The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

 

This book suddenly crossed my mind after reading a lousy book in "Atomic Habits". "Atomic Habits" really disappointed me. As such, I felt there is a need to revisit a book I read 20 years ago. Main thing is, I need to find out whether I really hate "Atomic Habits" that much or simply because this sort of books no more sounds appealing to me...

At the end, this is still the same "amazing" book I read 20 years ago. A reread after 20 years is an incredible journey. After all, when I can re-quote some of the nice quotes below, it clearly showed that this book is still applicable after years. Further to that, although the said 7 habits were practiced over the years, the revision on this book did trigger some new ideas on me particularly as well as my interdependent relationship. 

Relatively, "Atomic Habits" do not have this sort of attraction. Well, credit must be given to the author of 7 habits. "Atomic Habits" may not be that bad. Perhaps, the presenting styles and the practical part is not as good as 7 habits. 

Out of 10, I have no reason to revise my full rating 20 years ago. This book is still one of my bibles in life and amazingly, it is still perfectly good to maintain all the 7 habits for the rest of my life. Thumbs up and thumbs up to the late Stephen R. Covey!

My experience has been that there are times to teach and times not to teach. When relationship are strained and the air charged with emotions, an attempt to teach is often perceived as a form of judgment and rejection.

A sense of possessing needs to come before a sense of genuine sharing.

Knowledge is the theoretical paradigm. Skill is the how to do and desire is the motivation. In order to make something a habit, we have to have all three.

Effectiveness lies in the balance. Excessive focus on P results in ruined health, worn-out machines, depleted bank accounts and broken relationship. Too much focus on PC is like a person who runs 3/4 hours a day, bragging about the extra 10 years of life it creates, unaware he's spending them running. 

There are 3 social maps: Genetic determinism, Psychic determination, Environmental determination to explain the nature of man. 

Look at the word responsibility - "response-ability" - the ability to choose your response. Highly proactive people recognize that responsibility.

Proactive people are still influenced by external stimuli. But, their response to the stimuli is a value-based choice or response. It is our willing permission, our consent to what happens to us, that hurts us far more than what happens to us in the first place. It's not what happen to us, but our response to what happens to us that hurts us. 

It is our willingness permission, our consent to what happens to us, that hurts us far more than what happens to us in the first place.

In the great literature of all progressive societies, love is a verb. Reactive people make it a feeling.

Proactive people focus their efforts in the Circle of Influence. They work on the things they can do something about. The nature of their energy is positive, enlarging and magnifying, causing their Circle of Influence to increase. Reactive people on the other hand, focus their efforts in the Circle of Concern.

Whether a problem is direct, indirect, or no control, we have in our hands to the first step to the solution. Changing our habits, changing our methods of influence and changing the way we see our no control problems are within our Circle of Influence.

Habit 1 says "You are the programmer." Habit 2, then, says "Write the program." Until your accept the idea that you are responsible, that you are the programmer, you won't really invest in writing the program.

Almost all of the world class athletes and other peak performers are visualizers. They see it; the fell it; they experience it before they actually do it. They begin with the end in mind.

Before a performance, a sales presentation, a difficult confrontation, or the daily challenge of meeting a goal, see it clearly, vividly, relentlessly, over and over again. Create an internal "comfort zone." Then, when you get into the situation, it isn't foreign. It doesn't scare you.

My maxim of personal effectiveness: Manage from the left; lead from the right.

The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities. And this can be done in the context of the week.

The focus in steward delegation is on effectiveness, not efficiency. Certainly you can do it better by yourself, but the key is to empower someone else to do it. It takes time. You have to get involved in the training and development. It takes time, but how valuable that time is downstream! It saves you so much in long run. 

The steward relatively compares to gofer focused on results instead of methods. The steward becomes his own boss, governed by a conscience that contains the commitment to agreed upon desired results. But it also releases his creative energies to achieve those desired results.

Real self-respect comes from dominion over self, from true independence. And that's the focus of Habits 1,2,3. Independence is an achievement. Interdependence is a choice only independent people can make. Unless we are willing to achieve real independence, it's foolish to try to develop human relations skills. 

I suggest that in an interdependent situation, every P problem is a PC opportunity - a chance to build the Emotional Bank Accounts that significantly affect interdependent production.  

Seek first to understand involves a very deep shift in paradigm. Most people do not listen with the intent to understand, they listen with the intent to reply. They're filtering everything through their own paradigms. 

As long as the response it logical, can effectively ask questions and give counsel. But the moment the response becomes emotional, one needs to go back to emphatic listening.

The more proactive you are (Habit 1), the more effectively you can exercise personal leadership (Habit 2) and management (Habit 3) in your life. The more effectively you manage your life (Habit 3), the more Quadrant II renewing activities you can do (Habit 7). The more you seek first to understand (Habit 5), the more effectively you can go for synergetic Win/Win situation (Habits 4 & 6). The more you improve in any of the habits that lead to independence (Habits 1,2,3), the more effective you will be in interdependent situations (Habits 4,5,6). And renewal (Habit 7) is the process of renewing all the habits.

There is a gap or space between stimulus and response, and that they key to both our growth and happiness is how we use that space. 

Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies

 

This book was highly recommended by a few friends. In fact, the topic itself was very attractive to me in the first place. The only question is, this book was written a long time ago. So, are the theories still applicable in today's world? Well, if Jeff Bezos also reading this book, there is no excuse for us to avoid this book... 

Let's start the whole journey with something interesting: the myth of building a successful company:

Myth 1: It takes a great idea to start a great company

Myth 2: Visionary companies require great and charismatic visionary leaders.

Myth 3: The most successful companies exist first and foremost to maximize profits.

Myth 4: Visionary companies share a common subset of "correct" core values. (Reality: There is no "right" set of core values for being a visionary company. Indeed, two companies can have radically different ideologies, yet both visionary.

Myth 5: The only constant is change. 

Myth 6: Blue-chip companies play it safe. (Visionary companies may appear conservative to outsides, but they are not afraid to make bold commitments to "Big Hairy Audacious Goals".

Myth 7: Visionary companies are great places to work, for everyone.

Myth 8: Highly successful companies make their best moves by brilliant and complex strategic planning. (What looks in retrospect and preplanning was of the result of "Let's just try a lot of stuff and keep what works.")

Myth 9: Companies should hire outside CEOs to stimulate fundamental changes.

Myth 10: The most successful companies focus on beating the competitors (Visionary companies focus primary on beating themselves)

Myth 11: You can't have your cake and eat it too (Visionary companies do not brutalize themselves with the "Tyranny of the OR")

Myth 12: Companies becomes visionary primarily through "vision statements". 

With the listed myths, I have no hesitation to continue this book. In fact, these myths are the issues that bother entrepreneurs now and then. So, this book unlocked and dug into details on the myth with proven data and analysis. Thumbs up!!!

Next, the best part... how the author choose and filter companies to study:

1. What companies should we study?

2. Avoiding the "Discover Buildings" Trap.

3. History and Evolution

4. Crates of Data, Months of Coding, and "Tortoise Hunting"

5. Harvesting the Fruits of our Labor

6. Field Testing & Application in the Real World

With the series of myth and filtering in choosing the company, this book itself already showed its value. The main thing about visionary companies is all about core ideology. This ideology itself is the combination of core values (not to be confused with specific cultural or operating practices and not to be compromised for financial gain or short term expediency) + purpose (not to be confused with specific goals or business strategy). After finishing the whole book, you and I will know how fragile our company is: Core value was not set and not initiated despite running business for several years! So audacious! LOL...

With this new edition, the author adds on a new chapter on conceptual framework that defines vision, adds clarity and gives practical guidance for articulating a coherent vision within an organization. For those who have read this book or better still, for those who are new to this book, kindly get this latest version. This chapter is so valuable and gives plenty of insights to readers. Although a bit repetitive, a final reminder with all sorts of examples will further clarify the core ideas of this whole book.

For a full rating of 10, I have no hesitation to rate this book at 10/10. There is nothing to complain about this book. The author and the team of researchers really put in enormous efforts to provide an insightful and detailed perspective on how to build a visionary company. Well, as mentioned above, is this book still applicable in today's high technology world? The answer is yes! The theory of "stimulating progress while preserving core" will be there regardless of how the world changes. Full thumbs up to this book!!! 

Last but not least, I tried to excerpt some nice quotes from this book. In the end, I found too much info that I needed for future references. As such, unlike the usual quotes, I will categorize below as some valuable notes:

The core value need no rational or external justification. Nor do they sway with the trends and fads of the day. Nor even they shift in response to changing market conditions.

In the early stages, most visionary companies just tried to get off the ground and make a go of it and their ideology became clear only as the company evolved.

Specific methods of preserving the core and stimulating progress:

1. Big Hairy Audacious Goals

2. Cult-like Culture

3. Try a Lot of Stuff and Keep What Works!

4. Home-grown Management

5. Good Enough Never Is

Framework for diagnosing your own organization:

1. Has it made the shift in perspective from time telling to clock building?

2. Does it reject the "Tyranny of the OR" and embrace the "Genius of the AND"?

3. Does it have a core ideology - core values and purpose beyond just making money?

4. Does it have a drive for progress - not part of the core ideology?

5. Does it preserve the core and stimulate progress?

6. Is the organization in alignment, so that people receive a consistent set of signals to reinforce behavior that supports the core ideology and achieves desired progress?

Few points as you consider BHAGs:

1. Clear and requires little or no explanation. A BHAG is a goal- like climbing a mountain or going to moon - not a "statement." If it doesn't get people's juices going, then it's just not a BHAGs.

2. A BHAG should fall well outside the comfort zone: it should require heroic effort and perhaps even a little luck.

3. A BHAG should be bold and exciting in its own right that it would continue to stimulate progress even if the organization's leaders disappeared.

4. A BHAG has the inherent danger that, once achieved, an organization can stall and drift in the "we've arrived!" syndrome. A company should be prepared to prevent this by having follow-on BHAGs.

5. A BHAG should be consistent with a company's core value.

"Visionary" does not mean soft and undisciplined. They tend not to have much room for people unwilling or unsuited to their demanding standards.

An analysis of the visionary versus comparison companies:

1. 11/18 pairs, the evidence shows stronger indoctrination into a core ideology through the history of the visionary companies.

2. 13/18 pairs, people tend to either fit well with the company and its ideology or tend to not fit  at all.

3. 13/18 pairs, the evidence shows a sense of belonging to something special and superior.

We found that the visionary companies were significantly more decentralized and granted greater operational autonomy than the comparison companies.

Evolutionary progress differs from BHAG progress in two key ways. First, BHAG progress involves clear and unambiguous goals, evolutionary progress involves ambiguity (by trying lots of different approaches to stumble onto something that works). Second, BHAG involves bold discontinues leaps, evolution progress usually begins with small incremental steps or mutations, often in the form of quickly seizing unexpected opportunities that eventually grow into major and often unanticipated strategic shifts.

It might be far more satisfactory to look at well-adapted visionary companies not primarily as the result of brilliant foresight and strategic planning, but largely as consequences of a basic process - namely, try a lot of experiments, seize opportunities, keep those that work well (consistent with the core ideology) and discard those that don't.

We're not saying that evolutionary progress equals to wanton diversification, or even that a focused business strategy is necessarily bad. Wal-Mart for example remain resolutely focused on one industry- discount retailing - while simultaneously stimulating evolution within that narrow focus. Nor are we saying that the concept of "stick to the knitting" makes no sense. The real question is: What is the "knitting" in a visionary company? Our answer: Core ideology.

Across seventeen hundred years of combined history in the visionary companies, we found only four individual cases of and outsider coming directly into the role of chief executive.

It is not the quality of leadership that most separates the visionary companies from the comparison companies. It is the continuity of quality leadership that matters - continuity that preserves the core.

If you're involved with an organization that feels it must go outside for a top manager, then look for candidates who are highly compatible with the core ideology. They can be different in managerial style, but they should share the core values at a gut level.

P&G already had the best people, the best products, the best marketing muscle. So, why not pit the best of P&G against the best of P&G? If the marketplace doesn't provide enough competition, why not create a system of internal competition that makes it virtually impossible for any brand to rest on its laurels?

Managers at visionary companies simply do not accept the proposition that they must choose between short-term performance or long-term success. They build first and foremost for the long term while simultaneously holding themselves to highly demanding short-term standards. 

If you are involved in building and managing the company, we urge you to consider the following questions:

- What "mechanisms of discontent" can you create that would obliterate complacency and bring about change and improvement from within, yet are consistent with your core ideology? How can you give these mechanism sharp teeth?

- What are you doing to invest for the future while doing well today? Does your company adopt innovative new methods and technologies before the rest of the industry?

- How do you respond to downturns? Does your company continue to build for the long term even during difficult times?

- Do people in your company understand that comfort is not the objective - that life in a visionary company is not supposed to be easy?

Bill Hewlett, "marketing people must play a secondary role in the question of product definition."

A particular revealing example of HP following its own vision and not falling into prey to management fads and fashions of the day came in the 1970s, when the "learning-curve/market-share" theory of corporate strategy swept American business.

Keep in mind that the only sacred cow in a visionary company is its core ideology. Anything else can be changed or eliminated.

After you drafted a preliminary list of the core values, ask this questions: "If the circumstances changed and penalized us for holding this core value, would we still keep it?" If you can't honestly answer yes, then it's not core and should be dropped. 

Suppose in 10 years quality doesn't make a difference and the only thing that matters is sheer speed and horsepower, but not quality. Quality stay off the list as core value. Quality stayed in the current strategy and remained in place as mechanism for stimulating progress, but it did not make the list of core values. Remember, strategies change as market conditions change, but core values remain intact. 

A company should not change its core values in response to market changes, it should change markets- if necessary in order to remain true to its core values. 

Can you envision these core values being equally valid for you 100 years from now as they are today? Would you want to hold these core values, even if at some point one or more of them became a competitive disadvantage? If you were to start a new organization tomorrow in a different line of work, what cores values would you build into the new organization regardless of its industry? The last three questions are particularly important, as they make the crucial distinction between enduring core values that should not change and practices and strategies that should be changing all the time.

Whereas you might achieve a goal or complete a strategy, you cannot fulfill a purpose; it is like a guiding star on the horizon - forever pursued, but never reached. Yet while purpose itself does not change, it does inspire change. The very fact that purpose can never be fully realized means that an organization can never stop stimulating change and progress in order to live more fully to its purpose.

