Ten Steps Ahead
What Separates Successful Business Visionaries from the Rest of Us
By: Erik Calonius
Published: March 17, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 256 pages
ISBN-10: 1591843766
ISBN-13: 978-1591843764
Publisher: Portfolio/Penguin
"Visionaries are not only just the stuff of legend. When we string them sequentially, one visionary following another, we have described the arc of history", writes former reporter, editor, and London correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and served as an editor and writer for Fortune, Erik Calonius, in his insightful and thought provoking book Ten Steps Ahead: What Separates Successful Business Visionaries from the Rest of Us. The author describes how and why visionaries are able to recognize trends and breakthrough ideas, and how the average person can develop those same forward looking skills.
Erik Calonius recognizes that being a trailblazer is the result of combining a number of factors. The visionaries profiled in the book were able to utilize each of the components successfully. According to the author, the core elements of visionary thinking are:
* Intuition
* Courage
* Emotional intelligence
* Luck
The author focuses on visionaries from the business world to provide the examples of the core elements in action. Erik Calonius demonstrates how each of the profiled geniuses employed the various components of visionary thinking. For these exceptional individuals, both their thought processes and the actions they took, were almost second nature for them. As a result, the author points out that they were unable to describe how and why they reached their breakthrough concepts.
Erik Calonius (photo left) understands that while the recognized visionaries were unable to articulate their thoughts and action, that doesn't mean that they aren't real. In fact, the author provides evidence ranging from observation to leading edge brain research, that visionary thinking is something that can be learned and developed by anyone. While the activities and process may have come naturally to the noted trailblazers, their techniques are not exclusive to them alone. The core elements of the process, including how to increase the odds of luck working for a person, can all be studied, learned, and internalized effectively. Since our brains are ever changing and evolving, they can be rewired to think in the same way as the most original and groundbreaking visionaries. In other words, anyone can be a trailblazer with practice and experience.
For me, the power of the book is how Erik Calonius combines both the theory of visionary thinking and discovery with real world examples of trailblazers and their accomplishments. Along with the personal profiles, and the core components contributing to their success, the author provides the latest cutting edge brain science to support his concepts. Another strength of the book is how Erik Calonius demonstrates how anyone can learn and develop the skills necessary to become visionary thinkers. The author provides the practical techniques and framework to enhance and augment a person's existing strengths, and to bring forward their latent and unused visionary abilities. Overall, the author provides an excellent assessment and guide to becoming a trailblazer in any industry.
I highly recommend the groundbreaking and must read book Ten Steps Ahead: What Separates Successful Business Visionaries from the Rest of Us by Erik Calonius, to anyone seeking a well researched and reasoned book about developing their own visionary skills. The ability to make breakthrough discoveries is not an inborn talent, but is a developed process that can also be enhanced over time through practice and experience.
Read the engaging and fascinating book Ten Steps Ahead: What Separates Successful Business Visionaries from the Rest of Us by Erik Calonius, and discover that being a visionary is not the sole domain of a select few, but is a process that can be learned and utilized by anyone. This book will change the way that people think about genius. Instead of seeing visionaries as the exception, they could really be the rule thanks to a deeper understanding of how they reached their discoveries. Becoming a trailblazer is a realistic and achievable ability for anyone who studies and puts the techniques into practice.
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