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If you are a "mover and a shaker" who wants to find a meaningful way to channel your talents and energies, then I would highly recommend this book to you as inspiration. As other reviewers stated, the book does not delineate specific paths for finding meaning in your work. The author clearly assumes that the reader either has his/her own ideas on what work would be rewarding, and wrote the book to inspire the reader to "go for it" through many fine examples of both men and women who in some cases endured a lot of ups and downs to create the work environment they could love, and to their credit, an equitable work place for their employees. The stories in the book of people who sacrificed profit for employee benefits are very heartening, as are the stories of
people who sacrificed income for "spiritual" satisfaction in their work. And for those who do want help in finding such a path, the author has a web site and organization that might be useful, though it does appear that his service is limited to business leaders, not ordinary workers like most of us!
As others have written, I found myself very put off by the constant mention of what I will call the "H" word, Harvard. The author overuses it, along with the mention of other big name schools, as if he cannot give up the superiority of those institutions and those who attend them. If he had moderated his repetition of cases related to "big-name" schools, along with the glee over the "success" of the people depicted, I would have found the book much more likeable.
To write a book such as this an author would clearly have to question some of what constitutes "success" in the world, yet Mr. Albion neither questions nor seems to have a problem with some of the ridiculous excesses of capitalism, i.e., the compulsion to be "successful," along with the manic busy-ness of so many people, which somehow automatically equates to self-importance and self-worth. Over and over again the people depicted in the book are workaholics who probably have no time to question any of what I consider to be (at least partially) some of the fallacious underpinings of capitalism and busy-ness. However, to each is own, I get worth from questioning, and others derive it from being busy all the time.
I agree with the reviewers who found the quotes by famous, successful people, which are offset in bold on practically every page of the book, to be "too much" and distracting, yet what I found expedient was to ignore them as much as possible the first time I read the book, and then while skimming the book a second time concentrate on them. I found this quite rewarding and I even made a list of many pithy quotes I liked, and I appreciate the research the author did to compile such a useful list. Indeed these often inspiring quotes are as if a book within a book, and best of all, almost all of the people quoted themselves went against the tide to create their own meaning and "success" in life.
As great as the book is, and as compelling as the individual stories and lessons are, the final chapter is a classic ending. It's actually a surprise twist (I won't ruin it by telling you what it is). Although a couple of hints were given early in the chapter, when it finally hit me, I had to go back to the beginning of the chapter just so that I could re-read it with full knowledge. I believe the story will make you a bit "misty-eyed," and make you think about and re-assess some of the more important relationships in your life.
One other nice surprise - this one regarding the general nature of the book - was in what was not included; I was a bit concerned that this book would be just a bit "anti free-enterprise." I'm a big believer that free-enterprise (capitalism) is, by it's very nature, the most charitable economic system there is. Would this book try to disprove that? Not at all. Dr. Mark and his wisdom-filled friends merely point out that if what you are doing stirs your passion, allows you to make a positive difference in the lives of others, and makes you feel good about yourself, then you really can have it all. You find yourself "Making A Life, Making A Living!"