8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What's keeping you from your success?, October 6, 2009
By the time you are two chapters in, these are the questions you will be asking about your own success: What's keeping me back? What are my advantages? What are my opportunities that those around me don't have? And, what can I learn from those who are successful that will put me on the right path?
Garrison Wynn writes his funny and charming book like a mystery. How do those people sitting at the front table, hauling away those big awards from the conference achieve their successes? What do they do differently? How did they get in the front of the line, and the top of the heap? He decided to do some interviews, issue surveys, and ask questions only to find that the answers he was handed were trite and predictable. Everyone knows what "best practices" are, why are some people more successful than others at using them?
It took some deep digging, prodding, patience and a little calling out, but Garrison got to the bottom of what makes that 1% more successful, and the answer is so simple it is hard to believe. Everyone has advantages, talents, capacities and connections that could help them win in the unfair fight that is today's business world. It's how you use them, how you recognize them, how you develop them, and finding the courage to be yourself that can put you ahead.
Be prepared to laugh out loud in the coffee shop, and to nod your head in recognition as Garrison Wynn tells story after story of how perfectly normal and average people found the specific talent or advantage that helped them to succeed. By the end of the book, you will be listing your own talents, connections, and opportunities and starting to chart your own journey on the way to success.
A good gift for a new college graduate? Absolutely!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Real, useful and the funniest biz book I've ever read, October 24, 2009
I'm a big reader. Well ok I guess I'm a little reader at just 5'6" but I do read a LOT of books, about 75 a year, and about 10 of those are business books. I've read fewer business books over the last couple years, because my experience in business is different from what most of these high falutin PhD business book writers recommend. In fact, I've learned some lessons from trying to implement "book smarts" in the business world. It's not always a good idea!
But Garrison Wynn's Real Truths are just that- both getting at the real advantages people have (sometimes it's being the boss's son) and the psychological compulsions we can leverage in ourselves- both are real, in my experience. Finding out that sometimes it's not that you suck, it's just that the other guy was related to the owner, can actually be encouraging. Then you can look for your own advantages, build relationships, and use them to succeed.
And this is the first biz book I've read where I laughed at about every other page, sometimes twice a page. Garrison's comedic experience, and his funny keynote speeches (watch some on his website, as funny as any comedy central comedian, which isn't saying much- actually as funny as the best of those) both have happened because he's naturally funny- he thinks differently than most- so that makes it insightful and hilarious. E.g. watch out for these humor gems: Giant Smart Guy and why we follow him, Michael Phelps' disturbing amazingness, and why some people make those around them lose the will to live.
Useful, true, and funny. A great, insightful, and because of the humor, recreational experience. I highly recommend it.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Leverage your natural abilities to get ahead, August 23, 2011
In a nutshell, this book is a humorous and more current version of Dale Carnegie's "How to win friends and influence people."
The good:
1. Loaded with key takeaways
2. Fast, entertaining, and funny read
3. Inspirational premise that you can succeed by identifying & amplifying your innate traits and talents
The bad:
1. The book has a decent amount of repetition
2. Though the author frequently cites 10 years or research, the book feels more based on (intelligent/informed) opinion rather than on hard statistics.
My key takeaways:
- Gain personal advantage harnessing natural (esp. interpersonal) traits and developing new abilities
- Be a beacon of positivity
- Be convenient, comfortable, familiar, uncomplicated, clear, and concise
- Be trustworthy, sincere, caring, compassionate, and kind
- Position all of your ideas as solutions with an emphasis on personal value; make sure others see their input in the solution
- Be noticeable and create great first impressions
- Build and leverage personal relationships - especially with industry veterans
- Seek advice from others, actively listen, and show your appreciation
- Make others feel smart, important, and valued
- Give credit and accept blame/responsibility
- Make decisions, prioritize, take action, and drive projects to completion
- Channel fear into action
- It is what you say AND how you say it
- Maintain emotional awareness and stability
- Appear confident, not arrogant
- Embrace change / be adaptable and flexible
- Have a positive view of authority
- Write down your goals
- Spend time with the people who will position you to succeed
- Do what is important to your boss (know his/her top 5 objectives in any given month)
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