50 Success Classics: Winning Wisdom for Work & Life From 50 Landmark Books
Author: Tom Butler-Bowdon
2004, Nicholas Brealey Publishing
A compilation of 50 landmark books that map the road to personal and professional success. Butler-Bowdon summarizes key ideas and insights from each work to help individuals maximize potential and achieve success in their careers as well as in their personal lives. This wide-ranging selection includes a prolific array of authors from philosophers and leaders alike, divided into the four categories of Motivation, Fulfilling Your Potential, Prosperity and Leadership. Among the selections are:
Chin-Ning Chu’s book “Thick Face, Black Heart: The Asian Path to Thriving, Winning and Succeeding” combines the concepts underlying Asian spiritual philosophy with Western business principles to give individuals a new way of achieving business and personal success. According to Chu, a balanced degree of “thick face and black heartedness” is necessary for achievement – “thick face” refers to the combination of the Asian concept of “saving face” and Western concept of “thick skin” and “black heart” refers to an individuals “true spirit.”
“How to Succeed in Business without Being White: Straight Talk on Making It in America,” by Earl G. Graves, founder of Black Enterprise magazine, offers tips for success, and stresses the importance of networking. It also highlights the successes of African American entrepreneurs, such as television host and producer Oprah Winfrey, Ebony and Jet magazines publisher John Johnson and Travers Bell and Willie Daniels, co-founders of Daniels and Bell, the first black-owned investment firm listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Graves believes that an individual can succeed in business without being white and offers useful advice to achieve that goal.
Other selections in this compilation include Nelson Mandela autobiography, “Long walk to Freedom” and Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War.” These are just some examples of the landmark books that have helped millions of people achieve personal and professional success. What Butler-Bowden has found is that professional success comes in many forms.
Some of the ideas contained in the selected works may not apply to everyone but the wisdom is there for readers to discover. The array of different works does offer clues behind the successes of entrepreneurs and leaders. Taking those ideas and techniques that work to heart can help managers and executives maximize potential and achieve success in both life and in work.
This book is available at www.interculturalpress.com.