What Makes You Tick?: How Successful People Do It - and What You Can Learn from Them by Michael J. Berland, Douglas E. Schoen

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Synopsis

In the most challenging economy of our lifetime, where should you turn for guidance?

To the stories of those who have made it—the leaders who battled adversity, forged their own paths,and succeeded . . . because they knew what made them tick.

As people everywhere confront the global economic crisis, "success" may seem elusive at best, impossible at worst. Yet history proves that a new generation of success stories will likely emerge from this era of financial chaos. And this new book prepares you to be one of those success stories by analyzing the inner qualities that have propelled the forward-thinking leaders of our time: drive, determination, and self-awareness.

As strategists for the internationally renowned consumer and political research firm Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, Michael Berland and Douglas Schoen are experts in how successful people think . . . and how they win. Now they share what they've learned with firsthand accounts from some of the world's most successful people in nearly every field—including the founder of Starwood Resorts; a world-famous chef-restaurateur; the CEO of NBC Universal; a supermodel turned entrepreneur; the head of EstÉe Lauder; the commissioner of the National Hockey League; the president of Hearst Magazines; and the creator of CBS's 60 Minutes. Berland and Schoen have discovered that true success is about more than "winning." True success has an emotional quotient: it's about determining your innate strengths, deciding what you truly want, and striving tirelessly to achieve it.

Berland and Schoen describe the five archteypes of success:visionaries, natural-born leaders, do-gooders, independence seekers, and independents who follow their dreams. In this unprecedented collection of stories from some of the most successful people in fashion, sports, entertainment, and business, Schoen and Berland demonstrate that success isn't about changing who you are; rather, it's about figuring out what makes you tick—and leveraging that knowledge to your advantage. This book shows through compelling first-person storytelling that the most successful people understand their own natural abilities and how to use their best qualities to create a fulfilling life—and then tells you how to do the same.

Publishers Weekly

Berland and Schoen, founding partners of a strategic research firm, take on a familiar subject-examining the common traits of highly successful people-with a fresh twist, arguing that success is achieved not by remaking your personality but by enhancing the skills you already have. They offer ways to use your own skills, attributes and personality as a path to charting an individualized course to achievement. Studies of 50 leaders in a variety of fields (e.g., Mark Burnett, Steve Forbes, Mario Andretti, Bob Woodward) make up the meat of the book and offer models as a learning tool as well as shedding insight into how the successful think. The authors identify four major categories of successful individuals-"Natural-Born Leaders," "Independence Seekers," "Visionaries" and "Do-Gooders"-and determine the inner personality, motivational and external traits that comprise each group. By identifying and embracing the unique potential of these archetypes, readers will be well positioned to put their best self forward. (June)

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Biography

Michael J. Berland is an internationally recognized strategic adviser and communications consultant and an expert in how people think and behave as consumers, voters, and decision makers. As a leader in Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, the top research-based strategic political and corporate communications company, he directed studies and campaigns for the world's leading brands, blue-chip companies, political candidates, and entertainment clients in more than eighty countries on six continents. He lives outside New York City with his wife and two children.