Success Built to Last: Creating a Life That Matters

This book reminds us that it’s better to chase our passion then money. Joy in life comes from finding what fulfills us and finding our purpose. And often times we are able to make a comfortable living at it!

It is important to understand the two methodologies by which the authors obtained the material for this book. As they explain, first they completed more than 200 personal interviews from 1996 to 2006; after analyzing the responses, they identified 21 broad topic categories that emerged from the conversations. "The strongest of these made it into the book." Then, with their manuscript already drafted, they tested their assumptions by creating a unique independent survey to challenge their conclusions. What they call their "World Success Survey" was made available online (on April 18, 2006) to subscribers to Knowledge@Wharton. More than 365 people from around the globe responded within the first week. "This independent sample of data provided a comparison set and validation for our interview findings, and showed significant differences in perceptions and mindsets between respondents categorized as `successful' or `unsuccessful' in their professional or personal lives." It should also be noted that the authors "overlaid an unusual time limitation" on the "universe" of people interviewed: a 20-year minimum. With very few exceptions, they eliminated those who had achieved significant success in their careers for less than two decades. The group was largely over age 40 and the oldest individual interviewed was 95. Others will have their own reasons for holding this book in high regard. Here are three of mine. First, the authors challenge conventional thinking about how successful people stay successful. Those interviewed as well as those who responded to the "World Success Survey" redefine success. For example, that everything in life should be kept in "balance." Those whom the authors characterize as "Builders" agree that, as culturally defined, "balance is in fact bullshit - as a popular concept, it ranks right up there with the idea that that there is just one passion for your life, and when you know what it is, you'll be happy. It rarely works that way." What is the lesson to be learned? People need to concentrate primarily on finding a place only for everything that is of greatest importance to them. That's the "balance" they should be seeking. I recall an interview of Katherine Hepburn during which she was asked what was the secret to her success. "Elimination. I simply got rid of anyone and anything that really didn't matter one bit to me. You know, dead weight, excess baggage, that sort of thing." I also appreciate the fact that, throughout their book, the authors allow those interviewed as well as those surveyed to speak frankly about their successes but, more importantly, about their failures. Builders think of both success and failure as feedback. They don't judge either as a complete win or loss. Moreover, they view each "failure" (however defined) as an especially valuable learning opportunity. Technology pundit Esther Dyson asserts that anything worth doing "will keep you in a constant state of trial and error, so take good note

In all the books I read, I rarely do so with pen in hand, underlining passages. This book was one of those exceptions... Success Built To Last: Creating A Life That Matters by Jerry Porras, Stewart Emery, and Mark Thompson. I'll be re-reading this book a number of times... Contents: Introduction; From Great to Lasting - Redefining Success Part 1 - Meaning - How Successful People Stay Successful: Love It Or Lose - Passions and the Quest for Meaning; Portfolio of Passions - It's Not About Balance; Why Successful People Stay Successful - Integrity to Meaning Part 2 - ThoughtStyles - Extreme Makeovers Start In Your Head: The Silent Scream - Why It's So Damn Hard to Do What Matters; The Cause Has Charisma - You Don't Have to Be Charismatic to Be Successful; The Tripping Point - Always Make New Mistakes; Wounds to Wisdom - Trusting Your Weaknesses and Using Your Core Incompetencies Part 3 - ActionStyles - Turning Passion Into Action: Earning Your Luck - Preparing for Serendipity by Using Big Hairy Audacious Goals; Naked Conversations - Harvesting Contention; Creating Alignment - The Environment Always Wins; The Pleasure of Finding Things Out - A Look at the Research Behind Success Built to Last; Endnotes; Biographical Index; Index While I normally like books that deal with self-improvement, I'm always a bit disappointed with the 20-20 hindsight involved. The author picks a person, examines everything they've done through the lens of results, and makes every action appear to be a stroke of genius. In reality, the decisions were made with no special knowledge or insight. They just worked out well. Success Built To Last differs in that there's actual research and statistical methods involved in distilling the traits and behaviors found in people who have been successful over the long run. These traits are then grouped into the particular thoughts and actions that are commonly found in these "builders"... people who have built a life of meaning and passion. The book can be counter-intuitive at times. Conventional wisdom says you have to create equal balance among all aspects of your life. Success Built To Last says you have to find the "right" balance, and "right" doesn't mean "equal". You need to find something that brings you personal fulfillment and commit to it completely. That leads to success for you, although it may not mean success to someone else. And the rewards are not the reason to be working at your passion. The rewards are a result of following your dreams, and it's the reason that people like Warren Buffett don't stop working now that they have billions in the bank. They do what they do because it's who they are... So many of the ideas in this book resonated with me. I consider myself fortunate that I *do* have a job that I enjoy and would do even if I had a choice. But while I'm in a better mental state than many, there's still plenty of room for improvement. Success Built To Last will help me refine my mindset and