One powerful method for getting at purpose is the "Five Whys." Start with the descriptive statement, "We make X products" or "we deliver X services," and then ask "why is that important?" five times.

None of the core purposes discussed in this chapter fall into the category "maximize shareholder wealth." A key role of core purpose is to guide and inspire.

One way to get at the purpose that lies beyond just maximizing shareholder wealth is to play the "Random Corporate Serial Killer" game.

If you woke up tomorrow morning with enough money in the bank that you would never need to work again, how could we frame the purpose of this organization such that you would want to continue working anyway? What deeper sense of purpose would motivate you to continue to dedicate your precious creative energies to this company's efforts?

As Peter Drucker has pointed out, the best and most dedicated people are ultimately volunteers, for they have the opportunity to do something else with their lives.

You do not "create" or "set" core ideology. You discover core technology. It is not derived by looking to the external environment; you get at it by looking inside. It has to be authentic. You can't fake an ideology. Nor can you just "intellectualize" it. Do not ask, "What core value should we hold?"

Core ideology need only be meaningful and inspirational to people inside the organization, it need not be exciting to all outsiders. 

The task is to find people who already have a predisposition to share your core values and purpose, attract and retain these peoples, and let those who aren't disposed to share your core values go elsewhere.

Core competence is a strategic concept that captures your organization's capabilities - what you are particularly good at - whereas core ideology captures what you stand for and why you exist.

A BHAG should not be a sure bet - perhaps only 50-70% probabilities of success - but the organization must believe "we can do it anyway." It should require extraordinary effort, and perhaps a little luck. Four targets in creating BHAG: target, common enemy, role model, internal transformation.

Purpose is the organization's fundamental reason for existence, which like a star on the horizon can never be reached; it guides and inspires forever. A BHAG, on the other hand, is a specific goal which, like a specific mountain to climb, has a specific time frame and can be achieved. Whereas identifying core ideology is a discovery process, setting the envisioned future is a creative process.

In thinking about envisioned future, beware the "we've arrived syndrome" - complacent lethargy that arises once an organization has achieved a BHAG and fails to replace it with another.

Creating alignment, which is a key part of our ongoing work to help companies transform themselves into visionary companies, requires two key processes: 1. developing new alignments to preserve the core and stimulate progress, and 2. eliminating misalignments - those that drive the company away from the core ideology and those that impede progress toward the envisioned future.

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

 

Since "7 habits", I think I never found a book as good as the theory mentioned in 7 Habits. The said 7 habits served me well for the past 20 years to becomes the highly effective people as claimed by the late Stephen Covey. Now, I am into this atomic habits. The topic itself sounds appealing in the first place. Secondly, I was in a forum on books and this book keep on bombarding my fb wall in the said forum. So, here I am with a book that usually would not appear in my book shelf. 

At the end... I did not finish this book. This is a boring and dull book. Basically, the four concepts are too simple to practice and I humbly think that this is how I practice my life for the past 20 years. As such, this book does not deliver what I want and I ended up gave up half way. 

My expectation on this book was high in the first place. After all, it was highly recommended by all friends in my forum. The so called "atomic" habits are nothing new under the sun. We had this sort of ideas everywhere and perhaps the author only did his best to use the right words to "upgrade" the whole concept. For example, I hate the repeating words of "Laws" being highlighted throughout the book. To me, it is a "principle" at most! Law??? No way... 

Finally, this book could have been written in less than 100 pages. There are a lot of repetition and the author mumbling the same stuff over and over again. In fact, this book can easily be sum up by reading the chapter summaries. So, for a full rating of 10, I am going to rate this book at 1. The idea is good (nothing special though), but it is just too wordy to finish it up... 

终身学习：哈佛毕业后的六堂课

好久没阅读一些学术性的书籍。这本书堪称史丹福和哈佛没有教的必修课。因此，特别吸引了我。

结果是。。。这本书太棒了！棒在那里？第一，这本书的学术性太高了。读完整本书后，老实说，真的获益不浅。诚如书的主题所说，这本书的确是终身学习的一个主题。里头概括了所有人生必备的一些工具。如果能够运用一半以上，我相信人生会走的更顺畅。

第二，作者本身堪称是个成功的生意人。我感到好奇的是。。。作者哪来那么多时间上那么多课程。我也是生意人。我还是个不成功的生意人。但，一个不成功的生意人都腾不出时间来上课，黄总却能在那么短的时间上了那么多课程。佩服，佩服还是佩服！或许，是时候放下一些来换取另一些吧。。。

第三，这本书脱离了一般学术性质的本质。如果主题让你觉得很压力，那就大错特错了。这本书写的很轻松。读者应该会很轻松的了解作者想要表达的意义。学术性有，但又不大伤脑筋！这类书籍怎能不吸引读者呢？

再好的书总有些缺陷。这本书，个人觉得太多学习过程了。书的主题是终身学习。因此，作者很贪心的把整个人生需要概括的学习过程都写进去了。我个人认为要啃完这本书的确需要花上些时间。虽然大致上轻松，但免不了要用上一点脑筋去思考。因此，如果这本书分成两个段若或者两本不同的上下集，我觉得会更好。

10分满分，这本书我给于9分。整体上，这本书很值得推荐。第一，如果把它当作是新的学习知识，这本书绝对称职。第二，就算有些知识你和我都很熟悉，这本书还是能够启到加深知识和复习的作用。

最后，有些语录还是值得记录的。黄总整本书的经典语录的确让我获益不少。

哈尔埃尔罗德总结出一套“早晨程序”，包括运动，阅读，感恩，冥想和定目标等。他还指出，也许你觉得每天早晨花一个小时很奢侈，但当你做了之后就会发现，这一个小时可以让你之后的十五个小时获得最高效率的最好方法。

当你知道自己处于某种情绪时，你会让自己停留多久？情商的意义是如何管理自己的情绪，尽量缩短极端情绪持续的时间。这里不单单指负面情绪。因为无论那种极端情绪，维持太久的时间都是不好的。人需要在大多数情况下处于不悲不喜。因为这种感觉对身体是最好的。

所有的情绪和反应都是你自己产生的。所以，当外部世界朝你轰叫时，你不需要有任何情绪反应。如果有的话，就观察它。观察它的来，观察它的去。

影响力原则：
1. 互惠性原则
2. 稀有性原则
3. 权威性原则
4. 一致性原则： 个人的言语和行为一致
5. 社会认同原则
6. 相似性原则：建立私人关系，抓住共同点，给对方一些真诚的赞许

一群聪明人未必能够达到共识。在没有制度的前提下，我说我的，各做各的。在一个社群建立的初期，真的需要一个领袖人物。

社群能否成功建立，其实和大家聪明不聪明没有必然关系。重点是制度和领袖。

我无法控制别人的想法，我只能更勇气的面对自己，对自己说的话和做的事负责。

人生幸福来自六个需求的满足：
1。人生的确定性：虽然人生充满变数，但人需要有确定性。
2. 人生的不确定性：每天重复同样的日子，会非常无趣。所以，生活也需要一些不确定性。
3. 个体的重要性：知道自己的价值。
4. 连接与爱
5. 成长
6. 贡献

