Reclaiming the Fire: How Successful People Overcome Burnout (Hardcover)

~ Steven Berglas (Author) "Few highly successful people contact a mental health professional unless they experience a crisis..." (more)
Key Phrases: reclaiming the fire, success depression, risk homeostasis, Supernova Burnout, Michael Jordan, New York City (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Why do so many seemingly successful professionals hit the wall in middle age, and decide to either radically scale back their careers or set off in an entirely new direction? Clinical psychologist Steven Berglas, a specialist in success-induced burnout, believes it stems from the "self-handicapping behavior" that baby boomers are exhibiting in record numbers as they climb the corporate ladder and find they aren't happy with what results. Terming the phenomena Supernova Burnout, Berglas defines this workplace ennui as "the constrictive effects of being branded a 'success'" and offers some advice for the psychological distress that is an increasing consequence. In Reclaiming the Fire, he advances his arguments in a serious but accessible manner with references to cultural touch points like Mark Monsky's Looking Out for #1 and help from philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche. He analyzes "performance-inhibiting" behaviors ranging from substance abuse to abrupt career changes that he says developed from societal attitudes of the last half century, and suggests a few individual and organizational responses (including his 60 Minutes cure, which relies upon passion and intrinsic motivation to battle career malaise). While not everyone will agree with his assessments and prescribed cures, businesspeople who fit Berglas's description--and human resource managers who deal them--will likely find the material intriguing and potentially helpful. --Howard Rothman

From Publishers Weekly

Berglas, a management consultant and psychology instructor at UCLA and Harvard, traces burnout among attorneys, doctors, executives and others. For example, he points to Michael Jordan, who left basketball in 1993 because of "Supernova Burnout"; after extraordinary achievements, excessive attention made him fear failure, Berglas theorizes. Other cases of people trapped by success demonstrate burnout variations. Readers without their own professional guidance will wish Berglas discussed more solutions. Agent, Jill Kneerim.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Random House; 1st edition (May 8, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679463216
• ISBN-13: 978-0679463214
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #889,651 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent contents - Not easy to apply, April 28, 2002

By	Dr. Eduard Van Kleef (Berlin, Germany) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book deals with the phenomenon of people who have or have had extraordinary succesful careers and nevertheless found themselves to be extremely unhappy - partially up to the point of self-destruction. This also defines the audience for this book: the people described above or those who take a keen interest in such people.

The book has been written by an adjunct faculty member at Harvard Medical school. The academic level is - as far as I can judge - impeccable. The author quotes on many occasions from actual patient-cases which are common enough that many a reader will recognize some of his or her own headaches. One notices that an effort has been made to write a book that is accessible to the general public. However, the book does maintain a certain academic tone that will be off-putting to some people. There are no exercises, questionaires, or the like that would involve the reader a bit more with the subject matter.

Whoever thinks that reading this book and applying a few quick-fix exercises here and mental readjustments there is going to enable them to continue like before, just happier, is extremely mistaken. Dr. Berglas points out that a lot of the misery discussed is a direct result of some deeply engrained characteristics of our culture. For most people, following up on Dr. Berglas' suggestions will imply a drastic (but doable) change in lifestyle.

Being somewhat of an academic myself with a keen interest in psychological issues, I found the book extremely valuable. The value to you depends on how you personally feel about the above. However, my advice: if in doubt, buy it!

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Comfortable, Erudite, but a little short on solutions, July 18, 2001

By	"dcourvo" (Cape Girardeau, MO United States) - See all my reviews

Berglas is good. His topic hits right at the center of what I'm experiencing. I kept saying "Boy, that's me!" as I read. His case study stories are engaging and pertinent. Once in a while I had to slow wa-a-a-ay down to digest all the psychological principles he drifts into, but patience pays, because those principles, too, are pertinent. I felt that the last chapter of the book ended up being a receptacle for everything else he hadn't mentioned yet, and I had to read the last two chapters twice to see exactly what his proposed solutions were for what he terms "Supernova Burnout". The only reason I didn't give this book a "5" is that while he develops the syndrome's charactersitics very well, and shores up his analysis with sound psychological principle, his proposals for dealing with it, and turning it around, lacked clear direction. I would've liked to have seen more.

42 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why the journey is always more fun than the destination, May 15, 2001

By	Stephen C. Ellis "lab fan" (willoughby, ohio USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Reading Dr Berglas is akin to sitting through a great sermon. You intuitively know what your being told, but it somehow clarifies things to hear it from an expert. I found the book to be both readable and rich in content. In my experience most successful people are unable to give themselves the necessary distance to appreciate what is going on in their apparently unhappy lives. As obvious with hindsight as many of Dr Berglas'remedies may seem, I'm certain they will result in life changeing epiphanies for many hardcharging but unhappy individuals. We all hear that "it ain't the money" when we talk about happiness-- Dr Berglas lays out why that's so with inescapable logic, science, and humor. Reclaiming the Fire is about more than simply getting business types back to the grindstone. Dr Berglas' solutions are relevant to everyone who's come to realize that there's probably more to life than what they're experiencing. "Who Moved My Cheese" will tell you why its stupid to be unhappy (three word summary: "get over it")- Dr Berglas tells you what the heck you can do about it. Great book-highly recommend it.