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How to Self-Destruct
Fail Spectacularly!
Failure? Really?
Well, no. Yes... and no... Look around: bookshelves are overflowing with tomes on achieving success. With all that focus on how to succeed, one would think that corporate America would be an idyllic utopia by now.
Of course, it isn't.
In fact, it's anything but idyllic. Maybe, my thinking goes, if we flip the equation around, learning to fail will help us succeed just as learning to succeed has apparently helped us achieve a stunning level of mediocrity. So yes, the focus is on failure... but the goal is anything but. Ultimately, the goal is to reach heights you never imagined possible.
How to Self-Destruct is the wisdom of the WWII and Baby Boom Generations, packaged for those of us who were weaned on Sesame Street and raised with The Simpsons. It's sharp, accurate, quick, and most of it is light... except for those parts that unapologetically stick it to you right in your eye.
Failure? Really?
Well, no. Yes... and no... Look around: bookshelves are overflowing with tomes on achieving success. With all that focus on how to succeed, one would think that corporate America would be an idyllic utopia by now.
Of course, it isn't.
In fact, it's anything but idyllic. Maybe, my thinking goes, if we flip the equation around, learning to fail will help us succeed just as learning to succeed has apparently helped us achieve a stunning level of mediocrity. So yes, the focus is on failure... but the goal is anything but. Ultimately, the goal is to reach heights you never imagined possible.
How to Self-Destruct is the wisdom of the WWII and Baby Boom Generations, packaged for those of us who were weaned on Sesame Street and raised with The Simpsons. It's sharp, accurate, quick, and most of it is light... except for those parts that unapologetically stick it to you right in your eye.
114 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 29, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 12, 2022
This was a really great book, with a comical approach to self-help. I used to be in financial services as a sales person, and bought about 20 copies of this book to give to my small business clients. But I also loved reading it myself
April 9, 2011
Another impulse buy, this time at a Borders in Chicago over the summer (there was a big display in the front of the store and the cover is such a delicious shade of red that I could not resist). Unfortunately, I missed the reading by a day or two. The book has two modes: sarcasm and advice. The author alternates between the two in each chapter and once you catch onto the conceit and become familiar with his two tones, How to Self-Destruct gets a bit tedious and it was hard for me to get to the end. (It took me weeks!) Based on the cover art and marketing copy, I thought this was going to be something entirely different.
June 26, 2008
Great gift idea for students grad high school or college....very creative approach to the real world!
May 31, 2013
Pretty simple, intuitive stuff, but it bears reading again to reinforce the ideas. This would be an excellent book to receive upon one's university graduation - or maybe earlier.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews