0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Great Book, 2008-12-01
This is an excellent reference when one eventually gets kicked in the teeth professionally. The authors provide a pragmatic way to figure out what happened in ones professional life so an provide ample example of others who have had similar experiences.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
One of the most healing books I've ever read, 2007-12-28
I bought this book 12 years ago, but was so crushed at the time by the idea of having failed that I couldn't pick it up to read it. Now that I have, it's been a huge blessing.
Carole Hyatt and Linda Gottlieb have written one of the most healing books I've ever read -- period. Anyone who thinks failure is a permanent condition should read this book.When Smart People Fail: Rebuilding Yourself for Success
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
A Must Read for Everyone, 2007-05-17
I work as a Business Coach and Life Coach and refer clients to this book regularly. This is an older book, originally published in 1987, but its message is timeless. The authors talk about success and failure in a unique and thought-provoking way. Their primary point is that failure is a larger concern for Americans than for people in other cultures, that we are the most success-oriented people in the world. Americans don't seem to have the ability to distinguish between their judgment of events and the events themselves. We judge our lives and careers based on perceived success or failure whereas people in other cultures tend to gain a sense of self from their families or themselves.
I found this book to be compelling and useful in the context of both business and personal well-being. Understanding the historical and social aspects of the concept of failure is helpful, as is considering the two types of failure they identify: Overt failure (e.g. getting fired) and hidden failure (e.g. looking successful on the outside but feeling disappointed in oneself and like a failure inside). The book guides the reader through the process of learning from mistakes and reinterpreting the failure, not only into a learning experience but also into future success. I found this book to be both informative and practical. The subject of failure holds such taboo in our culture and yet anyone who takes risks in life will fail at some point. I think it makes sense to study the subject and emulate what the authors teach, accepting and learning from everything life's rich pageant has to offer us-Lorna Kellogg
0 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Changed my life, 2004-08-11
This book was really eye-opening. The book was so encouraging. I believe this book will help many people.
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
Required Reading for the Embattled Entrepreneur, 2002-09-16
Failure among the ambitious, upwardly mobile, educated and intelligent of our modern, industrialized society often comes across as being more devastating, more defining, and more frightening than it actually is. What in actuality defines us is not the number of our failures, but how we deal with our failure, how we look upon it, and most importantly, how we either use our failure or allow our failures to define us. Hyatt and Gottlieb have written an excellent text on professional/career failure. The authors start the book by imparting intrepid examples both personal and private, of the emotional processes associated with failure. They accurately describe (often in painful and excruciating detail) the feelings of fear, isolation, shame and remorse associated with losing a job, status, money or some combination of the three. One can not only relate to the loss of purpose, the punctured egos, and the declining sense of self of those who have failed professionally, but also can actually feel as if it is happening to him or her- for it at some point has happened to him or her. They emphatically stress that career failure is something that eventually touches every professional, in some cases sooner, and in others, later. In this way, they show that failure has no prejudices, and everyone is a card-carrying member of this club, whether they realize it or not. As such, in dealing with failure, it is extremely important for the individual to realize that he or she is not alone in the experience, even if our greater society compels us to put up a strong front and pretend that nothing is really wrong. In order to healthily deal with failure, the authors emphasize the importance of understanding the meaning of failure in both the personal and the societal context, and elaborate upon how the feelings associated with failure unfold in the individual. Many people define themselves based on their occupation, their professional affiliation, or their status in life, and it comes as no surprise that these are the people hardest hit by career failure. Those of us who have cultivated other sides of our personality, such as those of us who live for our weekend hobbies, or those of us that are family or community oriented, tend to handle career failure much better, and can even take it in stride. Although many readers and those who have experienced failure or are currently experiencing failure may not believe it, failure actually gives people options, which the authors not only demonstrate, but also help the reader identify and ultimately take advantage of in later chapters.
In the first part of the book, one chapter each is devoted to defining the characteristics of failure at the level of the individual and the society, dealing with the feelings, which occur in stages, associated with failure, how our career failures can affect those closest to us, and how men and women respond to career failure. The second part of the book focuses on taking failure in stride, and offers a comprehensive strategy for personal reinvention after suffering a career failure. Arguably the most important part of the book, this section devotes one comprehensive chapter to each of the following topics: discovering why one has failed, gleaning from the failure some positive knowledge by re-interpreting the events leading up to the failure, recognizing and casting off old and inappropriate labels and finding new ones, expanding one's career choices, and making the transition from the old professional to the new, centered and focused individual. The authors also include in this section of the book a bonus chapter that showcases two successfully reinvented individuals, and elaborates upon the nature of their failure, how they dealt with failure, and the process of their reinvention. Each chapter in the second part of the book provides the reader with powerful tactics to build a new, improved person from career failure, and allows one to rise triumphantly out of the ashes of failure, much like the proverbial phoenix. The third and final part of the book, entitled `Towards Real Success', helps the reader to win the internal battle associated with failure. While the second part of the book helps to outwardly reinvent the individual for career success, the final section of the book helps the individual to cultivate a new perspective, a new outlook- on career failure. This part of the book encourages the reader to look upon failure as a learning experience, and as such, helps one to regard failure as a temporary setback that one can learn from.
The authors have written a truly empowering book, one that entrepreneurs and professionals must read and keep alongside all the other books on career and entrepreneurial success, as there inevitably will be one or more notable, spectacular and in some cases unfortunately public failures on the path to a successful career journey. In the end, I can only say that there is no shame in taking a risk, giving one's all, and failing, and I wholeheartedly believe that true shame results from failing to try, failing to risk, fearing change, and failing to grow. These, I truly believe, are the things that comprise the regrets in one's life.