The Dynamic Path: Access the Secrets of Champions to Achieve Greatness Through Mental Toughness, Inspired Leadership and Personal Transformation [Hardcover]

James M. Citrin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 159486358X | ISBN-13: 978-1594863585 | Publication Date: September 4, 2007 | Edition: First Edition

The best-selling business leader offers a fresh and compelling path to success based on extensive research and candid interviews with some of the greatest winners of our time

In James Citrin's new pardigm-shifting book, he identifies the essential characteristics and disciplines that have led many of our outstanding athletes and other extraordinary performers to achieve equally signifi cant accomplishments in their respective business careers. Citrin uses dozens of compelling interviews with personalities as varied and impressive as Colin Powell, Tony Hawk, Billie Jean King, Magic Johnson, Mia Hamm, and Buzz Aldrin, to name a few, to illustrate a new personal achievement program called the Dynamic Path--a plan that any businessperson can put to immediate use. Citrin identifies three stages on this path to greatness:
• the Champion--combine the work ethic of Tiger Woods with self-confidence and mental toughness to reach the top
• the Great Leader--follow Bob Iger's revitalization of Disney as one of our best brands

• the Legacy--learn the ultimate lesson in good and lasting work from Lance Armstrong

With inspiring anecdotes, real-world business examples, and his trademark penetrating insight into what it takes to get ahead, Citrin once again provides a clear and concise roadmap for personal excellence.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Citrin, columnist for Yahoo! Finance and senior director for Spencer Stuart, an executive recruitment and leadership consulting firm, guides readers toward reaching their ultimate potential along the path to professional and personal success. Exploring the qualities that create star performers in both business and sports, he examines what it takes to achieve greatness, the building block behavior that forms it and how these behaviors can be learned. His "Dynamic Path" leads from individual achievement through group leadership to leaving a collective legacy, inspired along the way by "Dynamic Moments," when change becomes essential. Citrin recounts lively anecdotes about notable figures including Jeffrey Immelt, Terry Bradshaw, Howard Schultz, Colin Powell and others, distilling the principles of the "Path": grow or perish, build on experiences and accomplishments, focus on the success of others, play to your strengths and interests, and find a worthy and relevant cause. While Citrin's stories sometimes overshadow the practical side of his lessons, there is much of value.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

JAMES M. CITRIN is a senior director and board member of Spencer Stuart, one of the world's preeminent executive recruitment and leadership consulting firms. He is the author or coauthor of Lessons from the Top, Zoom, The Five Patterns of Extraordinary Careers, and You're In Charge--Now What?
Citrin writes the popular "Leadership by Example" column for Yahoo! Finance. He lives in Connecticut.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Rodale Books; First Edition edition (September 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159486358X
• ISBN-13: 978-1594863585
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #940,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jim Citrin is a noted expert on leadership, executive success, and CEO succession. He is the author of six books, including the brand new critically acclaimed release "You Need a Leader, Now What? How to Choose the Best Person for Your Organization."

Jim is one of the world's foremost executive recruiters and leads Spencer Stuart's North American Board & CEO Practice. Throughout his 18 years at Spencer Stuart, Jim has completed more than 475 CEO, board director, and top management searches for leading media, technology, communications and consumer companies, as well as private-equity firms and major not-for-profit institutions.

Jim graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Vassar College and served as a trustee on the Vassar Board for 12 years and is currently a trustee at Wesleyan University (where two of his three children are students). He obtained his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, graduating with distinction.

Jim lives in Connecticut, USA.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Many May Well Be Disappointed, November 21, 2007

By 

Dave Carpenter "Peak Performance Scholar" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Dynamic Path: Access the Secrets of Champions to Achieve Greatness Through Mental Toughness, Inspired Leadership and Personal Transformation (Hardcover)

I found this book to be very, very helpful. Before explaining how so, I want to caution potential purchasers.

Much of this book is chock full of snippets about well known athletes. Although the successful from other fields get some coverage, the authors' love for athletics rings strong. I bought the book based on the cover touting it as a book on great leaders...and quickly became discouraged with the plethora of snippets on athletic success, most of them not even involving team sports (where is the leadership in non-team competition?).

As I read on, I also became troubled that the author's examples are very, very heavily male dominated, not surprising in view of his love for non-team competitive sports, but very surprising in view of the author being a super star recruiter in the business world where female power (and success) has become very, very evident.

The good news is that the book ends very strong. Chapter 8 on "Finding a Calling" is alone worth the purchase price. (Readers who want to learn more on this subject will enjoy Brad Swift's excellent book on living a "Life on Purpose.") Astute readers will likely correlate that the failure to find a calling explains the many second life failures that the author serves up (but does not explicitly connect the dots).

Personally I found this book to be very, very helpful, notwithstanding the aforementioned shortcomings. I am currently finishing extensive research on personal peak performance in preparation for the upcoming taping of my Peak Performance program. I found the author to be very thoughtful on the subject and to have done a good job researching some of the work that is out there on the subject. I got great value by testing my own hypothesis against his theories of personal peak performance. We are not totally in synch but the mere exercise of comparison has greatly enriched my own thinking. And for that, I am grateful to an author whose personal transformation appears to be a work in process (as it is for all of us). I am looking forward to this prolific author's upcoming writings as I fully expect that he will write an even better book as he continues to discover the incredible power of passionate purpose and its impact on champions, male and female, in all fields of endeavor.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Dynamic Path, October 12, 2007

By 

Eric Draven - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Dynamic Path: Access the Secrets of Champions to Achieve Greatness Through Mental Toughness, Inspired Leadership and Personal Transformation (Hardcover)

Citrin uses dozens of interviews with varied and impressive personalities to talk about three basic stages on the path to greatness: becoming a champion, being a great leader and leaving a legacy. Citrin has a great writing style that makes the book hard to put down. One other book I highly recommend is Understanding: Train of Thought.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good read - excellent interviews and thoughtful story, October 15, 2007

By 

J. Baumgarten - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Dynamic Path: Access the Secrets of Champions to Achieve Greatness Through Mental Toughness, Inspired Leadership and Personal Transformation (Hardcover)

There are two reasons to read this book.

The first is to learn more about a wide array of people from contemporary interviews. This stories and quotes themselves make for good conversation starters, stories for a toast, etc.. The list of people Citrin met with is truly amazing and the fact that most of the people were interviewed for this project is great. You aren't reading an interpretation of a 40 year old quote but a fresh comment or story from people across generations, areas of expertise and perspectives.

The second is to have a thoughtful, reflective view of what you are hoping to accomplish with your life. Whether you are thinking about switching jobs, applying to school, drafting your first novel or just need a jolt to get you unstuck, Citrin's path can be helpful. Like similar books (e.g., The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People), The Dynamic Path is not a get rich quick scheme or a become powerful overnight checklist, but it is a thoughtful commentary about living a life that matters. I enjoyed the overall structure of the book and the notion that each step on the "path" built on the prior step.

A good long plane ride book when you can think about the stories and the synthesis the author draws away from the distractions of email and cell phones!