So Good They Can't Ignore You

By: Cal Newport

Narrated by: Dave Mallow

Cal Newport's clearly-written manifesto flies in the face of conventional wisdom by suggesting that it should be a person's talent and skill - and not necessarily their passion - that determines their career path.

Newport, who graduated from Dartmouth College (Phi Beta Kappa) and earned a PhD. from MIT, contends that trying to find what drives us, instead of focusing on areas in which we naturally excel, is ultimately harmful and frustrating to job seekers.

The title is a direct quote from comedian Steve Martin who, when once asked why he was successful in his career, immediately replied: "Be so good they can't ignore you" and that's the main basis for Newport's book. Skill and ability trump passion.

Inspired by former Apple CEO Steve Jobs' famous Stanford University commencement speech in which Jobs urges idealistic grads to chase their dreams, Newport takes issue with that advice, claiming that not only is thsi advice Pollyannish, but that Jobs himself never followed his own advice.

From there, Newport presents compelling scientific and contemporary case study evidence that the key to one's career success is to find out what you do well, where you have built up your 'career capital,' and then to put all of your efforts into that direction.©2012 Calvin C. Newport

Critic reviews

Stop worrying about what you feel like doing and instead, start creating something meaningful and then give it to the world. Cal really delivers with this one (Seth Godin, author of Linchpin)

Entrepreneurial professionals must develop a competitive advantage by building valuable skills. This book offers advice based on research and reality--not meaningless platitudes-- on how to invest in yourself in order to stand out from the crowd. An important guide to starting up a remarkable career. (Reid Hoffman, co-founder & chairman of LinkedIn and co-author of the bestselling The Start-Up of You)

Do what you love and the money will follow' sounds like great advice - until it's time to get a job and disillusionment quickly sets in. Cal Newport ably demonstrates how the quest for 'passion' can corrode job satisfaction. If all he accomplished with this book was to turn conventional wisdom on its head, that would be interesting enough. But he goes further - offering advice and examples that will help you bypass the disillusionment and get right to work building skills that matter. (Daniel H. Pink, bestselling author of Drive and A Whole New Mind)

This book changed my mind. It has moved me from 'find your passion, so that you can be useful' to 'be useful so that you can find your passion.' That is a big flip, but it's more honest, and that is why I am giving each of my three young adult children a copy of this unorthodox guide. (Kevin Kelly, Senior Maverick, WIRED magazine)

Introduction to the career capital concept

Any additional comments?

I actually avoided this book for a while because I got the impression it attacked liking and enjoying what you do. It's far from it. Cal Newport does not attack following your passion as long as you have the right skills to back that passion up. I'd actually change the title to "Become good at your passion before you follow you passion".

Cal gets into the concept of career capital. If you want to open up a restaurant just because you enjoy occasionally cooking on the weekends for your friends and you're good at it, but have no real concept of organizing, running a business or dealing with issues....simply don't follow you passion. Building a business based on a passion will require much more than just being good at that specific thing you call your passion. You have to have a lot of career capital behind it to back it up.

This is why Cal recommends to get good at things before you decide to take it solo. Passion alone will not get you through. On the other side if you get really good at what you do (be it accounting, analyzing or any other activity that may sound boring) you'll find that it gets much more fun along the way. Getting good results out of an activity you're performing really well will make you like and enjoy it. And I find this concept really interesting and true.

So even if you are a hard advocate of "follow your passion" and "love what you do" believe me this book will give you a lot of value. It's not meant to crush following your passion but dissect it into logical steps and decisions.

On the down side I think that the examples give in the book are a bit too shallow (someone giving up on their studies in order to start a blogging site) but then again this is probably the case for many young passionate entrepreneurs and Cal wanted to target them.

All in all I would put it in the "must read" list. And then get your hands on "Deep Work" as it is a nice continuation of the ideas in this book.

Buy it nice book careercapital is more important

skills are more important then passion. I love the overall message in the book tai lopz reviewed this book I love it

Very compelling stories and reasoning.

Can be a bit insistent about it's keywords to really hit you over the head with how the arguments in the book are correct. However, it's a joy to listen to and in audiobook form that minor complaint becomes a strength, as you'll be more likely to absorb the material without feeling like you've missed the clue to the success stories.

Speaking of which, couching the book on stories of success and failure makes it much easier to absorb the nuances.

When applying this book, keep in mind that the map is not the territory. This gives you a very valuable, sober perspective to fall back on, but you don't have to consciously think about the application. Just keep it in the back of your mind so you recognize opportunities to make small bets that are driven by your desire to good at things you put your mind to. When you're in crisis, this book will provide you the cold, calculating perspective to sober you back up and get back to work.

Great read for carreer search and management

Quality content which drew from real cases and serious thoughts and experiences. This book not only inspires me to do the best in my current job, but also give me a better perspective about carreer.

A must read if you are into self help

Such powerful points made in this book. The world is been misled by all the so called Gurus. Carl tells a good story of how success truly develops. Its been a great shift for me. It contains important messages for the kids.

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