Success Built to Last

Creating a Life that Matters

By: Jerry Porras, Stewart Emery, Mark Thompson

Narrated by: Jerry Porras, Stewart Emery, Mark Thompson

Imagine discovering what successful people have in common, distilling it into a set of simple practices, and using them to transform your company, your career, and your life. Written by three thought leaders in organizational development and self-improvement, including Built to Last co-author Jerry Porras, Success Built to Last challenges conventional wisdom at every step. It draws on face-to-face, unscripted conversations with hundreds of remarkable human beings from around the world. Meet billionaires, CEOs, presidents of nations, Nobel laureates, and celebrities. Meet unsung heroes who've achieved lasting impact without obvious power or charisma. Famous or not, almost all started out ordinary.

Above all, discover why successful people stay successful and how you can too.

• Why it's so damn hard to do what matters, and what you can do about it
• See what you have in common with people who have impacted the world we live in, such as Nelson Mandela, Charles Schwab, and Maya Angelou
• Learn how these enduringly successful people harvested their victories and failures, and found the courage to follow their passions

The audio edition of Success Built to Last includes a variety of bonus materials, including audio excerpts from interviews with former President Jimmy Carter, Senator John McCain, Dell Computers CEO Michael Dell, and writer Maya Angelou. Co-authors Jerry Porras, Stewart Emery, and Mark Thompson also give insight into the creation of, and the research behind, Success Built to Last.

©2007 Pearson Education, Inc.

Critic reviews

"You can make a difference if you put your passions to work in a way that builds a better life for you, your business, and your community. Success Built to Last shows you how." (Steve Forbes, Editor in Chief, Forbes)
"Everyone wants success, but you can do better than that. This is an extraordinary book that finally reveals a meaningful 'secret formula' for success based on the lives of remarkable people." (Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Brands)
"If you're crazy enough to do what you love for a living, then you're bound to create a life that matters. Success Built to Last wisely counsels you to go nuts about something meaningful. That's what you're here to do, for heaven¿s sake." (Herb Kelleher, Chairman and Cofounder, Southwest Airlines)

Structure of personal development

If you're at all familiar with personal development authors, this book reiterates their teachings in a more 'business'-like manner. While it does not go into detail onto how to effectively apply the given knowledge (simple call to action is not enough for some people) it's a good read IF you're already familiar with the principles it discusses.

Good Work

Paradigms shifting brings much more creative energy into the picture. The view gives greater consideration to the future to include reframing the past.

Stay focused

A good business book discussing attributes common to all truly successful people. Focuses on getting results and going forward.

great book

I listened to this prior to hearing Good to Great. It was a good introduction. The stories of successful business leaders are inspiring. It provides a treasure trove of anecdotes for business motivation.

interesting and inspirational

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about leadership it is very well structured and easy to follow.

Find your passion

My first audible.com book and it was a great way to start. An interesting book that builds on the Good to Great concepts but applies it to the leadership traits of enduringly successful people. Whether you aspire to be this or not will not be changed by this book, but it does provide some great insight and self evaluation opportunities into what has truly driven successful people. It helped to bridge the gap between the hype in some books about finding your meaning in life and some real examples where this has occured. It will cause you to think about what you are passionate about and whether this drives enduring satisfaction in your life that could impact others. A mix of narrators in the book helped break it up and make it an enjoyable listen.

same concept too bloated

while it's great that they have surveyed 200 successful people and compiled concepts, the message is very minimal. do what you love and your love gets you the calling to push through. didn't have to be such a long book

Serial Entrepreneur and Board Member

A good message with positive data to backup the authors' hypothesis. I look forward to putting my new knowledge to work with my clients.

Engaging wisdom

Powerful insights into the ‘Success’ mentality, pleasure to listen to the authors speak, they convey congruent everything in the stories and learnings.

Unreadable b/c of dreadful performance

There is probably some good content in this audiobook, but listeners will never know it because the clipped narration renders the book unbearable and impossible to follow. The narration is INCREDIBLY fast, as if the narrator was in a tremendous hurry. It is frequently difficult to tell where sections end because the narrator rushes through things so fast and with such monotony. I am a big fan of audiobooks, but I highly recommend potential listeners/readers avoid this book.