Synopses & Reviews
"A timeless classic . . . This is a book of head and heart, of wisdom and emotion . . . Tuesdays with Morrie meets What Color is Your Parachute?" —Mindy Grossman, CEO of HSNi
With forty years at Harvard Business School, Howard Stevenson is renowned as an entrepreneur and business strategist, author, philanthropist, and professor. He has mentored more than ten thousand business founders, CEOs, professionals, and top business school faculty around the world.Written by mentee and successful entrepreneur Eric Sinoway, Howard's Gift offers Stevenson's timeless lessons on life and career. Full of personal and professional insight, this guide presents a series of thirteen strategies that can be applied to professional decisions on any scale. Through warm and engaging conversations with Sinoway, Stevenson focuses not just on business success, but on deep personal satisfaction through self-defined benchmarks for development and accomplishment. Stevensons lessons include:
Recognize inflection points: Learn to see and act on career-and-life-changing opportunitiesStart at the end: Think carefully about your long-term goals, rather than cobbling together your life from short-term achievementsIs the juice worth the squeeze? Ask whether the effort you devote to one area of your life justifies the sacrifice of effort in another areaCheating at Solitaire: Dont set goals and expectations unless or until you have developed the skill, talent, and knowledge to achieve themPlan for the ripple, not the splash: Understand that immediate decisions and actions are not as powerful as lasting onesInspiring, practical, and wise, Howards Gift is a book for recent college graduates, mid-career people who are at crucial decision points, mothers re-entering the work force, and entrepreneurs trying to balance success with family and personal satisfaction.
Review
"Filled with common-sense insights—on business and life—for future generations." —USA Today
"Thought-provoking...engaging...Think of it as Tuesdays with Morrie for MBAs." —Fortune
"The conversational tone is so casual that only after readers put the book down will they realize they just received a bucketload of valuable information and advice." —Publishers Weekly Review
"This work offers wonderful wisdom for navigating the inflection points in our lives." —Mehmet Oz, MD Professor and Vice Chair, Surgery, New York Presbyterian/ Columbia University
“This book is truly a gift for all those seeking fulfilling careers.” —Wendy Kopp, Founder & CEO, Teach For America
“Beautifully written. Compelling. The books should be read - and re-read - by women and men of all ages!” —Henry Rosovsky, Former Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University
“This is a book of head and heart, of wisdom and emotion. It is Tuesdays with Morrie meets What Color is Your Parachute? Howards Gift is a timeless classic.” —Mindy Grossman, Chief Executive Officer, HSN, Inc.
“Howard will go down in business history as the primary promoter of entrepreneurship. He is both wise and smart.” —Arthur Rock, Venture Capitalist, Arthur Rock & Company
“From a student interested in philosophy to the one pursuing pre-med, from the future attorney to the aspiring executive, Howards Gift is a priceless guide for the incoming freshman charting his or her homework - of the graduating student contemplating professional options. Every freshman should buy it; every graduating student should read it." —Don Bishop, Chief Administrator for Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid Scholarships at the University of Notre Dame
"Just as thousands of Harvard Business School students and countless others from around the world have benefitted from Howard Stevenson's wisdom, insight, and example, so will the readers of this very remarkable book." —John McArthur, Dean Emeritus & George F. Baker Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
Review
"Filled with common-sense insights—on business and life—for future generations." —USA Today
"Thought-provoking...engaging...Think of it as Tuesdays with Morrie for MBAs." —Fortune
"The conversational tone is so casual that only after readers put the book down will they realize they just received a bucketload of valuable information and advice." —Publishers Weekly Review
"This work offers wonderful wisdom for navigating the inflection points in our lives." —Mehmet Oz, MD Professor and Vice Chair, Surgery, New York Presbyterian/ Columbia University
“This book is truly a gift for all those seeking fulfilling careers.” —Wendy Kopp, Founder & CEO, Teach For America
“Beautifully written. Compelling. The books should be read - and re-read - by women and men of all ages!” —Henry Rosovsky, Former Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University
“This is a book of head and heart, of wisdom and emotion. It is Tuesdays with Morrie meets What Color is Your Parachute? Howards Gift is a timeless classic.” —Mindy Grossman, Chief Executive Officer, HSN, Inc.