In the movie business, in television and of course in publishing you always hear some version of "the story is king"...and yet many media creations don't deliver on that proclamation."Success Built to Last" fulfills it's promise. It is full of inspiring stories. The main body of the text itself contains a bounty of quotes and aphorisms that will fuel many continuing dialogs about success and become the seeds of future books. Opening this book to any page could provide a catalytic shift towards the next great passionate commitment in your life.

"Built to Last" came out a dozen years ago and had a big impact on the way people in business talked about what it was they were doing. When you boil all its concepts down, it was about making active choices. Don't be limited by the existing structure. Don't fall for the trap of not being able to do what you need to do because you think you have to do something else. Make sure that you know what your core foundation is and preserve that while you are fostering growth with Big Hairy Audacious Goals and trying lots of things, and making sure that your companies purposes and values are aligned. This book takes those same principles, and a few others, and recasts them into three overlapping circles of meaning, thought, and action. Where those three overlap is the place where the title of book, "Success Built to Last", lies. Rather than researching companies as in the first book, Porras, Emery, and Thompson interviewed 200 "successful" people. Some famous, some rich, some not famous, some not rich. They were looking for common factors in what made their lives feel successful to them. Not surprisingly, it boils down to being active about your choices. Don't play by rules made by others, don't enslave yourself to goals you think others want you to achieve, and don't measure your life by another's yardstick. Down that road is misery and lots and lots of psychotherapy (with or without drugs). This book is full of good advice, good anecdotes, and helpful sayings about how you go about setting up your own life and your own success. I would also recommend "Small Giants" by Bo Burlingham for more stories about people who found success and meaning in successful companies without following the "normal" path to growth, riches, and misery. This is a good book and I hope it sells a ton. But that is probably a safe bet. Recommended.

Almost everyone wants to be more successful. As evidence of that, look at the rows of shelves in book stores filled with self-help and success-related titles. But no one wants to be successful for the proverbial 15 minutes and then sink into ineffectiveness and obscurity. Jerry Porras (coauthor of Build to Last), Stewart Emery (an important figure in the Human Potential Movement) and Mark Thompson (an unstoppable interviewer and executive coach) have combined their diverse talents to provide powerful insights into what has worked best for those who have sustained personal success for over 20 years. The book is one part methodology, one part great stories and one part keen insight. Here was the process that led to the book. Interviews were held during 1996-2006 with over 200 high profile people who had enjoyed lasting success (CEOs, community leaders, professionals, politicians and small business people). For the most part, they avoided the geniuses in favor of people who built extraordinary results from more ordinary abilities and resources. In early 2006, surveys were done on a worldwide basis with subscribers to Knowledge@Wharton to test the findings from the interviews. Regression analyses were used to sort out the key influences. The results were used to structure the book's key conclusions. What did they learn? The key concept is that continually successful people combine meaning, thought and actions in mutually consistent ways that provide sustained performance. Let me describe each area a little. Meaning is important because it ignites passion in you and others. Success requires persistence. Without continuing passion, it's hard to be persistent enough to be a lasting success. In addition, passions bring energy. It turns out that continually successful people have all kinds of passions. Ultimately, successful people respond to a calling to answer their passion in a way that seems right, comfortable and full of integrity. Thought is important because successful people use their own gauges of success . . . rather than the applause of others. Many successful people lack charisma . . . but their cause has more than enough charisma to attract all of the support they will ever need. You also need to learn by choosing to try hard things where you can make new mistakes to direct you in the future. But turn pain into performance. Don't let wounds hold you back. Action benefits from taking on Big Hairy Audacious Goals (a remnant of Built to Last's research), seeking out knowledge by using conversations to test and develop ideas, and establishing alignment within those who are helping you succeed. What kind of a leader are they describing? Some frequently cited examples in the book include Charles Schwab, Sir Richard Branson, Jack Welch, Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, Herb Kelleher, Elie Wiesel, Condoleeza Rice, and Marva Collins. There are also plenty of non-marquee names whose stories will often impress you mo