I am a successful businessperson by any measure and have been rewarded financially with great prosperity, despite significant obstacles I had to overcome. When I emigrated from Israel to the United States, I could barely speak English. While studying to earn my engineering degree, I came to understand the language reasonably well, but I spoke it poorly. I also had a thick accent, which, combined with my crude English, made it troublesome for people to comprehend me. To make matters worse, my native country had a different culture and behavioral norms. Some of these norms were quite dissimilar and not very endearing to Americans, particularly not in the corporate world. Given all that, the odds of success were stacked against me, and most likely I would have had an average career, at best, had it not been for this one exonerating characteristic. I attribute insight as the single most important factor that allowed me to accelerate my career. In fact, if you were to ask people who know me best, they would acknowledge and affirm that I have proven to be quite insightful, and uniquely so. Even my most prosperous peers would concur.
Although insightfulness mostly reflects innate talent, I claim that I can teach you to become more insightful. This is my ultimate purpose in writing this book. The primary objective of this book is to teach you how to become more insightful in business, make better decisions, and more quickly advance your career. I don’t do it by simply recounting my own career progression and experiences with the hope that you discover insights that you can emulate. Although imitation might be flattering, applying what you learn from my experiences and advice will yield much better results for you.
The genesis of this book originated with my daughter, Beth, who managed to do well in her own right. Over the years, as any involved father would do, I offered her advice and guidance. Beth maintains that my advice and insights were unique and meaningfully contributed to her success. She implored me to memorialize it in a book so that her children, grandchildren, and many others could benefit, too.
My first reaction was, “You were the beneficiary—you know exactly what helped. Why don’t you put it in writing yourself?”
She responded, “I would not be able to explain it the way you can. On top of being insightful, you have an uncanny ability to explain everything in a way that is simple and yet powerful enough to leave a strong impression on people so that they actually adopt and put the wisdom to use.” It was factual logic. So, I acquiesced. Sometime later, we decided to expand the premise of the book to allow more people to potentially benefit from my advice. And so the idea of publishing a book for general readership emerged.
I incorporate some personal stories into the book to provide real-life examples that illustrate many of the lessons and techniques the book teaches, thereby enhancing the reader’s learning and comprehension. Some of the personal stories also serve to provide a more proper perspective of the sacrifices, obstacles, perseverance, and all the ups and downs on the road to success, as well as a fuller understanding of me as an individual.
Over my long career, I have been a management consultant dealing with the most critical strategic decisions companies face, a corporate executive, and a venture capitalist. I’ve had intimate exposure to the highest priority challenges facing hundreds of companies. I have seen strategies that flourished and plans that floundered. I have witnessed companies thrive and companies fail, managers who prospered and managers who suffered setbacks and even disgrace. Be it hiring or firing, I decided the fates of many managers at all levels, including CEOs. Through this book, I aspire to instill all the insight I’ve acquired so that you become wiser.
The odyssey of my success was an arduous one, in both my personal circumstances and business trajectory. As it turns out, less than favorable circumstances were part of my life from early childhood. I came from a poor background, and nothing was effortless for me in my formative years. I completely lacked appreciation for the value of education and had no awareness of the business opportunities that education may have provided me. No mentor or educated person was around to offer me a better perspective. Significant amounts of resilience and perseverance were required to overcome many obstacles. Throughout the book I share some selected personal experiences, not just to provide perspective on the importance of resilience and perseverance for one’s career success, but also as way to help inspire the fortitude and motivation to persevere when your own hardships arise. In most cases, the personal stories enhance and elucidate the hard-core business observations as well.
The book’s primary audience is professionals in the early stages of their careers (up to ten years of work experience) or those planning to have such careers. That being said, the guidance can be of substantive value to the more experienced and even seasoned executives, who can leverage the insightful perspectives. In addition, this book offers a special, added value to foreign students and foreigners in general who wish to pursue a career in the United States, particularly those who come from cultures different from the American culture. My personal stories and experiences should be quite illuminating to such foreigners and perhaps help them plow an easier path to success than the one I had to endure. Also, I include a short section for young adults to elevate the importance of a quality education with the hope of bolstering their inner drive and resolve to work hard and do well in school. It provides cogent logic that will be a complement to their parents’ advice and guidance. As we all know, sometimes children are more open to advice given by others, even if it is the same as the parents’! Consider bringing this section to the attention of your own children or nieces and nephews.
I wrote this book in a conversational style to aid both comprehension and readability. My hope is that the relaxed and informal language creates the sense that you’re sitting around a table discussing intriguing topics with friends or family. The book is organized around specific lessons, observations, loosely stated rules, and a list of dos and don’ts. I present observations with definitive justification and rationale to enable you to ascertain their value while retaining the flexibility of context so the learnings can be adapted to your particular circumstance.
There are ample observations and insights in this book. Some simple, others profound, and all variations in between. A single casual reading will not provide the reader with the full wisdom of the book, so one will benefit from revisiting it from time to time. The more often you visit these pages, the more you’ll see. This is particularly so with the passage of time and as your own experience grows and your perspectives change. I would not hesitate to bet that each successive reading will find you reacting to different topics in different ways, multiplying your awareness and adoption of insightfulness.
At times, I express my ideas in a precise, more definitive manner. I use definitive language for a variety of reasons. Mostly, I have conviction regarding my ideas and believe that communicating in a succinct and direct way is the most effective, particularly in a teaching context. Black-and-white statements are easily understood when not burdened with too many qualifying ones. Whatever my reasons, be assured that it is not out of arrogance or overconfidence that “I know it all.”
Along the same vein, I also make many observations about human behavioral traits and may use the same definitive language. Please keep in mind that I’m not trained in, nor do I claim to have, specific knowledge of behavioral science or its related fields. Whatever comments I make represent my personal perspectives and beliefs and are introduced to provide some potential rationale and context regarding the business-related observations and recommendations.
Finally, as I provide observations and rules, please bear in mind that there are exceptions to every rule, and an exception to every exception. However, an exception doesn’t create its own rule, nor does it invalidate one. A rule is only meant to give you the highest probability for an outcome. Thus, just because you may be able to conceptualize an exception doesn’t invalidate the rule or learning I am offering.
I hope you enjoy and benefit from reading this book. All the best and good luck in your endeavors.
DAVID KRONFELD