“Howard will go down in business history as the primary promoter of entrepreneurship. He is both wise and smart.” —Arthur Rock, Venture Capitalist, Arthur Rock & Company
“From a student interested in philosophy to the one pursuing pre-med, from the future attorney to the aspiring executive, Howards Gift is a priceless guide for the incoming freshman charting his or her homework - of the graduating student contemplating professional options. Every freshman should buy it; every graduating student should read it." —Don Bishop, Chief Administrator for Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid Scholarships at the University of Notre Dame
"Just as thousands of Harvard Business School students and countless others from around the world have benefitted from Howard Stevenson's wisdom, insight, and example, so will the readers of this very remarkable book." —John McArthur, Dean Emeritus & George F. Baker Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
Review
"Filled with common-sense insights—on business and life—for future generations." —USA Today
"Thought-provoking...engaging...Think of it as Tuesdays with Morrie for MBAs." —Fortune
"This work offers wonderful wisdom for navigating the inflection points in our lives."
—Mehmet Oz, MD Professor and Vice Chair, Surgery, New York Presbyterian/ Columbia University
Review
"Filled with common-sense insights—on business and life—for future generations." —USA Today
"Thought-provoking...engaging...Think of it as Tuesdays with Morrie for MBAs." —Fortune
"This work offers wonderful wisdom for navigating the inflection points in our lives." —Mehmet Oz, MD Professor and Vice Chair, Surgery, New York Presbyterian/ Columbia University
“This book is truly a gift for all those seeking fulfilling careers.” —Wendy Kopp, Founder & CEO, Teach For America
“Beautifully written. Compelling. The books should be read - and re-read - by women and men of all ages!” —Henry Rosovsky, Former Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University
“This is a book of head and heart, of wisdom and emotion. It is Tuesdays with Morrie meets What Color is Your Parachute? Howards Gift is a timeless classic.” —Mindy Grossman, Chief Executive Officer, HSN, Inc.
“Howard will go down in business history as the primary promoter of entrepreneurship. He is both wise and smart.” —Arthur Rock, Venture Capitalist, Arthur Rock & Company
“From a student interested in philosophy to the one pursuing pre-med, from the future attorney to the aspiring executive, Howards Gift is a priceless guide for the incoming freshman charting his or her homework - of the graduating student contemplating professional options. Every freshman should buy it; every graduating student should read it." —Don Bishop, Chief Administrator for Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid Scholarships at the University of Notre Dame
"Just as thousands of Harvard Business School students and countless others from around the world have benefitted from Howard Stevenson's wisdom, insight, and example, so will the readers of this very remarkable book." —John McArthur, Dean Emeritus & George F. Baker Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
Synopsis
“This work offers wonderful wisdom for navigating the inflection points in our lives.” - Mehmet Oz, MD
An iconic teacher. A warm friend. A generous mentor.
For more than 40 years, Howard Stevenson has been a towering figure at Harvard Business School: the man who literally defined entrepreneurship and taught thousands of the worlds most successful professionals.
Now - spurred by Stevensons heart-stopping brush with death - his student, colleague, and dear friend Eric Sinoway shares the mans wisdom and inspiration. Through warm and engaging conversations, we hear Howards timeless and practical lessons on pursuing success and fulfillment, beginning with:
• Create a vision of your own legacy through a process called “business planning for life.”
• Be entrepreneurial in driving your career ahead (even if youre not an entrepreneur).
• Exploit the inflection points in your life - whether “friend,” “foe,” or “silent.”
• Cut risk in tough career and life decisions by shining the “light of predictability” on them.
• Plan for the ripples, not just the splash from your actions and choices.
Listening to Howards Gift is like having a wise, caring friend sit down and say, “Lets figure all this out together.”
“This book is truly a gift for all those seeking fulfilling careers.” - Wendy Kopp, Founder & CEO, Teach For America
About the Author
ERIC SINOWAY is an entrepreneur and seasoned executive with experience in for-profit, academic, and non-profit organizations. He is the cofounder and president of Axcess Worldwide, a New York-based partnership development company that creates inspired ideas and connects extraordinary brands and people. Axcess works with companies ranging from Rolls Royce and InterContinental Hotels & Resorts to Target and Delta Air Lines. Eric lives in New Jersey with his wife and two children. William Dufris has been nominated six times as a finalist for the APA's prestigious Audie Awards. He garnered eighteen Golden Earphones Awards through AudioFile magazine, which honored him as one of "The Best Voices At The End Of The Century." Of his work, AudioFile magazine said, "William Dufris commands a dazzling array of voices that bring to life the dozens of audiobooks hes narrated." His other narrations include Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen, Ph.D.'s Days of Infamy and Pearl Harbor, Tom Perrotas Nine Inches, and John Scalzis The Human Division.