The Only Way to Win
Book

The Only Way to Win

How Building Character Drives Higher Achievement and Greater Fulfillment in Business and Life

Jim Loehr
Hyperion, 2012

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Eye Opening
  • Overview

Recommendation

Do you ever wonder whether it’s possible to be a person or company of honor and still succeed in today’s world? If your fellow athletes take steroids and you don’t, will you make the team? If you tell the truth but your competitors lie, will you go out of business? After decades of working with dozens of top athletes and executives, coach Jim Loehr argues persuasively that success stems from achievement based on your values and purpose. He teaches that no matter how enormous your gains, if you lie or cheat to attain them – or even if you achieve them honestly but for the wrong reasons – you will fail. Loehr doesn’t preach; rather, he compellingly – if a bit repetitively – asks you to define what you stand for and then to implement the standards you value as you compete, rather than pursuing only extrinsic rewards. getAbstract recommends this substantive manual to those who seek meaning from their work, to leaders trying to build sustainable cultures, and to parents striving to raise children with good values.

Summary

Can Nice Guys Finish First?

Imagine that you lived and breathed tennis from age two. You were self-centered and mistrustful, but you worked nonstop to become a professional by age 16. You were a fierce, take-no-prisoners competitor with little respect for your rivals or tennis tradition. Over the next decade, you set new records, won three grand slams, became No. 1 in the world and won an Olympic gold medal. Now...how do you feel? Andre Agassi achieved all of this by age 26 and yet felt only profound hollowness and disappointment. He attributes his drug use, lies, cover-ups and failed first marriage to his lack of purpose.

Even if you’re the best in the world, the rewards alone – wealth, fame, power, influence or material possessions – won’t bring you happiness or satisfy your fundamental needs. Fortunately Agassi “had the courage to reinvent himself.” He reversed what might have been an all-too-familiar story of celebrity self-destruction. In 1998, he began a meteoric comeback: He finished 1999 as the top player in the world, again, and won five more Grand Slam titles before retiring in 2006. Agassi eclipsed his previous accomplishments after deciding to become a ...

About the Author

Performance psychologist Jim Loehr is a sports and business coach who has written 15 books including The Power of Story.

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