Nonfiction Book Award Status: Silver
Synopsis
How do you find a competitive edge when the obstacles feel insurmountable? How do you get people to take you seriously when they’re predisposed not to, and perhaps have already written you off?
Star Harvard Business School professor Laura Huang has come up against that problem many times–and so has anyone who’s ever felt out of place or underrecognized. Many of us sit back quietly, hoping that our hard work and grit will speak for themselves. Or we force ourselves to fit the mold of what we perceive as ‘successful,’ stifling the creativity and charm that makes us memorable.
In this perfect guide for ambitious readers of Amy Cuddy’s Presence and Angela Duckworth’s Grit looking for the missing piece that will take them to the next level, Huang offers a different approach.
She argues that success is rarely just about the quality of your ideas, your credentials and skills, or the effort you put in. Instead, it’s about how well you shape others’ perceptions–about your strengths, yes, but also about your flaws. It’s about creating an edge by confronting the factors that seem like shortcomings and turning them into assets that persuade others to take notice.
Drawing from her research on gut feeling, pitching and investment decisions, as well as stories about previously overlooked Olympians, assistants-turned executives and first-time entrepreneurs, Huang shows that success comes from knowing who you are and using that knowledge unapologetically and strategically. This book will teach you how to find your unique edge and keep it sharp.
Author Bio:
Laura Huang is an associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. Prior to joining HBS, she was an assistant professor of management at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Her research has been featured in The Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Forbes, and Nature. She has won a number of awards for her research, including a 2016 Kauffman Foundation Fellowship, and was named one of the 40 Best Business School Professors Under the Age of 40 by Poets & Quants. Her speaking and consulting clients include Google, Uber, Blackrock, Eldridge Industries, Keystone, Bionic, and the Level Playing Field Institute.