey & Company and was an executive with DDB Worldwide, Hutchison, and Nokia Siemens Networks. Nicolai lives with his wife Ida and their children, Margaux and Axel, in Denmark.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 5, 2021
63 people are currently reading
937 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
October 28, 2022
Echo what another review said- this would have been a great book when I was younger
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October 25, 2021Ambition is neither good nor bad. It can help you achieve your dreams or it can lead you to dead ends, bereft of fulfillment. So to get truly good returns on your ambition, consider it in terms of growth and well-being, not just achievement. Reflect on where your goals come from and whether they’re truly your own. Be sure to watch out for the darker form in which your ambition can express itself. And craft a personal philosophy of ambition to guide you along your path. In doing these things, you’ll set yourself up for greater returns on your ambition and a much more rewarding life.
And here’s some more actionable advice:
Set an immediate priority.
While your philosophy of ambition can guide you in the long term, in the short term, you’ll need to figure out an immediate priority – the one thing that you need to give all your attention to for the next three months. Choose something aspirational and with the potential to have an impact on your return for ambition. In other words, something that challenges and excites you – and has a big payoff. It’s important to note that your immediate priority is singular – just one thing. While this may sound a bit unambitious, your immediate priority will help focus your ambition, channeling energy to where it’s needed most. This is the first goal of many that will start getting you those returns on your ambition – and as soon as you achieve it, set another!
---
Going too fast will make you lose sight of the way.
In the 1986 movie Top Gun, the character Maverick is a supremely bold, independent, and competitive fighter pilot competing to win the top spot in flight school. And while his ambitious traits serve him well, at one point, Maverick’s eagerness to be the best leads to a plane crash and the death of his copilot Goose.
While Goose’s death is certainly an extreme – and Hollywood – example of the dark side of ambition, it does illustrate a point. When your ambition is out of balance, you’re more prone to making mistakes, alienating others, and ultimately, losing your sense of self. Just like Maverick did in the aftermath of Goose’s death.
The key message here is: Going too fast will make you lose sight of the way.
So let’s talk about boldness. This is the trait that often leads ambitious people to dive in before they’ve gathered all the information or all the skills they need. While they may succeed at first, a time will probably come when their ambition outpaces their skills. And when that time does come, it’ll be tempting to take risky shortcuts.
Ambitious people also tend to be lone wolves, preferring to work independently because other people just slow them down. While independence is a great strength, the flip side is that they don’t know how to ask for help and they’re extreme perfectionists. Forced to work alone because no one else can get the job done, ambitious people are prone to burnout.
Lastly, ambitious people are competitive. This not only gives them the determination to keep going but also the insight to understand who and what they’re up against. But the dark side really emerges when they become driven by the need to be better than others. Doing so takes the focus off their own goals and turns everything into a battle – and the stakes are high because their self-worth is on the line.
So remember that the real goal is to maximize your return on ambition. Even the guy who wins the Tour de France – with all those steep climbs he has to battle to keep the lead – has a whole support team behind him. So as much as possible, learn to moderate your competitiveness and appreciate the value of interdependence. And when it comes time to measure your achievement, compare yourself to who you were a year ago and not to those around you.
And here’s some more actionable advice:
Set an immediate priority.
While your philosophy of ambition can guide you in the long term, in the short term, you’ll need to figure out an immediate priority – the one thing that you need to give all your attention to for the next three months. Choose something aspirational and with the potential to have an impact on your return for ambition. In other words, something that challenges and excites you – and has a big payoff. It’s important to note that your immediate priority is singular – just one thing. While this may sound a bit unambitious, your immediate priority will help focus your ambition, channeling energy to where it’s needed most. This is the first goal of many that will start getting you those returns on your ambition – and as soon as you achieve it, set another!
---
Going too fast will make you lose sight of the way.
In the 1986 movie Top Gun, the character Maverick is a supremely bold, independent, and competitive fighter pilot competing to win the top spot in flight school. And while his ambitious traits serve him well, at one point, Maverick’s eagerness to be the best leads to a plane crash and the death of his copilot Goose.
While Goose’s death is certainly an extreme – and Hollywood – example of the dark side of ambition, it does illustrate a point. When your ambition is out of balance, you’re more prone to making mistakes, alienating others, and ultimately, losing your sense of self. Just like Maverick did in the aftermath of Goose’s death.
The key message here is: Going too fast will make you lose sight of the way.
So let’s talk about boldness. This is the trait that often leads ambitious people to dive in before they’ve gathered all the information or all the skills they need. While they may succeed at first, a time will probably come when their ambition outpaces their skills. And when that time does come, it’ll be tempting to take risky shortcuts.
