Decoding Greatness

How the Best in the World Reverse Engineer Success

By: Ron Friedman

Narrated by: Ron Friedman

Length: 8 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

National Best Seller

For fans of Atomic Habits, Deep Work, and Peak comes a game-changing approach to mastering new skills and succeeding faster.

For generations, we’ve been taught there are two ways to succeed - either from talent or practice. In Decoding Greatness, award-winning social psychologist Ron Friedman illuminates a powerful third path - one that has quietly launched icons in a wide range of fields, from artists, writers, and chefs, to athletes, inventors, and entrepreneurs: reverse engineering.

To reverse engineer is to look beyond what is evident on the surface and find a hidden structure. It’s the ability to taste an intoxicating dish and deduce its recipe, to listen to a beautiful song and discern its chord progression, to watch a horror film and grasp its narrative arc.

Using eye-opening examples of top performers - from Agatha Christie to Andy Warhol, Barack Obama to Serena Williams - and groundbreaking research on pattern recognition, skill acquisition, and creative genius, Friedman reveals the staggering power of reverse engineering and teaches you how to harness this vital skill for yourself.

You’ll learn how to take apart models you admire, pinpoint precisely what makes them work, and apply that knowledge to develop novel ideas, methods, and products that are uniquely your own. Along the way, you’ll meet the culinary detective who exposes top-secret recipes, the burglar who can visit a bank and recreate its blueprints, and the celebrated artist who reverse engineered his way to the top of his profession without any formal education.

You don’t have to be a genius to achieve greatness, but you do need a method for getting there. Bursting with unforgettable stories and actionable strategies, Decoding Greatness is an indispensable guide to learning from the best, improving your skills, and sparking breakthrough ideas.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Ron Friedman. All rights reserved. (P)2021 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Being GREATful to be great!

In each of the examples were stories of people who appreciated the opportunity to practice and present what they enjoyed doing.

Pattern recognition and unpacking great ideas are super powers

Admittedly I read this with others who found it dry and hard to get into. The concept of pattern recognition and living between ability and vision spoke to me powerfully. The author is passionate about the topic and his enthusiasm shines through. This is a brilliant how to book when it comes to personal growth and those who are driven to deep dive into ideas. It was a delicious and fascinating read.

Excellent book for anyone who wants to be great

As a full time performance neurology coach, I really appreciated this book...I got so hooked on it that I started the book a few nights ago and ended up buying the audiobook so I could keep “reading” while driving for a few hours the next day.

There are very few books that have taken this approach of reverse engineering greatness and simplifying the neurology, psychology, and physiology to where anyone can appreciate, digest, and immediately apply the lessons.

Applicable across disciplines

I think anybody in any industry can use this book book to help overcome performance obstacles.
I also think the stories used to demonstrate principles make the topics palatable And the skills transferable.
I think if I use this method to assist someone who works for me with a perceived deficiency the hardest part would be connecting them with good good examples that they can model

Enjoyable and Insightful

Its rare to come across such a brilliantly simple gem, but here we are. It's really well researched and portrayed well. The examples are fun and cover a wide variety of genres. I will be recommending this book to many others.

Reverse Engineering is Basically Copying

The author says reverse engineering is basically copying, but claims it isn't necessarily evil.

There is no secret formula here.

Very Helpful

As someone who is getting into writing more and more, this book really helped me see that one of the keys to producing quality work is to deconstruct what has already proven to be successful. Lots of good stories and examples in it that help highlight the main points. Great book!

A Joy to read and a gem to have in your business reference library

Wow, I just finished reading this gem of a book. I loved the carefully crafted and documented ten principles for achieving greatness. A “must have” and “must do” for all experts out there or for the aspiring ones.

I strongly recommend it!

Fantastic!!!

Makes one of the top spots on my best ever list. it was perfect.

Easy To Read… Full Of Gems

This book was hard to put down and easy to understand. The author does a great job of formatting the book to ensure its information was obtainable and memorable. Maybe he did some reverse engineering himself ;) highly recommend.