我对压力和担忧从新定义：我要积极做好我所能做的事，也要认识到意外产生的必然性。既然意外是不可避免的，坦然面对，积极处理，其实这何尝不是提升我个人能力的一种方式呢？

如果付出有个前提，想得到什么，那当然会不开心。如果付出只是为了帮助别人，自我提升，那内心的满足也会源自于此。

如果没有找到符合自己需求的组织，那么就建立一个属于自己的“大头脑”。

一家成功的企业具备七个要数：
1. 优秀的企业文化。
2. 前瞻性的战略。
3. 不断的创新。
4. 做好市场推广。
5. 建立好的销售系统。
6. 完善法律和财务体系。
7. 不断改进和优化。

不是每个公司都需要做大。当风投想给你一笔资金，伴随而来的也有很多的不确定性，也就和你的基本需求背道而驰了。

当一间公司运作的非常好，从某种程度来说，他就应该把个人和公司之间进行一次分离。这时候，他会同时具备两种身份，一个是“事业执行者”，另一个是“事业拥有者”。作为前者，他是公司的一名员工，为公司创造价值；作为后者，他拥有属于自己的部分。

如果我们想有更长远的追求，想要获得进步，我们首先需要认识到自己的舒适区及其边界，然后能够打破它，扩大我们的活动范围，逼近我们的极限。

企业上市学

曾经阅读无数台湾香港企业上市指南。。。一直很纳闷马来西亚怎么就没有自己的指南呢？终于，皇天不负苦心人，该来的始终会来。

这本书真的很珍贵。或许，对于从事金融业务的专家们，这本书显得太简单。但是，对于寻求上市的企业们，这本书真的起到一定的作用。至少，它简单的介绍了企业上市学。基本上，很多企业家对于上市这一块还是懵懵懂懂的。很多时候，很多企业甚至不知道上市的可行性，而一味的寻找银行的庇护。善于运用资本运作才是企业的王道。

这本书除了写的好，内容确实很丰富。作者在书里还独家专访五种证券交易所上市案例。这五个个案有它各自独特的一面。读者肯定能从五种不同的上市个案中了解到整个上市学的精髓。

整体来说，这本书根本找不到任何瑕疵。唯一美中不足的是，这本书的字体也太小了吧。对于老花越来越严重的我来说，阅读时其实挺吃力的。基于这个小瑕疵，10分满分，个人给与9分。这本书开拓了我许多视野。这类指南在市面上是少之又少。因此，很期待作者继续出版更多这类型的书籍。

Think and Grow Rich: The 21st-Century Edition: Revised and Updated

I am going to do a short (a very short one) review on this book. The main reason is: this book no more motivates me like those days, haha... In fact, 20 years ago, I love this book so much. However, I did not reread this book after the first read. After all, there is a long list of reread books pending my precious time, haha.

This is the revised and updated version. So, I thought might as well give it a try. At the end, the so called revised and updated parts offered nothing except trying to praise every single content in the book. Examples given in the book are so "lame". Imagine people like Steve Jobs being quoted in the context. Irrelevant, right? I thought the published trying their best to re-brand the whole book. However, the assumptions given just make the whole book worse.

Relatively, I still preferred the original version. At the same time, I decided not to reread this book again in the future. This book shaped my life twenty years ago. However... as the practices in this book become my habit, it totally lost its attractiveness. This book serves as a motivational stuff for youngsters and those who are new into the entrepreneurship. But, for oldies like me, I do not find it inspiring anymore. As such, for a full rating of 10, I am going to rate this book at 1. 

Robert Kuok: A Memoir

Robert Kuok... a well-known Malaysia tycoon with business interests around the world. I read few books about the mighty tycoon. However, there are so far zero good books on him. So, when this book was published, I was so excited with it. Unfortunately, this book lies on my shelf for quite some time. I wanted to read it so much. But, I need to find the right time as I do not want my reading journey disturbed by the routine responsibility. Since I am kind of free recently... this is the right time to start it.

This book cost RM 139.90! It might sound expensive to some. But, let me tell you this: if you own this book, you are sitting on a gold mine. The memoir traces Sugar King's life from depression, world war two, Malaysia establishment up to the rise of mighty China. Overall, this is not only a story of the tycoon. It is a mixture of business, politics and opportunities. Readers will find it inspiring, motivating and interesting. After all, this is the only book penned by Robert himself. Hence, relatively; compares to other Robert Kuok's book, this book is definately number one choice for readers.

This book offered a lot of wisdom and perspective in life which was inherited by Robert's late mum. Surprisingly, Robert's mum was not born with silver spoon. In fact, she was rise up in the turmoil of real mess in china and colonial Tanah Melayu. However, the book clearly showed that this woman was born with natural intelligence. Robert mentioned umpteen times that whenever he got a problem, the mother's advice was always his best options.

This book also touched on with political situation after Malaysia was established. With the recent reformation on Malaysia, Robert's vision was spot on those days. Imagine if Tun Hussein Onn had listened to Robert. Malaysia might be one of the mighty giant countries alongside Singapore and Korea now. Well, there is no "if" in history. Main point is... Robert obviously is the man with great vision!

For a full rating of 10, I have no hesitation to rate this book at 10/10! There is a lot of great stuff to explore in this book. Everyone needs to read this book. It is a must read book since it brings along tons of wisdom in business, relationship and life. Last but not least, listed below are some of the great stuff from the book. I tried hard to choose the best part. But, it ended up with a long list. So, that sums up everything about this book. Excellent is the only word to describe it. Thumbs up!!!

Man must work; work is therapeutic, it binds your mind and body together. When you work, you wake up earlier than everybody, you go to bed earlier than everybody because you need to charge your batteries.

Bankers live by simple creed: Lend money to those who do not need to borrow. When you are penniless, your bank will desert you as if you're a leper... "Bankers are not my friends. Among my friends, some happen to be bankers."...Now, if that doesn't drive you forward in life to make as much money as possible so you can thumb your nose at those bankers, then what will?

I have always felt that wisdom is in the air. Structured learning is fine. But you can pick, you can distil, wisdom by yourself.

Now, there is only so much time in any given day. When you're awake, you must focus on what you really want in life. Many young men go in for the loviest sports cars and other material things. I saw very early on that these symbols of luxury and pleasure are not the real things in life, and they tend to distract you from focusing on what is important.

All my life, I have sought partners, because I know that there must always be teamwork in a society. It we cut each other's throats, the fourth or fifth dog gets the bone.

The experience drove home to me the importance of speed and trust. You must be super quick in driving towards your goal, since you are not working in isolation and competitors will come at your from all angles. You must also develop resilience, and be able to bounce back after the inevitable reverses.

Having made friends with all the major sugar brokers in the city, I was winning, dining and spending money like water on them. It was good public relations as only a Chinese knows how, practicing thrift on yourself, but generosity toward your friends.

Back in the 1960s and 1970s, the oceans were teeming with fish. While volatility has not changed that much since then, there are many more sharks now. Sometimes, it seems like there are no fish in the sea - only sharks. Honours graduates in science and engineering are being recruited. PhDs are hard at working algorithms, and I don't even know what that means. If today's technology and speed of information had existed in the 1960s and 1970s, I would have been like a fish out of water.

One thing I learned from the Japanese is that you should focus on products which there are large, established markets and for which demand is uniform and sustainable.

