Life Entrepreneurs: Ordinary People Creating Extraordinary Lives

Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Jossey-Bass (March 7, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0787988626

This well thought-out, inspirational book is designed to help people creatively construct their best lives “through opportunity, recognition, innovation and action.” Experienced entrepreneurs with backgrounds in education, Gergen and Vanourek interviewed 55 individuals who have applied successful business lessons to their personal lives and extracted a number of hands-on lessons for their readers: if you discover your “core identity,” learn to recognize opportunities, develop a “life vision” and set clear, purposeful, achievable-but challenging-goals, you too can have an extraordinary life, they claim. While the book’s content is standard inspirational fare, the authors have given it a spin that effectively taps into modern day work trends and language and taken their thinking beyond the surface level of many books of this kind. They balance specific advice, such as stumbling blocks to avoid when setting goals, with big ideas concerning “untethering from traditional careers,” authenticity and integration. Despite occasionally lapsing into a paternalistic tone, they sprinkle enough juicy first-person accounts throughout their chapters to keep their maxims alive.

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