Soloing: Realizing Your Life's Ambition [Hardcover]

Harriet Rubin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 3, 1999

Soloing has two meanings: "going it alone" and being "complete in yourself." . . . But you don't just leave--a company/a career/a paycheck--and cross over to a more satisfying life. There's more to it. There is a mysterious passage to be negotiated, a delicate transition required to go from alone-in-the-desert to complete-in-yourself.

Harriet Rubin, bestselling author of The Princessa: Machiavelli for Women, returns with inspiring advice for professionals dreaming of crossing over from a corporate world of prescribed boundaries to the limitless opportunities of soloing. She describes how people can do great things--things they would never be able to accomplish inside the corporate structure--when they manage or lead no one.

As one successfully navigates the passage toward a truer sense of self that Rubin describes, four invaluable freedoms await:

The first freedom is regaining your sense of identity.
Walk out of any big company and who are you, stripped of that mighty identity? Potentially bigger and better than before. Who were you before the corporate you? To get back one's sense of self is why people go solo.

The second freedom is independence.
Why is working alone so important in doing great work, given that it's also the scariest part? Imagine having complete command and control over your time and the work you do. This is how soloists realize their great strengths: They are reduced to themselves.

The third freedom is income.
You can earn in one year what you earned in two before. Do you work harder to do this? Yes. Do you enjoy it more? Yes. Solo money is alive. Unlike a salary doled out like an allowance from parents, the money earned by soloing is a true emblem of a person's worth.

The fourth freedom is illumination.
A professional builds a career, but a soloist builds a portfolio and a life free of boredom, full of challenge. Direct contact with work itself is direct contact with life.

With insights as diverse as Henry David Thoreau's "I want to be sure the world doesn't change," and Michael Jordan's response to the statement: "There's no 'I' in team,"--"That's right, but there is an 'I' in win,"--Rubin gives readers the chance to bring their dreams into alignment with reality.

 

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Like legions of corporate foot soldiers who have grown dissatisfied with their safe but stifling careers, publishing executive Harriet Rubin decided to flee the massive organization in which she had become enmeshed and start over on her own. The life of a "soloist," as she came to describe this new professional direction, turned out to be both challenging and exhilarating--and one, Rubin immediately realized, that she would never trade for a return to big business. Soloing is a thought-provoking account of Rubin's career transition with helpful information for others who similarly hope to break free.

Drawing upon the wisdom of disparate authorities ranging from Peter Drucker and Tom Peters to Joseph Campbell and John Steinbeck, Rubin explores the various attractions, distractions, commitments, and opportunities that face those who drop out of the corporate ranks to go solo. She explains how to know when you're really ready (dreams were a major indicator for her and others, including Nickelodeon founder Geraldine Laybourne), how to handle the inevitable fears (in her case, by working harder than ever while savoring her new-found freedom), and how to get this new career up and running (including suggestions for building a personal "brand," maintaining visibility among clients, and creating effective proposals). The result is a truly unique look at a growing workforce segment that will prove inspiring to anyone contemplating going it alone. --Howard Rothman

Review

"A wonderful read and a great road map for discovering that you are who you are--not what you do." -- Frederic D. Rosen, founder and builder of Ticketmaster and current Soloist

"As the environment of most large institutions becomes more and more toxic to human values and health, we all have to wonder if the 'end of the job' isn't just around the corner. But what will replace this icon of the Industrial Age? Self employment? Free lancing? Harriet Rubin suggests a very different image, soloing. In so doing, she may have hit upon the workplace metaphor for the post-Industrial world. As she explains, soloing is less about being alone than it is about approaching one's life as if you were creating it, as an ongoing composition. While soloing can be done as a single act or with collaborators, what it cannot be done without is the soul of the artist, the very thing that large institutions are making extinct." -- Peter Senge, MIT, author of The Fifth Discipline