I was eager to diversify from commodity trading. Why? Commodity trading is inherently risky. The only way you can trade commodities and make a fortune is to take substantial risks. There is no joy in getting too big in commodities trading. If you reach too high, you are in danger of going burst.

If you own just one hotel you might as well sell it at the right time - it's more of a burden than anything else. You must expand logically and sensibly.

I could make the same statement about the need for simplicity in doing business in general. Within a complex business you don't have to make it more complex. There are simple ways of tackling problems and operating the business.

All business on earth is management. In the hotel world - in any business world - you must look for three ingredients when you hire staff: talent, integrity and the stamina for hard work.

I sometimes employ this tactic when I'm in doubt about a project: I chat with a man cleverer than myself and offer him a joint venture deal. If he says, "Oh my God, it's an awful thing," then you know it's poison, and you are able to see the deal clearly through other people's eyes.

Another businessman's reaction might have been to sue the guy. I say: In life, when you can get out, get out. Life is not reasonable. You mustn't face life thinking everybody is going to be reasonable. You must look at life and assume everybody is going to be unreasonable.

I have not come across any people as loyal as the Chinese. The Japanese have a kind of loyalty, but it's an uncritical, bushido type of loyalty: they are loyal even if the boss is a skunk. Unlike the Japanese, every Chinese is highly judgmental, from the most educated to the uneducated.

The decent Chinese have helped to build up Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, and made these countries what they are today. But you also had the rise of the unscrupulous and ruthless Chinese, who in turn have devastated many parts of Southeast Asia. Why were these people allowed to wreck havoc? It is because the leaderships have been weak. Singapore had the same number of Chinese crooks, but you try and find one today.

Man must always remain humble because no matter how strong you are today, one day there will be someone stronger than you. Even if you have a lot of material wealth, please remember that you cannot live in isolation; you are always just a member of society.

Many people think that shyness is a great virtue. Well, if you want to join the business world, leave that outside your door. You have to be thick-skinned, able to take knocks. You will be insulted; you will have people slam doors in your face. But there is always another door, another road, and a way to forge on.

Before you enter business, you should vow that in whatever you do, you will be guided by the laws of morality. This will ensure long term survival. Adopt good, clean and honorable means of doing business, avoid dirty, tricky and unscrupulous methods.

The golden rule for good health is to lead a simple life, physically and mentally. 

凯希八十无畏无悔

我对陈凯希一直有种莫名的崇拜。理由是，政商勾结一直不是我很赞同的。我倾向于政治的搞政治，工商的搞好工商。但，如陈凯希般又工商又有政治抱负的的确稀有。虽说陈凯希是前半生搞政治，后半生创业，但两者始终很难混为一谈。但是，陈凯希在这方面真的很成功。

如同书里描述的，陈凯希是因为出狱后别无选择而选择了从商。但是，试问几个政治人物能够把政治理念运用在商界呢？再来，这个商人堪称完全不了解甚至不知道公司里的任何数字。往往，捐了钱，还得自掏腰包!试问，这样的生意人怎能把生意做大呢?但，事实是，这位不像商人的商人却把海鸥王国建立起来了。佩服！！！

这本自传的前半段挺闷的。我把它纳入自传因为书的封面很明显的是一本关于陈凯希的故事。但是，前半段一直纠缠在海鸥的事迹。或许，作者和出版社还沉溺在【新兴】这本自传里。因此，前半段完严格来说简直是海鸥的自传。

前半段我读的沉闷。后半段反而给了我很大的惊喜。我要的陈凯希自传终于在后半段呈现了。后半段关于陈凯希太太的事迹还真的启发了我不少。一个连公司数字都不清不楚的人之所以能够建立一个庞大的商业王国主要是后面有个懂得管理数字的伟大太太。同样的原理，一个懂得管理数字的男人往往因为后面的女人不善于管理数字游戏而垮台。时代也必须接受一个事实。女人管理数字其实真的比男人更能胜任。

10分满分，本人基于前半段太过“海鸥”，而打了个6分。这本书整体来说还是不错的。只不过，作者如果能够深入的探讨陈凯希商业以外的一面或许会加分很多。

The Real Madrid Way: How Values Created the Most Successful Sports Team on the Planet

First of all, I am not a Real Madrid fans. However, I admire this club a lot since they won tons of Champions League with rich histories in the world of football.

After finishing the whole book... wow, amazing. There are few facts that impressed me as a non Real Madrid fans. First of all, the fact that this is one of the club fully control by fans. The group of fans have owned and operated the club throughout its history. Secondly, Santiago Bernabeu's contribution those days was really amazing. No wonder the stadium adopt its present name in honor of him. Finally, Florentino Perez really built this team out of nothing. Now, I understand more on the theory of Galacticos. Well, the fact that Real Madrid is one of the highest earning football clubs tells the whole story.

Back to the book... the author did a great job in this book! Everything is so details from its beginning to the present days. The author presented us the details in almost everything which including the club values, vision, financial, training, etc. The best part is... all the facts are supported by tons of statistics. Although not a Real Madrid fans, but this book helps me to read through my beloved sports as well as how a business is run in the world of sports. Football is really one of the biggest businesses in the world.

As I am not a America sports' fans, the only thing I do not like about this book is the author tends to do a lot of comparison to US sports team. At times, I felt bored about it even though I love the "Moneyball" book so much.  So, for a full rating of 10, I am going to rate this book at 9/10. Overall, this book offers everything. It is a well-written book and a big round of applause should be given to the author. Well done!!!

The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Achieving More with Less

I read a lot about 80/20 principle. However, I never read a proper book about this. In view that I am short of books to read, I decided to go for this to have a proper and complete read up on the said principle.

As usual, management stuff is never my cups of tea. I never enjoy management as I hate to deal with peoples in the first place, LOL. So, this book is no exception. Although the 80/20 principles seems happening everywhere at every moment of our life... but, I really find it hard to study in details on this. My bad... I think I still prefer historical stuff and numerical games, haha...

On top of that... this book itself is full of repetitions. At the end of my reading journey, the only two things that triggered my further thoughts were the 80/20 analysis (backward thinking) and the 80/20 thinking (forward thinking). Other than that, I cannot remember much. This book is too dry to me especially with the graphs and charts throughout the whole book.

Rating wise, since this book is not my cup of tea, I am going to rate it at 3/10. To me, this is just some casually read. However, I will keep it on my shelf and may need a reread when certain situation occurs in the future. 

Leading

I hate Manchester United... but, I admire Sir Alex from the bottom of my heart. As an Arsenal fan, I have to admit that Sir Alex's record was so incredible that football fans around the world will find this book a real gem.

Compares to "Alex Ferguson - My Autobiography" and the earlier "Football- Bloody Hell", this book is seen as something completely different. In this book, Sir Alex talked about his role, importance and essence of leadership that brought a curtain down to his amazing career. The previous biography focuses on football and produced while he was still actively involved with the Red Devils. This book gave insight on how he managed to succeed in life. The added point appeared when the book itself featured a lot of football related content. So, as a maniac football fan, this book certainly brings a lot of pleasure in reading it.

Although it was intended to present in more "management" style, this book clearly revealing some of the interesting point about the great man. Readers will read about Sir Alex's crazy obsession with football. We are presented with a man who is willing to sacrifices family and personal life for the sake of glory in football. Furthermore, the man himself revealed a lot of his human being's general weaknesses and errors. The two significant one was his churning feeling in his stomach before the game and how he makes decisions with imperfect information. After all, he is the human being like me and you. However, he just has the determination and hard work to solve the puzzle.

