Ambition

Interesting book this.

I’ll start by saying that a lot of it is just an elegant way of presenting the bleeding obvious. But it’s done in a clear way, argued cogently and is backed up with data. And sometimes the bleeding obvious needs to be said.

Rachel Bridge sets out like some benevolent Gordon Gekko to argue that, in this instance, ambition is good. It’s a sensible, useful and (often) lucrative thing to have in life and in business.

I like this book. In the best traditions of TEDsters like Amy Cuddy it basically proves that just HAVING ambition is a good thing. You are more likely to succeed if you have ambitious goals, and the more ambitious the better. It even sets out a blueprint for how to realise them, in ten or so easy steps.

The main reason I like this is because it taps into something that has annoyed me all my life. There is nothing wrong with having ambition. I have noticed all my career that under-confident people always mistake confidence for arrogance. They also mistake having ambition with being nakedly (or selfishly) ambitious.

So for that reason alone I applaud Rachel for writing this.

I also like people who quote Dr Seuss as a credible source (he is, by the way).

It’ll take you about two hours to read.

You’ll come away with at least three stories you’ll remember (David Wolstencraft, Chapter 7) and tell someone else the same day. Chapter 6 also tells you what you need to do to get a pay rise. That’s always quite useful advice. So it’s worth a read on a few levels.

It did nag at me however that I probably wasn’t achieving my big, audacious, scheduled, organised and possibly achievable life ambition because I was sat in a chair with a cup of tea reading about how to do it.  

Read more from Kevin Chesters here.