"Harriet Rubin has clicked into the trend we call Cashing Out: The essence of the American dream today: no boss, no red tapeworking the hours you want, working with the clients you choose' If you have a dream so strong that the thought of not doing it makes you really unhappy, then have the courage of your convictions: Read this book." -- Faith Popcorn, Faith Popcorn's Brain Reserve

"The number of Americans leaving the corporate world to go it alone is swelling to a huge wave. This wise and supremely instructive book is all you will need to make the transition." -- John Naisbitt, author of Megatrends

"Where was this book when I needed it? A practical, pragmatic plan for the wanna-be "Soloist" in all of us. Everyone from masquerading managers to meditating monkscan move towards the self-actualization we all seek. Chopra move over . . . as here comes Rubin. Not foreveryone . . . only those ready to grow." -- Gerard R. Roche, Chairman, Heidrick & Struggles

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: HarperBusiness; 1st edition (November 3, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0066620147
• ISBN-13: 978-0066620145
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,342,570 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Autobiography of an Editor Changing Careers, December 11, 1999

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Soloing: Realizing Your Life's Ambition (Hardcover)

Be sure you know what kind of book Soloing is before you read it. If you are looking for a business book with lots of how-to advice on how to go from being an employee to having your own one-person organization, you will probably be disappointed in this book. On the other hand, if you are interested in what life is like for the most successful business editor of all time as she strikes out on her own as an author, personality and consultant, you are in for a wonderful treat. Harriet Rubin has an effective, spare writing style that makes for easy reading, making the pleasure even greater. The best part of this book is when she describes the many psychological stalls that kept her from making this move sooner, and delay her progress after she makes the move. If you enjoy learning more about a person's psychology in making a change than practical advice on what you should do, this is a superb book and one you will enjoy. If you dislike psychological perspective, avoid this book at any cost. Ms. Rubin's advice is quite good on several fronts. She clearly understands the techniques of networking at a high level, and if you will be doing the same, you will find her advice to be excellent. In fact, if you are about to follow her exact career path, leaving publishing for a writing, etc. career, the book is probably a good best practice study for you. Having established my own consulting firm 22 years ago after having been a corporate executive, I was attracted to the book because Peter Drucker had recommended Ms. Rubin to me as a good thinker. I also read her book, The Princessa, and found her perspective be somewhat unusual and interesting in both cases. As her experience expands as a problem-solver and her skills grow for analysis, her future books will become even more valuable. I look forward to reading them as they are published. Finally, if you just like an entertaining story of how we can all be more than we are and achieving that can bring meaning and joy, I recommend this book as well.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too much Harriet, too little help, May 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Soloing: Realizing Your Life's Ambition (Hardcover)

For someone running a small business or thinking of starting one, emotional strength can prove as important as a business plan. Harriet Rubin is on to a great topic here, but she ruins the book by her staggering self-indulgence, name dropping and bragging about how much money she makes. Someone who wants insight into what being in business for yourself is really like would do better with Spare Room Tycoon, by James Chan. That book has the advantage of drawing on the experience of dozens of other entrepreneurs, and it's better written besides.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your time or money, January 3, 2000

By 

S. Brandon (Arlington VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Soloing: Realizing Your Life's Ambition (Hardcover)

This book is a hodge-podge of muddled thinking with little practical application. My advice to Harriet Rubin: Editor, edit thyself -- or be quiet. I'm glad I didn't buy the book. I would have been even more annoyed than I am now.

For anyone, male or female, who wants a great read about starting a business on a shoestring: Get a copy of 'MothersWork,' by Rebecca Matthias. A truly funny, insightful, honest, inspirational, smart and, yes, useful book about entrepreneurship. I read Matthias' book once, then did something I've never done before. I turned back to the first page and reread it. It was that good!

I'm not sure who all these people are who are saying Rubins' book is so fabulous and giving it five stars (possibly people she knows who are trying to help her protect her "brand"?) But if you want to read what others think about the dreadful 'Soloing,' go to the next page on this site and read all of the reviews. You'll be amazed at the number of readers who say 'Soloing' is perfectly awful.