Getting Ahead

Andy's book was exceptional. In Getting Ahead Without Losing Heart, Andy tackles one of the most challenging topics in life - Personal Happiness. The books revolves around interviews of a variety of people from all different walks of life each describing the turning points in their life in relation to their happiness and sanity. Some of his friends did a complete 180 while others adjusted their sights a small amount. What I enjoyed about this book was the casual, easy reading format - it is written like Andy is giving advice to a friend. It is this advice that helps a person put things into perspective demonstrating that even the most successful people in the world are having the same mixed emotions about their happiness that a young adult can have. I recommend this book very highly and feel that everyone should glance through it.

The author interviews seven individuals who openly and candidly discuss their decisions concerning college and career. The lives of these individuals, the heartbreak, the confusion and the desire to understand are vividly portrayed through the words of each person's story. In addition, the author's own story is woven into the seven and helps to add meaning and a theme to the book. The seven people interviewed include: a corporate lawyer, stockbroker, wallstreet trader, marketing manager, investment banker, writer and corporate man. All have something to share with us about their life choices and where that led them. While these fast trackers wanted to attend the very best schools and have the very best jobs, in the end they find that life is more than college or jobs. They turn out to be normal people trying to find meaning and happiness in corporate America. At the end of each chapter are some very good questions to ponder. Finally, this book will be required reading for our 18 year old.

The pace and pressures of the business world have done nothing but accelerate in recent years. Not everyone finds wholehearted focus on business to the exclusion of everything else to be the personal ideal. This book describes the experiences of seven real people who started out on the fastest of tracks, and yet were not truly happy. The process they went though examining their lives, and the sometimes drastic steps they took to redefine themselves are fascinating, and very human, reading. Everyone at some time has reason to question their direction. Many people will find someone to identify with and solutions they had not considered. This is a meaningful book on coping with the fast-paced life of today, written by an author whose career is based on helping motivate business people. He fully shares his expertise with the reader. Full disclosure: I am the author's older brother and very much settled in on the fast track!