What You're Really Meant to Do: A Road Map for Reaching Your Unique Potential

If you read career books, many are written by folks in career counseling and advising. What is unique about this book is that the author's perspective has been shaped by business and academic experiences. The author, Robert Kaplan, ran global businesses for two decades, ultimately becoming the executive chairman of Goldman Sachs. These experiences in working with, and mentoring, individuals in business in various stages of their careers, prompted Kaplan to think deeply about human potential, development and leadership. He left Goldman Sachs to teach in the M.B.A. program at Harvard, teaching a course on Authentic Leadership based on Medtronics CEO'S book TRUE NORTH.All of us yearn for success. The thesis of this book is that you won't feel satisfyingly successful without working to reach your unique potential. The good news about potential is that it is unlimited. Kaplan says you never get to the end of your potential as there are always ideas to explore, things to learn and skills to improve. Kaplan encounters a mix of folks in his executive MBA classes at Harvard and discovers many have great credentials and are achieving monetary success but are dissatisfied. What are they missing? Some older executives and professionals are feeling regret and bitterness concerning their career choice. He also encounters many individuals who are making less money, perhaps, but working in a field they are passionate about, using the skills they enjoy most using, and are happier than the folks who have pursued wealth or status at the cost of doing something in a field they loved. It's difficult to be truly successful in the long term if you don't have some sense of passion for what you do, Kaplan suggests.This book offers exercises in self-discovery to understand yourself better and to identify what you want. Its eight chapters are grouped under umbrella topics: 1) what you're really meant to do 2) know thyself 3) make the most of opportunities and 4) the extra mile. At the end of each chapter are suggested follow-up steps regarding taking action.There is a lot of wise advice in this book regarding attitudes and behaviors from someone who has been successful in business, mentored others and thought deeply about developing potential. For example, he discusses how to deal with setbacks in a career. Engaging examples of individuals he has encountered in his executive M.B.A. classes at Harvard who are sorting out career issues are integrated throughout the book and enrich the principles in the book.Kaplan gives examples of folks who are thinking of leaving their job or career because of a current obstacle. By asking probing questions and coaching, Kaplan demonstrates that often these individuals still love their field and company, but just need to deal with the obstacle. To be successful, Kaplan suggests you ask yourself: what are the top three tasks you must do extremely well to succeed in your job? And then spend 70% of your time and focus on those three tasks. Another searching question Kaplan poses: What stands in the way of you spending time on the activities you enjoy? Is there an action you could take that would remove one or more of these impediments?As to whether this book would be helpful to entrepreneurs, it could. Kaplan gives examples of some of the entrepreneurs, or folks who worked for entrepreneurs, whom he has encountered: a chef who owned three restaurants in Rhode Island and was thinking of adding more but was unhappy, a retailer who co-owned a successful business in California but was thinking of leaving it due to conflict with her business partner, a student who chose to work for a small philanthropy organization instead of going into the financial services field like her classmates, and an individual who started his own money management firm. The questions in this book will give aspiring entrepreneurs some self-assessments as to what they really want to do. (Also recommend the book: Startup Leadership: How Savvy Entrepreneurs Turn Their Ideas Into Successful Enterprises by Derek Lidow who started iSuppli Company and sold it for multi-millions. Lidow teaches Entrepreneurship at Princeton. If you want a look at entrepreneurship to see if you would enjoy its rigors, his book is helpful.)Kaplan's central message is we should worry less about being a success and more about reaching - and developing - our potential as this is where happiness lies. He says there are many paths to accomplish this, and we should pick a path which suits us. This book has some ideas on how to do this.

