Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
By Hamish Thomson, Wiley, $29.99.
True success comes from humility, compromise and connection. Start-up adviser, consultant, speaker and investor Hamish Thomson admits he has an insatiable drive for results and loves new ideas, new concepts, new ways of working.
It’s about anything that is different and anything that forces him out of his comfort zone. He has actually taken the time to write down the key experiences, insights and learnings that he felt had shaped him over the last 30 years of his working life. Not technical or functional competencies, but “true personal insights as a leader of others and as a leader of myself.” He had listed 67!
He doesn’t go through all of them. Rather, just a key selection that he believes will provide some benefit to others. Ones that will make a positive difference to those who read this book.
“I believe we should consistently push ourselves out of our comfort zone and I want this to resonate with all others … you have nothing to lose. TS Elliot coined it beautifully when he wrote: ‘If you aren’t in over your head, how do you know how tall you are’?”
“I’m a massive believer in unlocking potential in others. It takes one new insight of significance to make a massive different to your career – indeed, to our life. Unleashing this potential in others is one very cool feeling.”
The demands of business are relentless and some positive feedback means you get something out of it. You could become more capable, more confident, potentially more successful and, most importantly, infinitely happier.
If Thomson’s insights help you to be just that much more self-assured and self-equipped for business success, then surely that’s a good thing.
