The Runner and the Path: An Athlete's Quest for Meaning in Postmodern Corporate America [Hardcover]

Dean Ottati (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2002

Dean Ottati is an Everyman in this modern fast-paced world: trying to balance career, marriage, family, and personal happiness. He’s a young corporate executive who seeks real meaning in his life, beyond the hardball negotiations that make up his long workday. He feels that capitalism and competition have made us all poorer—slaves of the clock, pursuing the illusory and the empty.

To find the substance of life, he runs. He runs on trails and roads and beaches, every day, alone or with friends, constantly challenging himself physically and intellectually. During these runs he re-evaluates his relationship to work, his use of time, his marriage, his bond with his young son. He peels back the layers of hardness from his heart. He finds a new balance in the forces of family, work, love, solitude, money, and time.

His conversations with running "mystics, sages, and philosophers" each become a chapter. The run along the beach with the friend who counsels him on marriage: "Would you rather be right or would you rather be happy?" The glorious muddy run in the rain with Marc, who declares, "Each wet sock is a stinking foot soldier in the war against postmodernism!" The run with Big Jack, a senior executive of his company, who teaches him, "Before you speak, examine your intentions. If you can do that you’ll come to meet yourself, and it will transform you." The run with the friend who tells him "The famine of time in our lives is really a famine of meaning." And this leads to the philosopher who advises "that merely by pondering the question of meaning in our lives, we begin to find meaning." Dean Ottati’s quest take him on a fascinating path toward a common-sense, workable enlightenment. And he teaches us to find our own path.

Dean Ottati lives in Walnut Creek, California.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dean Ottati graduated first in his class from the Kellogg School of Management, the number one business school in America. He worked for many years at Motorola and now works for a video-technology start-up. He lives in Walnut Creek, California, with his wife and son. This is his first book.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Breakaway Books (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1891369288
• ISBN-13: 978-1891369285
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,053,439 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not really a running book, April 12, 2003

By 

Michael Walsh (Cary, NC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Runner and the Path: An Athlete's Quest for Meaning in Postmodern Corporate America (Hardcover)

I have to admit that I'm only halfway through this book, but honestly I have put it aside for a while. Dean's book is good, but know that it's closer to a business or personal improvement book than a running book. If that is what you are looking for, this is a good one. But Dean is definitely not the next Sheehan, and his topics and style are completely different. A good book, but know what you are really getting.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read!, May 9, 2002

By 

Steven Laine (Pleasanton, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Runner and the Path: An Athlete's Quest for Meaning in Postmodern Corporate America (Hardcover)

I'm not a runner and I'm not in to New Age anything, mystics, spoon benders or waterless hand cleaners, so I picked up this book with some trepidation. As a terminal businessman though, I was attracted by the title and wondered what he could possibly mean by a quest for meaning in "postmodern Corporate America"?

If you're a runner, there is a lot here that you'll find interesting, and even wonderful about this book. Read it for the great descriptions of running as a part of your life. I have to admit that I was (almost) tempted to put on some shoes and head off down the road. While I've never had even a glimmer of the draw to running that many people have, this book provided clear insights into the athletic attraction as well as the unexpected near-spiritual aspects of running.

This book really hit home for me on the business stuff. There are some very engaging anecdotes. You'll particularly enjoy them if you have a technical or telecomm background. Business books are usually devoid of any entertainment value, or even entertaining presentations of ideas; this book is compelling.

Ottati is easy to read. He has some straight-forward ideas that he gently introduces, then illustrates and expands on with stories and analogies that make clear, targeted sense. Later chapters build on ideas and stories introduced earlier.

Ottatis' thoughts are clearly presented. Interesting thoughts. Universal thoughts. Are they all entirely unique? These are mid-life ponderings that all of us have when we've gotten 20 years away from college idealism and are wondering, late at night, what it's all about. What is unique is that he has presented them in original fashion, with actual thought involved (!), and descriptions of how he adapts the way he lives his life in response to the conclusions he arrives at. It helped me formulate my own thoughts about these issues.

I was somewhat curious when I read that this was a first effort at writing, and wondered if I'd find weak writing, clichéd style, etc. Not to worry at all. This is a well-written book. The ideas or philosophy parts are clear and coherent; the anecdotes are very entertaining, and above all, there is a point! Go figure, there was a reason to write this and he stuck with it all the way through. If this is his first book, I'm anxious to read his next after he's gained this experience.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's Not About the Running Shoes, July 15, 2003

By 

Richard A. Lovett (West Coast, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Runner and the Path: An Athlete's Quest for Meaning in Postmodern Corporate America (Hardcover)

"What would I do if I knew I only had one day left to live?" writes Dean Ottati in a key passage of this book (p. 223). The answer he says, is that he would start by going out to run. "During that run, I would smell each smell, the roses and the horse droppings, with equal joy. I would listen to the leaves rustling in the trees, and I would watch the red-winged blackbirds against bright yellow mustard flower . . . . I would run up the Mauler [hill] one last time. And I would thank it for remaining such a consistent challenge over the years."

Those sentiments are the core of this book. It's not about running, it's about being a runner. The distinction is critical. I am a runner and author of running books. Ottati is a runner and has written a book that tells of how running has helped to shape his life. It's a good book: in places a great one. There are insights here about the importance of various aspects of our lives: hill running, career, family, corporate negotiations. I fluctuate between a four-star and five-star review, but some of the corporate lessons seem a bit obvious. But maybe that's just me...I abandoned that career path decades ago-about the time that I myself took up running, and my interest in corporate America is inherently limited.

Highly recommended to anyone struggling to make sense of their priorities.

Especially if you also happen to be a runner.