Success Built to Last: Creating a Life that Matters - Book Report/Review Example

Introduction The book titled Success Built to Last: Creating a Life that Matters is one of the bestselling books in the 21st century. The title suggests that the success requires a specific approach in order to last. It suggests that the approach will be defined in the book. It also suggests that a life that matters is a successful. The book is written by three of the greatest authors of the century: Jerry Porras, Stewart Emery, and Mark Thompson. One of the authors, Jerry Porras, is a professor at Stanford University. Besides being an author and a professor, he is also a business management analyst. The second author, Stewart Emery, is renowned worldwide for his books and also as an excellent speaker and educator. Lastly, the third author of the book is Mark Thompson, who is well known for his keynotes in several of his writings and is also a venture capitalist (Porras, Emery & Thompson, 2007). Contextually, the objective of this paper is to review the book Success Built to Last: Creating a Life that Matters for better understanding and analysis. In this regard, the main ideas of the book are pointed out along with critical concepts. Moreover, the review also reveals the accuracy of the information that is written in the book. Based on these aspects of critical understanding, a conclusion is also drawn in the end. Point of View The book Success Built to Last: Creating a Life that Matters is written in the background of some of the largest organizations of the world and their success factors. It not only contains examples of big organizations but also adequate information about some of the small and medium-sized enterprises. Besides analyzing the business organizations, the book also contains the learning factors from some of the greatest personalities of the world. These personalities include Nelson Mandela, Richard Branson, several other renowned presidents of the past and some sports personalities. The book provides a clear understanding about the habits and key success factors that would support the individuals and organizations of the present day to lead to progress. The core objective of the book is to reveal these success factors of the renowned individuals and organizations of the past and present to help people of the modern day build organization in order to gain excellence. In the process of writing a book, the authors have extensively interviewed several world famous personalities to gain in-depth knowledge about their views regarding success Porras et al., 2007). Book’s Authority The key concepts of the book are well defined through citation of several personalities and organizations. In this regard, one of the key concepts of the book is to define the balance in life of an individual. This concept was attained by citing examples and instances about Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, and others, who did not have major issues in maintaining balance of life. There are several quotations of the renowned personalities like Sir Richard Branson, Herb Kelleher, Frances Hesselbein, Steve Forbes, David Stern, and many more. These quotations clearly define the concept of the book and upgrade the authority of the same (Porras et al., 2007). The book covers a wider concept regarding the foundation of critical success factors of an individual or an organization. In this regard, the book has revealed the essence of leadership to be one of the most successful factors for an individual or an organization. Contextually, there are several concepts of Peter Drucker that have been adapted. Leadership is one such aspect that is important for the success of an organization. It also covers the concept of balance of life, which is considered very spontaneous, through some examples of the greatest personalities of the world. Moreover, in the book there are other concepts such as of self-motivation and importance of perfect planning or strategy (Porras et al., 2007). Application of book’s concepts To books concepts can be applied to several situations including social marketing, Globalization, Stakeholders, Ethics as well as Holistic marketing. To begin with, the book concepts apply to social marketing. For instance, looking upon what the successful individuals have in common, placing them into simple practices, and consequently using them in transforming ones own life. The book challenges the wisdom of the convention in every step. Success Built to Last, provides a basis of face-to-face, and unscripted discussion with several remarkable people across the globe, including billionaires, Head of states, CEOs, celebrities and Nobel laureates, the famous, the rich, as well as the unknown (Porras et al., 2007). The book’s concept gives an overview of social marketing by discovering how those successful individuals “harvest” their weaknesses, as well as their strengths, their terrible failures and victories. The books concept also applies to globalization since it interviews more than 200 individuals that bring the interaction with people from diverse industries from different countries, gender, and interest. The book also discusses the interaction of CEOs from small and big companies, as well as being driven by international trade as well as investment that is supported by information technology (Porras et al., 2007). The concepts of the books can also apply to holistic marketing; it provides significant concepts that can help individuals look at their entire businesses including products, people, and processes. In addition, the concepts of the book can help find a solution in aligning systems, touch points of customers and services, which can make the experience of consumers about a brand seamless hence consistent across several channels. The concept of the book is also applicable to Stakeholders. A stakeholder can be any person, organization or a group that may show an interest in organization‘s business. It can be undertaken through organizing numerous interviews with the head of states, CEOs, celebrities and Nobel laureates, the famous and the rich. It indicates that stakeholders are also involved, since all this people may be regarded as stakeholder (Porras et al., 2007). Finally, books concept can also apply to Ethics in business, for instance, the books main idea revolves around ethical issues that can bring success to the business. This book comprises three significant elements; meaning that whatever an individual does then it should deeply matter to him/her, and something that they should feel passionate about. The second element is thought style that includes some elements of ethics such as sense of accountability, responsible optimism, audacity, as well as passion. The third element is action that implies finding better ways of taking action. All these three elements can lead to success when aligned (Porras et al., 2007). Accuracy of Information The information provided in the book is accurate. This is in terms of citations of the examples and with the use of quotations. There is hardly any case of temperament of the information. The book elaborates about the accurate information that helps in considering the success factors. How the book pertains to sustainability To begin with, the book pertains to sustainability through its “ Built to Last” . Something that is built to last usually remains stable for a longer period. For sustainability to be effective in any business organization, this particular organization must exhaustively research specifically from the already stable companies. This book gives an insight of sustainability since it studies specific successful leading companies as well as non-leaders in industries. The book also studies the elements of success that can help maintain the sustainability; the elements include Meaning, Thought style, and Action. Conclusion The book Success Built to Last: Creating a Life that Matters has been a bestseller because of the certain factors that have been adapted by the authors. The book is elaborated through the collection of several primary sources that upgrades the authority and the authenticity of the same. Moreover, there are hardly any signs of temperament of the information, and the editing is excellent. In addition, concerning the contents of the book some of the key concepts that have developed determine the success of an individual or an organization. However, there is a weakness in the book’s structure. Nonetheless, the concepts that are defined in the book should be implemented for attaining success of an individual as well as an organization. Reference Porras, J., Emery, S., & Thompson, M. (2007). Success Built to Last. India: Pearson Education India. Read More