In this book, Robert Kaplan puts forward a compelling case to move our attention away from conventional wisdom and to focus on using intrinsic metrics to write our own definition of success. Metrics that are based on our own potential, strengths, passions and beliefs as opposed to what society expects from us.Although chapter four is explicitly called “Understand yourself”, I will argue that a good chunk of the book including chapter 2 (Assess your strengths and weaknesses), chapter 3 (Finding your passion) and chapter 6 (Good vs. great that deals with values and beliefs) is about knowing and understanding yourself. This is quite valuable to the reader as identifying what you’re meant to do is clearly a quest to know, to choose and to connect with our own purpose.As you get to understand yourself better, Kaplan challenges the reader to look at what our job or desired job requires and to identify gaps that might exist so we can take actions to close them. I found it quite useful that the author explains his ideas in terms of very practical and real situations that we tend to face during our careers. He complements these ideas with key questions and exercises that help the reader reflect and gain clarity on this elusive matter. Clarity that is also helpful in other areas of our lives.I was especially interested in his definition of leadership: “Leadership is the ability to figure out what you believe and then summon the courage to appropriately act on those beliefs”. Although Kaplan presents us with additional concepts that support our internal quest such as “The importance of relationships” (chapter 7) and keys to develop a plan “The road map” (chapter 8) I wish he would have developed more specific recommendations to help us translate the lessons learned into actions and results.I enjoyed studying this book and I am looking forward to more books he might write providing insights on how to deal with the resistance we all face summoning the courage and wisdom necessary to act on our beliefs.

What You’re Really Meant to Do by Robert Steven Kaplan is a personal and professional development book hinged on the fact that you have a unique potential. And not only do you have a unique potential, but the only way you can be truly successful is by accepting and acting upon your uniqueness. Which, in my opinion, is an eloquent way to say go follow your dreams, kid. Only that might be hard and you probably are not a kid anymore. Kaplan acknowledges this and is upfront about the difficulty in not only figuring out what you want to do but also that what you want to do may not be feasible (at least for the moment).Sprinkled throughout this book are various exercises the reader should complete. The exercises are creative and should be completed to get the most out of this book. Some are short and some are long. Some are fun while others make you contemplate how many years of your life you have pissed away. Which is still fun, right?Kaplan takes a unique angle on development relative to other books on the market. It approaches situations and provides advice from a career perspective, which is fitting because the majority of Kaplan’s personal experiences shared within the book relate to business. They are concrete and implementable; though not comprehensive relative to other development books I have read. If you’re looking for a book to transform your life than I would suggest supplementing this book with another selection more focused on personal development (think The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey). But if you want to learn from a guy who has spent a lot of time with a lot of successful people and are particularly interested in furthering your career, then I would recommend picking up your copy today.

This is a great book - but be warned - it requires some hard work and introspection.I would recommend this book to people looking to switch career or just looking for their next job move. I will say that the book is slightly biased towards MBAs (given the writer's background) but also non MBA would find it very helpful

Professeur à Harvard, Robert S. Kaplan a pendant 22 ans travaillé chez Goldman Sachs jusqu'à en devenir vice-chairman. Il s'occupe par ailleurs de différentes "bonnes œuvres". Ce livre reprend un cours qu'il donne en formation initiale et continue à la business school.Il nous guide dans une réflexion sur comment mettre sa carrière sur les rails du meilleur accomplissement de soi possible.Le style est sobre, didactique et clair. le livre se lit facilement. Le parcours qu'il propose est assez classique : recenser sur ses forces et faiblesses, trouver ses passions, mieux se connaître, relire sa vie, savoir saisir les opportunités, devenir un authentique leader. Les conseils qu'il prodigue sont avisés. Quelques exercices pratiques accompagnent le lecteur dans ce cheminement.Si Kaplan est un bon conseiller (mentor ou coach, suivant les cas et la distinction qu'il propose dans ce livre), il reste un peu sec sur la dimension spirituelle qui conduit à l'unité de vie. Par exemple, les conflits entre vie familiale et vie professionnelle sont peu abordés (il a visiblement très largement privilégié la seconde).Ce livre apportera un aide appréciable à ceux qui cherchent leur voie dans la sphère professionnelle. Mais il manque de profondeur et laissera ceux qui veulent engager une réflexion approfondie sur leur faim.

Great book. It may look like a long process initially. It changes you fundamentally. It changes your core. It doesn't teach you tactics and tips. It is for the people who are patient and willing to design their life.

Insightful, full of good advice, provides clear direction, a must read for anyone looking for self development and improvement. Thank you Mr. Kaplan!

Great book!! Great way to explore one's own self... A must read for all professionals wanting to improve and grow.