The only flaw in this biography perhaps lies with the facts that it was mean to combine football with the management skill in general and leadership in particular. At times, I finding it hard to concentrate as my mind was mingled between football stuff versus management skill. Well, the creativity in combining management skill into the great man's mind was the selling point of this book. Yet, the confusion arose due to the same attractive point too. Fair enough? Ha...

In my last review on "Sir Alex- My Autobiography", I mentioned that the said book could be a complete journey reviewing for the great man. Out of surprise, this book provides more insightful information on how his great experiences can transform into any part of our life. Hence, despite a small flaw as mentioned above, I have no hesitation to rate this book at 10/10. With such a great book, I have to spend more time to list out some great quotes from the great man as below. These quotes will certainly help me and you towards a better future.

We're all accidental victims of our parents' DNA; we are shaped by the luck of the draw, the circumstances in which we grew up and the education we received. But we all have two sets of very powerful tools that we completely control; our eyes and our ears. Watching others, listening to their advice and reading about people are three of the best things I ever did.

Very often our victories were squeaked out in the last few minutes, after we had drained the life from our opponents. Games like life - are all about waiting for the chances and then pouncing on them.

It would not surprise me if some observers feel that much of United's success was due to our willingness to take unnecessary chances. I never thought like this because part of a leader's job is to eliminate as many risks as possible. Some might think that my fondness for horses or cards means that I am a gambler at heart, but that isn't really true. In my private life, I have always been very careful about the amount of money I am prepared to spend on a horse or bet at race-track, and the same caution applied at old trafford. We tried to leave nothing to chance. I cannot tell you how many half-time talks centered on the need to be patient and wait for the right opportunity to occur, rather than be dare devils. 

Our critics would say this was lucky, or down to the pressure to extend the game into "Fergie Time", but in truth it came down to careful preparation and having a deliberate and thoughtful approach to risk.

It makes it far tougher to sell the dream of the future if you cannot point to the staff and facilities that will make it come true.

You don't have to love your players or your management team, but you do need to respect their abilities.

Some managers try to be popular with the players and become one of the boys. It never work. As a leader, you don't need to be loved, though it is useful, on occasion, to be feared. But, most of all, you need to be respected. 

Jock was right that you cannot get too attached to people who work for you. The only time you must have that attachment is when they are in trouble- when they need your advice.

Complacency can often start seeping into an organisation that has had a string of triumphs. 

The questions going through the back of my mind during any celebration were, "How do we top this? How do we get another triumph?" I never wanted us to be torpedoed by complacency.

I gradually learned that there was no point beating about the bush by taking somebody out for dinner or sending his wife a box of chocolates or flowers to try and soften the news. The gimmicks don't change the message. If you have decided you are going to get rid of someone, nothing beats honesty.

I found that helpful ideas would sometimes pop into my mind from out of nowhere while I was playing cards or reading a book or going through a wine catalog. I am sure the same sensation occurs to other leaders when they are riding their bikes, pruning their roses or climbing a mountain.

If we had 3pm kick off, I would give team talk between 1:15pm and 1:45pm. Once I had delivered my piece I would leave the players alone. We had prepared as best we could and last minute instructions always leave players wondering whether they command the manager's confidence.

Maybe some people, before a big performance or important encounter, try to calm their nerves with breathing exercises or a draw of whisky, but I never did so. I just accepted that nagging anxiety as part of my job. It accompanied me through life and it would have been a big warning sign that I was no longer up for the task that had anxiety - which really was a sign of how badly I wanted to win-ever disappeared. 

If you have command and control of your subject, you don't need notes. No player is going to believe that someone is in control of his materials, or is an authority on a subject, if he has to keep resorting to notes. I relied on my memory and my own assessment and, that way, when I was talking to the players, I was able to maintain eye contact. 

As much as it's essential to maintain eye contact when talking to a small group of people, I always found it disconcerting to catch someone's eye when speaking in front of a big room. I tended to look towards the audience because I knew that staring at notes on a lectern is one sure way to lose a crowd's attention. However, I never looked at any particular individual. Instead I's pick a spot at the back of the room slightly above the heads of the audience. 

Everyone is disposable. Someone once said, 'Graveyards are full of indispensable men,' and it's a phrase worth dwelling on. 

When you are in the football world, and I suspect in almost every other setting, you have to make decisions with the information at your disposal, rather that what you wish you might have. I never had a problem reaching a decision based on imperfect information. That's just the way the world works.

There are probably only two times to do so - too early or too late. If I was going to err on making one of those mistakes, I far preferred to make the decision earlier rather later.

Any leader is a salesman- and he has to sell to the inside of his organisation and to the outside. Anyone who aspires to be a great leader needs to excel at selling his ideas and aspirations to others.

There's never been as much money in Scottish football as in English; early on in my career I got used to making the most from a little. I happen to think that's a useful discipline for any business or organisation, because it's so easy to waste money.

The inequity seems even more pronounced when you consider that, compared to other people, a footballer's peak earning years are very abbreviated - usually about six years and almost always fewer than ten. Don't tell me that some 28 year old who can manipulate a spreadsheet (of which there are hundreds of thousands, maybe millions) deserves to be paid more than a midfielder playing for Swansea City or Southampton.

I suspect most football managers get paid less- sometimes far less- than their start players. What message does it send to a team, if most of them are being paid more than their boss?

It wasn't the end of the world if we failed in a particular negotiation and that our success was not going to hinge on the arrival of one player. If you need one person to change your destiny, then you have not built a very solid organisation. 

I'm sometimes amazed by how people get fixated on information. It's like standing in a hospital room staring at the numbers on the bedside monitors while the patient chokes to death on a chicken sandwich. You have to consider the human element of life and the way that circumstances and chance can upset everything - even the most accurate and clearly reported data. Knowing the heart rate of a player and doing all the video analysis in the world of his opposite number isn't going to help you if he loses control and gets sent off in the first minute. 

Stealth and secrecy are two valuable weapons for any organisation. 

You never stop building - if you do, you stagnate. I always used to say, "The bus is moving; make sure you are on it, don't be left behind."

There is no point suddenly changing routines that players are comfortable with. It is counterproductive, saps morale, and immediately provokes players to question the new man's motive... My message about alcohol would have been more effective if I had just quietly gone about getting rid of one of the players who had the wrong priorities. In the end, it took a long time to eradicate the drinking habit. But, after I sold some of the main culprits, people could see I was not just full of hot air and things slowly started to improve. 

The Manager: Inside the Minds of Football's Leaders

After series of "serious" reading, time is just right for some relaxing stuff...

Ended up... what a boring book!!! In the first place, football is all about excitement and passionate. However, with the addition of management stuff, it suddenly overturns the whole thing into something rigid and boring. My intention to read this book is to get some relax mind after a hectic month. Ended up, the author forced me to think hard and squeeze my mind into more serious stuff (which I do not want at all, haha...).

Secondly, as usual with any sorts of football books, readers are more keen on the inside stories and incidents behind the scenes. This book is rather different. It focuses on the management skill before inserting all quotes from managers to emphasize on his management theories. At the end, it was all in the mess. Apart from the usual management skill, I found nothing interesting on my beloved football.

Thirdly, I personally think that it will be much better if each chapter had focused on a single manager. The title itself already told us that this is a book about managers. To me, it is more a book about the collective part or similarity among managers.  A misleading title? Definitely....

Finally, I browse through the background of the author. It seems that the author is not a traditional football author. He is more on the management side which deals with organisations and peoples. Hence, from the perspective of football fans, the author may not know what we want from a footballing books. At the same time, those who are keen on management stuff may not be so passionate about football too...

All in all, the book may be a decent read if you are looking for some management stuff in general with leadership in particular. For football fans like me, it is a huge disappointment. As such, I have no hesitation to rate this book at 2/10. It is out of my expectations and it is not the book I want in the first place... 

李健熙与三星帝国

三年前读过【三星内幕】后，一直很想寻找一本更像样的三星自传。【三星内幕】故事事迹很丰富，但是编排堪称一塌糊涂。希望这一本能颠覆【三星内幕】的凌乱。。。

整体上，这一本比【三星内幕】好多了。第一，排序非常好，井井有条，一点都不凌乱。第二，故事本身就精彩。在作者的神笔之下，读者很容易投入故事情节里。第三，作者不只细说故事，而且很适当的收集了很多资料来支持每一个事迹。第四，作者很客观的在适当的时候给予自己的意见。这一点在家族争产和继承人的问题上，作者给出了很多客观的见解。对于熟悉三星帝国的读者来说，客观的意见更能让读者读得丝丝入扣。

作者在最后还总结了三星未来所面对的挑战和不确定性。很多资料或许在媒体上都能读到。但是，作者很用心的分析了一切的可能性。在这方面，三星第三代接班人所可能面对的窘境都在作者的神笔下一览无余。所谓的，创业难守业更难应该就是这个道理吧。

10分满分，我个人给予满分。这本书终于满足了我对李氏家族和庞大三星帝国的好奇心。赞！

The Choose Yourself Guide To Wealth

I hardly touch this sort of books. But, a friend of mine recommended this as he said it was better than "The Narrow Road" and "How to get Rich"... wow... must read then...

Ironically, this book is so much better compares to "Trade Like a Hedge Fund". If I rated "Trade Like a Hedge Fund" at zero, this book deserved 8/10. In another words, the author is actually good at writing books. (A speculate author with random results? Hmm...) However, his idea on hedge fund stuff simply reflects his own weaknesses. After all, he admitted that he somehow failed in his hedge fund stuff, be it the operations of hedge fund or his book on hedge fund...

Ok, back to this book... This book inspired me in many ways. The quotes listed below are very much aligning with my thinking:

Engage with nobody who is bad to you. When you get in the mud with a pig, the pigs get happy and you get dirty.

Complaining is draining. When you are anxious, nervous or scared, try to stop yourself and do two things:
1. Repeat to yourself, "I notice I am felling anxious." This distances you from the feeling.
2. Think of at least one new thing you are grateful for.

Increase in salary only offers marginal to zero increase in "happiness" above a certain level. This is because of a basic fact: people spent what they make. So, back you go to the corporate casino for one more try at the salary roulette wheel. I have never once seen anyone save the increase they received in their salary.

When your idea muscle is developed along with the other legs of the Daily Practice - physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual - you'll have a better idea when you should shut things down. 

Everybody is a poor predictor of outcomes - from the weatherman, to the stock analyst. But, we can all be good at preparation.

Nobody is going to buy from someone they hate. The buyer has to like you and want to be your friend. People pay for friendship.

The best way to make friends and customers for life is to direct them to a better service or product than yours. Be the source of valuable information rather than the source of your "product of the day".

A bad customer spreads like a disease inside you, your employees, your other customers, your competitors, your future customers, your family, etc.

It seems natural to say "yup" or "right" or "uh-huh" or whatever. But, here are the facts based on studies: people perceive you as stupid when you do this. Just keep quiet when someone is talking.

Everyone around you needs to ultimately become better than you. That's how you lead. The light is in front of you and you take them to the light and then go back.

We do things to hide the pain. Soon, everything in our lives we might think give us pleasure (because we are now avoiding all the pain) is actually just a buffer against pain and change. When you get rid of the buffers against pain and change, life becomes more insecure, but you become free.

Buddha himself realized this about public speaking. He said, "Don't believe me on anything. Try this out for yourself." Hence, always be vulnerable in public speaking. Nobody wants to hear from Invulnerable Man or Ms. Perfect. They want to hear where you are scared and vulnerable and feeling insecure, because we all are. 

If you can't walk away from a negotiation, then you aren't negotiating. You are just working out the terms of your slavery.

A way to replenish energy is to live a gentle live. As gently as possible, so your energy grows and is used where it is needed. 

Connecting people who can benefit each other is the most useful skill you can have on the entrepreneurial ladder of skills. 

You can't get good at something if you are working twenty hours a day. If you just do one thing, the benefits quickly decline and you also ignore the pleasure of becoming well-rounded.

I've asked many others what were they thinking at the rock bottom and the answer almost always was something like "what else could I do with my life? I had to keep going!"

Find your niche, then find a small or a nonexistent market where you can enter and dominate 80% of the market, as if you were a monopoly.

Find a business that satisfies the three D's: Death, Divorce, Debt.

Most people don't realize that owning a home has all the attributes of the worst investment possible: it's highly illiquid, there's a high leverage, it includes most of your net worth, and it provides you with an average of only 0.2 % over the past year. And this doesn't count all your maintenance cost. I rather rent, and invest the extra money in myself and my own ideas. 

So many legitimate funds that might have been better places for investor money... couldn't survive because the illegitimate funds crowded them out of the space. 

A path to unhappiness is thinking the future can be predicted and controlled.

Perhaps, the only chapter that really turned me off was "How to get an MBA from Eminem". This chapter again shows that the author is a good writer where his creativity excels in a way. However, I read this chapter as sort of bullshitting (LOL). By listening to a song, you can get a MBA? Come on... Apart from that, this book is a nice book to explore. I spent quite a lot of time reading this book. My conclusion is... well worth the time and money spent!!!

史玉柱的坎

史总的书籍我一直蛮喜欢的。重点是，我爱屋及乌。其实，敬爱史总多过敬爱关于他的书籍。

但是，这一系列书籍还真的吸引到我。诚如作者所说的，能够把每件失败事迹详细的研究的确比阅读一些成功学书籍来的好。毕竟，成功学就像吸毒般～～～读者必须一直寻找更高深，更深奥的激励书籍才能满足人性永远脆弱的一面。

根据读者的细说，这一系列“坎”还是经过我的偶像，柳传志的建议下而产生的。柳总就是有那么独特的见解。更重要的是，他老人家从不吝啬分享他的点点滴滴的。

回到这本书，个人觉得作者很努力的在呈现所谓的“坎”。但是，这些“坎”的事后分析如果由故事主人翁来拆解可能效果会更好一些。本人不是认为作者不够资格点评。但是，总觉得作者点评的不太到位。很多“坎”除了能让读者慎思，更能启发出很多意想不到的哲学。

再来，书里一些所谓的“坎”怎么读起来就不那么“坎”呢？后半段更糟糕：个人觉得一点都不“坎”！感觉上，作者有意无意的把“坎”的主题慢慢的转回到了自传篇。后半段真的像在读自传多一点。好可惜噢！

10分满分，个人给予7分。整体上，这本书是不错的。至少，作者的用意的确值得我们捧场。读完这一本史总的坎，我打算继续订购这一系列的书籍。理由很简单，我就是太爱失败学了，呵呵。对于那些想了解近代中国创业史的读者，这一系列的书籍我个人是很推崇的。突发奇想一下：马来西亚几时会有这类书籍问世呢？好期待噢。。。

Denial: Why Business Leaders Fail to Look Facts in the Face---and What to Do About It

I have not read any management stuff for a long time... The title of this book really attracts me in the first place. As I mentioned always... I love failed stories more than those successful adventures. I am a strong believer that success can happen in all kind of different forms while failure cases are more or less on the same factors. Hence, the "denial" side itself is enough to convince me to read this book.

Ended up... Oppss, this is definitely not the stories I want. Well, I admit that I did not take a glance into the contents and chapters in the first place. If I had done so, I think I would not get this book. Please don't get me wrong. The author did so well in presenting "denial" stuff. However, stories provided are too familiar to me. In fact, examples quoted are found in many similar books. As such, I felt bored throughout the book.

Then, the author sums it up by providing some study case on those who are success by avoiding the so called "denial". Again, nothing enlightens me as those stories are really nothing new to me. In short, I found it hard to find inspiration while rereading the same story.

For a full rating of 10, I am going to rate it at 3/10. My expectation on this book is too high in the first place. Hence, it actually disappointed me so much when I found the case study as presented are some old stories. I thought newer stories that happened for the past 10 years will be good enough to present the "denial" ideas. Well, I am blaming myself for not digging through (at least take a glance) in the first place. Overall, this is a nice book and definitely well written by the author. But, it is just not my cup of tea... 

在大時代中的定位

去年的【大城心事】销售量8000本，让峰哥觉得好意外。峰哥，您太谦虚了。“大城心事”这个节目解答了好多听众的疑难杂症。8000本个人都觉得少了。因为，你帮助的听众肯定不止这个数目。

今年，来了本所谓的“工能”书籍。在书局里，咋看之下，这本书挺厚的。结果，回到家，一翻再翻，半小时里竟然把整本书啃完了！！！

其实，这本书给我的启示不多。定位的道理我从来就没迷失过。我很幸运。打了一份工，做了一盘生意，我的人生就这样走过来了。一切的一切皆因为定位！所以，看到书的主题虽很吸引，但里头的概念却没什么新意。

别误会，我不是说这本书峰哥写的不好。但是，这个主题对于迈入不惑之年的我来说或许真的很难擦出火花。唯一我不太满意的地方是这本书真的太薄了。一眼望去，感觉挺厚的。但是，里头的插图太多了。不过，我还挺喜欢它的排序。整本书排序的很整齐。可能因为太整齐，再加上内容不厚，半小时看完还真的慢了，呵呵。。。

整体来说，这是本不错的书。不过，我觉得它的“定位”肯定不是我这一类人。10分满分，基于个人因数的考量下只能给予4分。还是很期待峰哥下一本书；加油，峰哥！

只有一个华为

【华为真相】的震撼力一直影响着我。。。因此，第一次在『恒河网』看到这本书时，我就当机立断的买下了。。。

结果呢。。。可能是【华为真相】太精彩了。这一本【只有一个华为】好像显得平淡了些。。。又或者华为这几年太顺风顺水了。所以，作者除了继续歌颂任正非，也只能选择继续赞扬他了。。。

这类书籍可能在十年前还容易引起我的共鸣。但，随着年龄的增长，懂得东西越多，很多企业管理的书籍已经不再是我的那杯茶。别误会，我不是说作者写的不好；只是这类内容开始和我渐行渐远。。。因此，10分满分，我选择给予5分。这5分纯粹是个人因数。书整体上还是不错的。对于不了解华为的读者来说，可能还是上上佳作。对于我，是时候换一换口味了。。。

挡不住的好运

又是一本风水书籍？？？呵呵，放心；连读了两本风水书，我也腻了。。。这回，来点另类风水书籍。跟风水有一丁点的关系，但比风水更高一层的人为“好运”。。。

会买这本书，主要还是受到出版社【平凡企管顾问】的影响。看了【借运借势】和几本李民杰的力作，我还真的开始喜欢上了这班家伙的作品。这回，选了本比较不一样的书籍。皆因这本书籍的主题介于商业，心里与风水命理之间。简单来说，恰好就是综合李民杰和李宗驹的所有论点。因此，应该很特别吧。。。

结果，读完过后还真的超反效果的。其实，读到一半，我已经想放弃了。可能这类书籍我看了不少。里面的论点都是些旧菜。作者顶多也只是将它炒一炒，炒热罢了。老实说，书名上的所谓“好运”非常误导读者。如果读者错把这本书当作命理书籍来研究（像一开始的我），那只能怪作者蓄意欺骗咯。。。

基于个人有点受骗的感觉，这本书顶多只值4分。这本书对于没接触过其他类似书籍的读者来说，肯定是一本上上之作。但，对于我而言，这本书简直就是“秘密”的山寨版。整体的感觉就是很“秘密”。就算作者再努力呈现一些别的论点（还是旧菜一碟），我个人就是找不到我要的火花。好失望的一本书。。。

专业主义

熟悉我的人应该都知道，这类书籍绝对不是我的那杯茶。第一，工商管理的东西一直不是我很需要的。第二，超讨厌翻译的书籍。英文去中文已经不太有好感。日文去中文？？？我的天呀！！！

但是，世事无绝对。。。这回，破例了。理由很简单。。。第一，这是一本马云，史玉柱都推荐的书籍。。。第二，各大商业论坛都在讨论这本书。。。第三，翻一翻前几页，还真的挺有意思的。单单几个“专业”和“专家”的定义就挺吸引我的：

1.专家的词源本是‘profes’，意思是‘向上帝发誓，以此为职业’。

2.对能够称之为专家的人而言，是不存在退休这个概念的。

3.无论如何完善教育制度，如何增加报酬和改善福利，也不会产生大批的专家。只有纪律，才能培养出专家。

4. 推动未来世界运转的，是个体之间的竞争，而不再是国家之间或企业之间的竞争。

结果，感觉挺好的。好在哪里呢？好在里头有很多我做着却未必懂的道理。好在里头有一些我很不屑但其实很有道理的道理。。。简单来说，的确是一本好书。。。但是，老实说，个人“共鸣”真的不是很多。这纯粹是个人问题（与作者无关）。对于工商管理，我始终是不太热衷。总觉得这是高层管理员的书籍（我超讨厌管人的！）。而且，在这个讯息与网络的时代，“人”还管吗？

基于个人的癖好，这本书在我的私人图书馆不会有太高的评价。10分满分，顶多只值得个6分！这本书个人虽不太喜欢，但它在我的私人图书馆里还是有个位置的。理由是，这类书籍很像我们汽车上的后备轮胎。在一个投机者的世界里，这个后备很少发挥它的作用。但，天有不测之风云，“人”有旦夕祸福（还是要“管”人？？？）。。。因此，我坚信总会有用到它的一天。所以，让它暂时好好躺在我的书架上吧。。。