So Good They Can't Ignore You

By: Cal Newport

Narrated by: Dave Mallow

Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

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 audiobook.

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 this advice Pollyannaish 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 and where you have built up your 'career capital' and then to put all of your efforts in that direction.

©2012 Calvin C. Newport (P)2016 Hachette Audio UK

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

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.

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.

"Audible 20 Review Sweepstakes Entry”

somewhat dry, somewhat predictable

good grounding in perspective. this is an easy read, with a couple of absolute gems

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.

Eye-opener !!

In a world where every big name says ‘follow your passion’ ..it’s kinda hard to believe that following your passion can actually be a really bad advice. I was totally against this book until I red it.

All my confusion around the subject ‘passion’ is now much more clear and thanks to this book, I’ll be laser focused on being so good that people can’t ignore me instead of just following my passion. Thank you so much to Mr Cal Newport for writing this book and a big thank you to the narrator of this book Dave Mallow.

Totally recommended 😃👍🏼

It is like discovering myself at 50

Fact that it debunks passion hypothesis is what makes the book stand out. So much trash has been written about passion that most tend to believe it as gospel truth. Intact it made me feel inadequate despite having acquired career capital in my 22 years of working with the government in India. For once I feel adequate to take on critics who trivialise the work we do.
It also reaffirms my belief that systematic hard work is the only way out no matter how “uncool” it may appear. This book along with Deep Work is what I’m recommending to my teen kids and nieces who are set to embark on college life.
In one word this book is life altering!

A different, innovative approach to work.

After hearing this book recommendation several times from different sources and reading Cal Newport's book Deep Work (and loving it), I just had to read it. I was not disappointed.

I found myself in many of the dilemmas that Cal Newport found himself in in his post-college years and think that this book could be extremely useful for any young researcher looking to build a strong career and a happy life.

The way this book differs from many other self-development and career-development books that I've read is that it, for a change, does not provide you with the same recycled information and logical conclusions you might have heard anywhere. I value the effort and time the author put into the interviews the books is based on and his own openness when it comes to the challenges he faced. Based on personal experience and these interviews, Cal Newport provides the reader with a set of rules/guidelines and many smaller tips and tricks on how to gain the "career capital" to build a strong foundation for yourself, how to take things step by step when it comes to the development of career and, most important, how to stay sane throughout this whole process.

I am definitely rereading this book!

Practical and Useable Advice

I thoroughly enjoyed the writing style of the book and the narrator also. I got so much perspective from it. Really helpful.