Interview with Adrian Kelly, author of The Success Complex: Ancient wisdom, the building blocks of life and your path to sustained success
Adrian Kelly, author of The Success Complex: Ancient wisdom, the building blocks of life and your path to sustained success recommends a great group of books! Before jumping into the interview, please check out Adrian's book:
Description from Bookshop.org: (All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)
The Success Complex: Ancient wisdom, the building blocks of life and your path to sustained success
Blending history, behavioural science and a rich tapestry of interviews, Irish author Adrian Kelly explores this age-old question in a new light. Once a struggling student who languished at the bottom of his class, Adrian knows first-hand the sting of failure.
Now, three decades later, he brings his experience as a solicitor, entrepreneur and sports coach to challenge common misconceptions about the core skills vital to overcoming challenge, with examples from Napoleon to the movie and sports stars of today. He examines how even the brightest and best can lose their way when it comes to the application of those skills. Finally, in a universe of ever-increasing opportunities, this is an invitation to consider what the most important things to accomplish in your life really are – they might not be what you think.
Provocative and practical, The Success Complex creates a template for a new understanding of the pursuit of success that truly fulfils.
Buy On:
Bookshop.org UK £23.74
Bookshop.org US $34.40
Blackwells £19.99
Waterstones £14.99
Q. Do you have a favourite smart thinking book (and why that book)?
David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell. Description from Bookshop.org: (All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)
Malcolm Gladwell's David & Goliath is one of my favourite 'smart thinking' books. I firmly believe that, as human beings, we barely scratch the surface of our true potential. This book, in particular, highlights how underdogs can leverage unconventional strategies to succeed, challenging traditional assumptions about power and advantage. It encourages us to think critically about adversity, strength, and how hidden advantages can initially seem like disadvantages. I constantly come back to the question: how can we get more out of ourselves and, in turn, more out of the depth and breadth of our life experiences.
David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants
Three thousand years ago on a battlefield in ancient Palestine, a shepherd boy felled a mighty warrior with nothing more than a stone and a sling, and ever since then the names of David and Goliath have stood for battles between underdogs and giants. David's victory was improbable and miraculous. He shouldn't have won.
Or should he have?
In David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwellchallenges how we think about obstacles and disadvantages, offering a new interpretation of what it means to be discriminated against, or cope with a disability, or lose a parent, or attend a mediocre school, or suffer from any number of other apparent setbacks.
Gladwell begins with the real story of what happened between the giant and the shepherd boy those many years ago. From there, David and Goliath examines Northern Ireland's Troubles, the minds of cancer researchers and civil rights leaders, murder and the high costs of revenge, and the dynamics of successful and unsuccessful classrooms--all to demonstrate how much of what is beautiful and important in the world arises from what looks like suffering and adversity.
In the tradition of Gladwell's previous bestsellers--The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers and What the Dog Saw--David and Goliath draws upon history, psychology, and powerful storytelling to reshape the way we think of the world around us.
Buy On:
Bookshop.org UK £10.44
Bookshop.org US $18.49
Blackwells £10.77
Waterstones £10.99
Q. What's the most recent smart thinking book you've read (and how would you rate it)?
HBR's 10 Must Reads on Making Smart Decisions by Harvard Business Review. Description from Bookshop.org: (All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)
The book currently on my bedside table, which I often fall asleep reading (in a good way!), is Making Smart Decisions by Harvard Business School Publishing. Psychological biases are a fascinating area of study and can cloud our everyday judgments. They can be a real blind spot for anyone facing important decisions, and the more we become aware of these biases and mitigate them where possible, the better. I’d rate the book highly for its practical advice and strategies.
HBR's 10 Must Reads on Making Smart Decisions
Learn why bad decisions happen to good managers--and how to make better ones. If you read nothing else on decision making, read these 10 articles. We've combed through hundreds of articles in the Harvard Business Review archive and selected the most important ones to help you and your organization make better choices and avoid common traps. Leading experts such as Ram Charan, Michael Mankins, and Thomas Davenport provide the insights and advice you need to:
* Make bold decisions that challenge the status quo
* Support your decisions with diverse data
* Evaluate risks and benefits with equal rigor
* Check for faulty cause-and-effect reasoning
* Test your decisions with experiments
* Foster and address constructive criticism
* Defeat indecisiveness with clear accountability
Buy On:
Bookshop.org UK £16.99
Bookshop.org US $23.20
Blackwells £16.99
Waterstones £16.99
Q. Do you have a favourite childhood book?
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Description from Bookshop.org: (All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)
I didn’t read much as a child. I was not academic at all, as people will find out from The Success Complex. I spent most of my time outdoors with friends, climbing trees, exploring, and enjoying a very 1980s upbringing a mile or two from the hard border between Northern and Southern Ireland. I remember reading The Beano and other comics when I was sick. A book I probably would have enjoyed back then would have been The Adventures of Tom Sawyer or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
A great American novelist, illustrated by a great American artist - now available in a collectable two-volume set.
In 1936, the Heritage Press, a publisher of fine editions, commissioned Norman Rockwell to illustrate Mark Twain's Adventures of Tom Sawyer; four years later, they asked him to illustrate The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as well. For each book, Rockwell created eight full-colour paintings and numerous pen-and-ink drawings, the product of extensive on-the-ground research in Twain's hometown of Hannibal, Missouri. Famously, Rockwell even tried to buy some Hannibal residents' old clothes, to dress his models in.
For years, the Rockwell editions of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn have been unavailable in stores. Now, Abbeville Press is proud to reissue them as a handsome new clothbound set. The colour plates are reproduced from new photography of Rockwell's original paintings, the typesetting has been done anew to a high standard, and new introductions - illustrated with Rockwell's rarely seen preliminary sketches - examine this unique encounter between two legendary chroniclers of America.
Buy On:
Bookshop.org UK £38.00
Bookshop.org US $46.50
Blackwells £35.00
Waterstones £40.00
Q. Do you prefer reading on paper, Kindle or listening to an audiobook?
For sheer efficiency, I love audiobooks, but there’s nothing quite like having a paperback edition in your hands. I usually read with a pen in hand, making notes and underlining key points.
Q. Do you have a favourite bookshop (and why that shop)?
There used to be a small bookshop in Cavan Town, Ireland, called the Crannóg Bookshop. My wife and I loved going there on Saturday mornings to browse the shelves. They always made a big effort to celebrate events, such as the release of a new Harry Potter book (yes, it’s been closed for a while) or to reflect the changing seasons with themed décor and relevant book titles.
Many thanks to Adrian for recommending a great group of books! Please don't forget to check out The Success Complex: Ancient wisdom, the building blocks of life and your path to sustained success.
Daryl
Image Copyrights: (The Success Complex: Ancient wisdom, the building blocks of life and your path to sustained success), Penguin Books Ltd (David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants), Harvard Business Review Press (HBR's 10 Must Reads on Making Smart Decisions), Abbeville Press Inc.,U.S. (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn).
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