Ambitious people also tend to be lone wolves, preferring to work independently because other people just slow them down. While independence is a great strength, the flip side is that they don’t know how to ask for help and they’re extreme perfectionists. Forced to work alone because no one else can get the job done, ambitious people are prone to burnout.
Lastly, ambitious people are competitive. This not only gives them the determination to keep going but also the insight to understand who and what they’re up against. But the dark side really emerges when they become driven by the need to be better than others. Doing so takes the focus off their own goals and turns everything into a battle – and the stakes are high because their self-worth is on the line.
So remember that the real goal is to maximize your return on ambition. Even the guy who wins the Tour de France – with all those steep climbs he has to battle to keep the lead – has a whole support team behind him. So as much as possible, learn to moderate your competitiveness and appreciate the value of interdependence. And when it comes time to measure your achievement, compare yourself to who you were a year ago and not to those around you.
January 21, 2022
Eye Opening
I learned a great deal from this book about myself professionally and personally. The authors break things down into steps that are eye opening. I highly recommend reading this.
Thank you Fast Company Press for gifting me this copy. This review reflects my honest thoughts and opinions.
I learned a great deal from this book about myself professionally and personally. The authors break things down into steps that are eye opening. I highly recommend reading this.
Thank you Fast Company Press for gifting me this copy. This review reflects my honest thoughts and opinions.
May 2, 2021
Thanks to Goodreads and the publisher for a chance to read a copy of this book.
I enjoyed this book and plan to return to the material more slowly to really absorb it after I did a quick read-through for a belated review. I particularly liked the section about traits associated with ambition that can also hinder you if they get out of control (like competitiveness, or independence). There is also a useful toolkit for the end for guided self-coaching sessions of different types to incorporate into a weekly and monthly strategizing routine. Finally, I was pleasantly surprised that I actually related to one of the case studies that is sprinkled throughout; usually I quickly skim through these in self-help books because I can't relate to anything, but I really connected to one profile and it's an uncomfortable but useful thing to latch onto.
There is plenty of food for thought and I will return to this book to use the self-coaching toolbox for my career ambitions.
I enjoyed this book and plan to return to the material more slowly to really absorb it after I did a quick read-through for a belated review. I particularly liked the section about traits associated with ambition that can also hinder you if they get out of control (like competitiveness, or independence). There is also a useful toolkit for the end for guided self-coaching sessions of different types to incorporate into a weekly and monthly strategizing routine. Finally, I was pleasantly surprised that I actually related to one of the case studies that is sprinkled throughout; usually I quickly skim through these in self-help books because I can't relate to anything, but I really connected to one profile and it's an uncomfortable but useful thing to latch onto.
There is plenty of food for thought and I will return to this book to use the self-coaching toolbox for my career ambitions.
April 24, 2021
This was a refreshing read. It offers a perspective that may help many driven people reflect on that drive to get more fulfillment from it. I was intrigued, but skeptical at first because there are so many of these books that all say the same things. This offered a thoughtful approach, but I disagree that it is a "radical" approach.
March 10, 2021
Return on Ambition: A Radical Approach to Your Achievement, Growth, and,,,
Return on Ambition: A Radical Approach to your Achievement...
This was a Goodreads winner. Very interesting principles to adapt oneself to growth.
Return on Ambition: A Radical Approach to your Achievement...
This was a Goodreads winner. Very interesting principles to adapt oneself to growth.
October 18, 2022
This book provides some good frameworks for people that are incredibly ambitious and let those ambitions blind them to their life. Would have been good for me to read this ten years ago. They look at ambition across three dimensions: achievement, growth, wellness
April 29, 2025
I love it so much. This is the book that I will prolly reread multiple times. I wish I could buy a physical copy of this, unfortunately it’s not available in local bookstores. Totally recommended for young ambitious adults! 5/5
July 1, 2025
If you need to examine your perspective on how your ambition is going in your life, then this is the book for you. It gives you tools to reflect on your ambition and where you are going with it. Who is in charge you or your ambition.
Want to read
February 18, 2021Great I won the giveaway, can't wait to start reading
March 4, 2021
Good book
March 18, 2021
Help you to figure out your strengths and expands on them to be even more successful in whatever you want to achieve.
April 11, 2021
Thank you to Goodreads for the free copy.
Want to read
May 2, 2021Never got book
October 25, 2021
Read the blinks :
An wholistic approach to goal setting. I like the concept of having a 'psychological why' behind an ambition.
An wholistic approach to goal setting. I like the concept of having a 'psychological why' behind an ambition.
November 11, 2021
great book about ambition
November 14, 2021
I've heard so many people say they're stuck and can't see a way out of their situation. This book shows you how. Read it.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews