The Only Way to Win

by Jim Loehr

Why Winning with Character Is the Only Way to Win

The conditioning begins early in our lives. Great achievements will bring lasting happiness and fulfillment; great achievements form the bedrock of stable self-esteem and strong character; great achievements will become the foundation for a successful life. If these well-intentioned promises are true, why does winning never seem to be enough?

In "The Only Way to Win," Jim Loehr draws upon two decades of work with Fortune 500 executives; world-class athletes such as Monica Seles, Dan Jansen, and Eric Lindros; and other high achievers at the Human Performance Institute (HPI) to reveal surprising insights about achievement motivation. Specifically, Loehr finds that the blind pursuit of external achievement often results in emptiness, addiction, and, ironically, poor performance. It's not really about what you achieve, he argues, it's about who you become as a consequence of the chase.

As Loehr powerfully demonstrates, success at work and fulfillment in life require a complete re-purposing of achievement, one where value is derived from growth in areas such as integrity, honesty, gratefulness, humility, optimism, and compassion. To help readers start this process, he provides them with the tools they need to develop these character traits, as well as the plan they need to use them effectively.

A compelling, practical, and hopeful read filled with relatable stories and useful exercises, "The Only Way to Win" will serve as a powerful wake-up call for business leaders, employees, teachers, and coaches. It will also provide inspiration for readers looking to perform better, achieve more, and change both their own lives and those of the people they influence. Jim Loehr is a world-renowned performance psychologist, co-founder of the Human Performance Institute, and author of fifteen books, including his most recent, "The Power of Story." He also co-authored the national bestseller "The Power of Full Engagement."

Praise for "The Only Way to Win"

"Jim takes the challenge to achieve success to a new level--one where winning with character and values leads to a life of significance and long-term happiness."
--Steve Reinemund, Dean of Wake Forest Schools of Business and Former CEO, PepsiCo

"Jim's latest book, "The Only Way to Win," builds on his four decades of work with high achievers in sport and business linking character and purpose in an extraordinary way."
--Chip Bergh, CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.

"If you read no other book this year, give this gift to yourself, to those you lead, your family, and to anyone for whom you wish to make a positive impact on their lives."
--Phebe Farrow Port, Senior Vice President, Global Management Strategies, The Estee Lauder Companies

"Over the years of working with Jim, I have learned how to make a deep investment in character and push my employees and colleagues to achieve more. Jim has it exactly right--character trumps everything "
--Charlie Kim, CEO, Next Jump

"Jim Loehr has plumbed the depths of human endeavor and offers us an opportunity to confront our most cherished life goals and come out a winner."
--Rear Admiral Ray Smith, US Navy (Ret), Former Commander, US Navy SEALs

Genres: Business, Psychology, Personal Development, Self Help, Leadership, Nonfiction, Philosophy

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Dr. Jim Loehr is a world-renowned performance psychologist and author of 16 books including his most recent, The Only Way to Win. He also co-authored the national bestseller The Power of Full Engagement.

Dr. Loehr’s ground-breaking, science-based energy management training system has achieved world-wide recognition and has been chronicled in leading national publications, including the Harvard Business Review, Business Week, Fortune, Newsweek, Time, US News and World Report, Success, Fast Company and Omni. He has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Nightline with Ted Koppel, the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and CBS Morning News, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.

From his more than 30 years of experience and applied research, Dr. Loehr believes the single most important factor in successful achievement, personal fulfilment and life satisfaction is the strength of one’s character.
He strongly contends that character strength can be built in the same way that muscle strength is built
through energy investment.

Dr. Loehr has worked with hundreds of world-class performers from the arenas of sport, business, medicine and law enforcement, including Fortune 100 executives, FBI Hostage Rescue Teams, and military Special Forces. Corporate clients of the Institute represent hundreds of Fortune 500 companies, including Procter & Gamble, The Estée Lauder Companies, FBI, GlaxoSmithKline, PepsiCo, and Citigroup Smith Barney. A sampling of his elite clients from the world of sport include golfers Mark O’Meara and Justin Rose; tennis players Jim Courier, Monica Seles, and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario; boxer Ray Mancini; hockey players Eric Lindros and Mike Richter; and Olympic gold medal speed skater Dan Jansen.

Dr. Loehr possesses a masters and doctorate in psychology, serves on several prestigious scientific boards and is a full member of the American Psychological Association, the American College of Sports Medicine, the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and the Association for
Applied Sport Psychology.

The Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute is the pioneer in delivering a science-based energy management training solution. Based on over 30 years of proprietary research, the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute has worked with elite performers, including Olympic gold medalists, military Special Forces, Hostage Rescue teams, surgeons, and Fortune 500 CEOs to achieve sustained high performance. In 2015 alone, 25 of the Fortune 100 companies participated in Corporate Athlete® training, delivered across 32 countries, in over 500 sessions.

Reviews

[Andres J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great message on character development; finding resilience by sequentially nurturing spiritual, mental, emotional and physical dimensions; and re-calibrating our value system so that the path we choose is what truly defines our success, regardless of outcome.

Would have liked to have given this book a higher rating. But the writing can be trite at times, there are too many repetitive anecdotes, and what is discussed over 220 pages could have easily been done in under 100 pages.

Nonetheless, the message makes it a worthwhile read.

[Joe Klein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bluntly, this is a crash course on how to be internally-driven (character/virtue) as opposed to externally-driven (awards/money/etc).

Jim’s explanation as to why that matters was the take home message for me. Being character-driven, in the final analysis, tends to be more sustainable, enjoyable, and effective in accomplishing the same goals externally motivated individuals chase. More than that, it creates well-rounded individuals who care about the means as much as they care about the ends. Self-evaluations/motivations exclusively based on victories/losses sets an individual up for a rocky road through life.

Jim reminds us the influence society and parents have on our perceptions of the world and what it means to be successful. His suggestions to parents, coaches, and teachers on how to foster character development were well founded and compelling.

[Kimberly Weston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Profound Perspectives on the Pursuit of Success aka Winning!

“If you use your career to make you a better person, then you’ve won. The simple act of re-purposing your life and pursuits towards achievements to become a vehicle for accelerating character development gives meaning and value to all the years of training whether or not the goal ever becomes realized”. J. Loehr.

Self help books tend to have these types of exercises to help people apply the concepts. In this book you're asked to create an "ultimate mission" using the principles of dissecting a win. Here's my stab at a person "ultimate mission"

I will mother (as a verb), my two children, and in doing so develop patience, purpose, devotion, and a greater ability to love. They will experience an inspiring human as I work purposefully to develop my own and their moral fibers that are congruent with honesty, love, respect, tolerance, and what they choose themselves to represent. In business and career I will win the respect and friendship of those I’m blessed to have contact with and I will do this by maintaining integrity and courage within. Before I seek a result, set a goal, or create an objective I will work to define the character building opportunities that are contained in the pursuit.

Why? It’s the Only Way to Win.

[Alexander Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has completely changed my views on life and my consulting.

Jim Loehr's main thesis is that success comes from inner character, and not the other way around. His logic is simple but powerful: If you are looking to become a better person through your pursuits even your failures can build you. You will seek more stimulating and difficult goals and achieve more if you see failure as a tool of self-construction. However, if your sole goal is to have your life vindicated through a medal or bank account total then you are likely to feel empty at the end...if you ever even succeed.

As the manager of a consultancy with 1,000+ clients, many of which have experienced considerable success, I can confirm that "riches without satisfaction" is not the exception, it is the norm.

I've seen them squander their success afterward through affairs, drug use, problem gambling, and excessive spending. I'm convinced that if they'd read this tome they'd realize why all those things occur.

Coupled with a solid analysis of "purposeful practice" in another book I think this could turn good performers into great ones, and great performers into all-stars. Highly recommended.

[Chris Weatherburn · Rating 4 out of 5]

You gain satisfaction from autonomy, mastery and relatedness. A positive mindset is important, however life is all about purpose and meaning. Don’t be addicted to external rewards, particularly when outcome is uncertain instead think of a process as an opportunity to develop your character. The acronym to remember from this book is ABC: Always Build Character.

You can judge your moral character by how you would treat someone who can’t help you at all. Moral character is how you interact with others, where as performance character is how you interact with yourself in terms of how disciplined and focused you can be.

With extrinsic achievement, it’s clear that there can never be enough shopping, trophies, money, home renovations, cosmetic surgery fixes, rare jewelry, famous artworks, etc., to make a meaningful, enduring difference; this is why the very wealthy, who can buy anything they want, are quite often no happier than the rest of us.

Forget about self-esteem and concentrate more on developing self-control and self-discipline. The notions that self-esteem can be earned externally and, in the case of the narcissist, that it needn’t be earned at all are both seriously flawed. True self-esteem develops when one’s actions are congruent with one’s inner core of values and beliefs rather than reflections of externally or internally imposed demands.

Societies score card may be about you achieving things. Build your own focusing on how you want to become. Be cautious if you break your intrinsic values, you damage yourself the most, this could be physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually. In business, as in all areas of life, when all is said and done, it won’t solely be who won but how they won and at what price.

Businesses should have a mission statement and actually hold these values. The classic business school example is the Tylenol crisis of 1982, when it was learned that someone had laced Tylenol capsules in the Chicago area with cyanide. Johnson & Johnson management believed so strongly in the precepts of their company’s mission statement that it pulled all Tylenol products from the shelves and stop all Tylenol production. They ignored advice from attorneys and consultants who argued that removing the product might harm the Tylenol brand, history showed the management made the correct decision and this was helped by sticking to the company’s predetermined values.

Athletes who found fulfillment were those who used the demands of their sport to grow personal strengths to satisfy important intrinsic needs. Unfulfilled athletes, by contrast, were those who used sport almost solely to pursue extrinsic rewards and, as a consequence, were unable to experience much happiness from the pursuit itself.

In essence the fulfilled athletes used sport to build highly valued strengths of character, while the unfulfilled ones never made the connection. This insight, applies equally to the world of business. Try to repurpose work to grow inner strengths of character that meet with your grand purpose in life. Andre Aggasi mentioned a lot as author was involved in sports coaching. Cites him as an example of transformation, winning but hating tennis, not enjoying it, then changing his purpose and putting his talent for tennis to good use and finding satisfaction from this.

If you look at successful people who seem to enjoy a life of privilege they have will usually have had intense, nearly continuous battery of character tests prior to getting to that point. If the ethical character of these individuals had not been forged before they obtained their privileges and power, they would have had almost no shot at resisting the myriad character challenges that are sure to come.

In parenting you don’t want to be too pushy also known as a ‘tiger’ parent but not too lax. Don’t live through achievements of your children. Although parents get satisfaction from their children’s success it is important not to have this as the main focus of your parenting, instead it is better to aim to develop their moral character. Avoid opting for a short-term goal such as the immediate satisfaction from winning over a longer-term goal such as character development which may have a more abstract result.

Children learn virtues of development at certain times. If they miss the learning at the appropriate time the door closes and important stages of moral development can be missed. This can potentially manifest with a variety of psycho-social crises in adulthood. A basic one would be that an infant’s need for trust is not fulfilled he may experience pervasive mistrust of others throughout adulthood.

You don’t want your children to end up devoting too much time to achieve extrinsic objectives as potentially their life can lack serious value. By spending upward of 90 percent of time chasing things empty of sustainable meaning on careful reflection they may not become very happy. Even if they achieve all extrinsic markers of success but do so at the expense of intrinsic growth, hollowness and disillusionment may follow. Without the right purpose, you will fail whether you achieve or don’t achieve.

It is worth noting that although extrinsic achievement is not the end point, it should not be discouraged. Just keep the value of extrinsic results in perspective. Ideally you use the forces and stresses of everything you chase extrinsically to help become everything you want and need to become intrinsically.

By pursuing extrinsic achievement in highly demanding and stressful scenarios these can be excellent opportunities to facilitate growth. The more you push and the more resistance you encounter, the richer the opportunities you will get to build and grow the fundamental values. Keep adjusting, refining, balancing to nourish the capacities you cherish most, particularly when the going is toughest.

The enduring path to achievement fulfilment at work and in life is making sure character trumps all other considerations.

VLOG: https://youtu.be/4XnI2VgMgJ0
Full summary: https://chrisweatherburn.com/the-only...

[Aaron Mikulsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Only Way to Win by Jim Loehr challenges the conventional notion that external achievements alone lead to lasting happiness and fulfillment. Drawing from his extensive experience working with high-achieving executives and athletes (at the Human Performance Institute - HPI), Loehr presents several key insights. I highly recommend this read as a parent, coach, and business leader.

The pursuit of external achievements often leads to emptiness and poor performance. As Sir Edmund Hillary said, “It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.”

There are many wonderful questions to ponder and a practical process to follow. For example:
Are you pursuing a dream that you chose or one that society has chosen for you?
When is the price of a goal attainment too high?
Is the sacrifice that goes into the pursuit justified in terms of what really matters?
When is the payoff not worth the price?
How far will you go to achieve your goal?
Do you like who you are becoming as a consequence of the pursuit?
Why are you seeking this achievement?
What will happen to you and others if you fail?
True fulfillment comes from developing character traits and values.
What do you want your epitaph to be?
What will be your legacy?

Success should be redefined to include personal growth and moral development. We need to rethink how achievement should be positioned in people’s lives. Rather than an end in itself, it becomes a means to an end, a vehicle for building ethical strengths of character that produce worthiness, fulfillment, and life satisfaction.

Loehr's book serves as a wake-up call for individuals and leaders, encouraging them to redefine success and focus on becoming better human beings while pursuing their goals. The lesson to be learned is not to devalue hard work, eschew the pursuit of achievement, or consider material possessions bad. The takeaway is that, in and of themselves, such things leave us feeling empty. People who have the most of what society admires are very often the least happy. Coaches are at their best when helping kids realize who they want to be as human beings, then using the sport to help their young athletes build toward that. For employees to produce their best, they need to be intrinsically driven and have a life beyond work.

[Sean Goh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda preaching to the choir when I read it (having already read Clayton Christensen's How Will You Measure Your Life?). Still a good reminder.

TL;DR: Society teaches that you are what you achieve. But if your triumphs are meant just to impress or to gain wealth or status, you will feel only hollowness. Instead, create and live by your own scorecard.

___
Most sports, especially team sports, have a negative impact on morality, ethics and character. The pressure to win, and the widely accepted behaviour of acting one way on the field and another off, makes cheating, and even deliberately injuring opposing players, more tolerable.

When the goal is simply to win, then cheating becomes tolerable; indeed, necessary; indeed, practically recommended. If the goal is to win. then everything is for sale, even your soul, for the right price.

The most sacred thing we have as human beings is our sense of purpose. It's what separates us from all other species.

The sad truth is that when people feel the emptiness of achievement, they take a 'brute force' approach: I'll just do more and more of this until it feels good.

*Disclaimer - read the getabstract summary*

[John Tipper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't normally go into self-improvement books, but this one seemed interesting since I had heard Dr. Loehr discuss tennis professionals on a tv show. A psychologist, Loehr has worked with many high profile athletes as well as executives in various business fields. The central thesis of the work is that success derives from character. And character is built on ethical beliefs and conduct. A lot of the clients Loehr has worked with are very accomplished financially but are not happy. He advises them to come up with a Life Mission, a purpose for living, if you will. And this helps to construct character and vitalizes their personality and vision. The book is not the typical self-help ones on the bestseller lists. A good deal of studies in psychology are cited. Some fascinating research is delved into.

[David Finkel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book to help you put your priorities into sharp focus.

If you want a book to talk you through life purpose, work/life balance, and getting clear on your values, this is a good starting point.

I recommend you read it in small chunks with your journal at hand to do the exercises as you go.

Worth the time to read.

[Rashid Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. The author challenges the reader to identify what really matters in their life, and how they would want to be remembered if they were in their last days. Does what you "say" matters most in your life align with how you actually spend most of your time... read the book to discover how to dig deep and answer that question.

[Lucas Fux · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente libro. Lo empecé a leer por una recomendación, pensé que sería un típico libro de autoayuda, pero nada más lejos de la realidad. Me encanta que permite hacernos preguntas para abordar el éxito (o la búsqueda del exito) de una forma en la que podemos disfrutar.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really good parts in here, about character, and things along those lines...

[Lisa Fine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good reminder of the important balance between achievement and character.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the first half was very good. He explains the importance of character values very well - 5 star material.
But the 2nd half is a little repetitive - 3 star material.

[Kuba · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stworzenie swojego Ultimate Mission Statement.
Najpierw szczęście a potem osiągnięcia
Wartości moralne zawsze przed osiągnięciami
Budowanie charakteru dzieci

[Gina Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

An average filler book if you’re looking to change your mindset in the business world

[Bojan Avramovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Odlicna knjiga, super korisna cak i u vaspitanju dece

[Li Li · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book, and it will change your life. Another master piece of Jim's book after 'The Power of Full Engagement'.

The key point of the book is around (1) Always building Characters, moral and performance; (2) moral characters triumphs performance characters in the context of life time success and happiness; and (3) performance characters determine your relationship w/ yourself, and moral characters determine your relationship w/ others.

If you experience life, for the whole purpose of building up your character strengths, which you have 100% control over, all the rest (work, title, family, money, reputation, relationship...) will take good care of themselves.

I will be consciously building my own characters as the sole purpose of life. In that, there's only progress and competition within my own self.


Notes I took:

It’s not the mountain or marathon we conquer, but ourselves.

One thing that matters is being alive, healthy, and present.

We use the demands and stress of elite golf to most importantly help you become strong, resilient people of great character. We care about your golf, but we care more about who you are becoming because of golf. Our most important goal is winning with character. Every day represents another opportunity to grow in self-control, respect for others, persistence, positivity and trustworthiness. No matter how far you go as a player, if you use golf to strengthen character, golf will always be a priceless gift.

Any achievement goal can be re-purposed to become an opportunity to grow strengths of character. Regardless of whether one succeeds or fails in the external achievement itself, something of real value will have been gained.

After all these years, I am sorry to say, my recommendation is to forget about self-esteem and concerntrate more on self-control and self-discipline. – Dr. Roy Baumeister

Self-esteem is not a birthright. It must be earned. It must hinge on things over which one has control / internal contingency: persistence, hope, generosity, kindness, and such. One should invest time and energy very deliverately in this direction verse building self-esteem on external contingencies: becoming a CEO, win a mental…

What is your identity? Identity is not your achievement (external contingent) as you don’t fully control your achievement. Identity is your character.

Our souls are not hungry for fame, comfort, wealth, or power. Our souls are hungry for meaning, for the sense that we have figured out how to live so that our lives matter.

True happiness is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose – Helen Keller.

Does purpose have to be “grand”? It must be larger than yourself and, just as importantly, particular to you – what would make you most proud if it were displayed on your tombstone.

If you use your sport to make you a better person, then you’ve won. – Dan Jansen, Olympic Gold Medalist Speed Skater.

2 Types of Characters:
1. Moral character strengths define the values that govern our relationship with others, while performance character strengths pertain to the values that govern our relationship with ourselves (and thus drive excellence and mastery).
2. Moral character strengths trump performance character strengths every time.

Moral characters  relationship with others
Performance characters  relationship with ourselves

As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives. – Henry David Thoreau

A college degree or winning 1st place in major competition or receving a prestigious title can have tremendous value if you have developed both moreal and performance character stregnths in your pursuit of it.

The new dreamer – I want to be a person of great character.

[Niniane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Synopsis: Integrity and helping others is the only truly satisfying goal. This book does a great job pointing out how much society values achievement, status, wealth, superficial markers. It is a cliche but this book actually points it out in a way that drives the point home. I will re-read this.

[Lorraine Gregory · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really respect the principles in this book. It does a terrific job of reframing what success means. Could have been better written though.

[Juan Chavez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as part the reading challenge in the book Burn Your Goals. It was a good book but i found it a little long winded. The message was awesome. To change your scorecard by which you live. make less about accomplishment and more about legacy. What do you want to remembered by. Most will not want to be remembered for material or external accomplishments but rather by their mission. We need to teach our kids about character. Not rely on teachers and coaches but parents need to take an active role in teaching good morals and good character.
Keys ideas:
1 - IBA got its mission statement from the tennis academy that is mentioned in this book.
2- Most are only looking at the outcome and not the process of getting better. To push ones limits and grow.
3- Society pushes us to have visible achievements. Many times at the hindrance of true growth.
4- It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.
5- Income appears to buy happiness but the exchange rate isnt great
6- Who do you become as the result of the pursuit of your goals. Who have you become as the consequence of the chase?
7- Write down what you want on your tombstone and work backwards to become that.
8- Your legacy is the impact you have on the world around you. Cherish and build that.
9- Your impact is your connection to those that surround you
10- Make sure you have the right scorecard

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's difficult to know exactly how to review this book - I was given it as part of a work training event. I would probably feel more positive about it if I'd picked it up of my own accord and if reading it hadn't had something of the character of completing a "homework" assignment.

It's hard to argue with the basic argument of the book, which basically boils down to: Material success and the outward trappings of wealth and status won't make you happy. If you really want to succeed in life, you've got to cultivate your character and work on living life according to your values.

Now, I've certainly got my own issues with judging myself by externally imposed standards and setting unreasonable goals, but I've never particularly set my sights on achieving the corner office and being able to drive the flashiest car, and this book seems very much targeted at people who have. So, I was a bit underwhelmed. This book is probably very good for its target audience, but it's not really for me in my current stage in life.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this on the recommendation of our tennis pro. Our society rewards outward signs of success which leaves even the successful unfulfilled and unhappy. In sports (for our kids) and in business, this book provides actionable steps to focus on the more important mission statement i.e. kindness to everyone, gratitude, respect for your competitor. Many good examples and lots of research data to back up his theories. I'm encouraging my husband to read it for his work related challenges.

[Dave Warawa · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you believe you have truly attained success in your life, read this book. Then re-evaluate. You might think differently. This is a great book for anyone who has reached achievement, yet still walks away not feeling satisfied and fulfilled. Author Jim Loehr gives you the chance to create a new success scorecard - one that totally changes your perception of what you think is important and meaningful.

[Brad Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great one from Dr. Loehr, this time comparing Society's Scorecard with a deeper, more meaningful scorecard that drives achievement in a more purposeful, meaningful way. This message resonates in a society that suffers from a crisis of character, as seen in business, sports, politics, education... The list goes on.

[John Sheppard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Win with Character

This book should be required reading for HS students. The idea of living life and defining success in your own terms and not that of society is not only uplifting but liberating. The sooner it can be learned in life the more meaningful your life can be. A Worthwhile read!

[Nathan Holm · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for anyone serious about living their best life and concerned about the influence they have on others. I am in the process of working through and applying much of what is covered in this book.

Well laid out and easy to read, written in a way that does a great job of blending science/fact with narrative to compel the reader to action.

[Flavil Hampsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall the message is appropriate and its a good book that makes you think about your actions instead of outcomes. Often times we become fixated on succeeding, but Jim shows there there is a right way to succeed.

[Glenn Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very similar book to about 250 others. How many books quote the same Viktor Frankl thoughts and sayings? Still, one to read to get some motivation and ideas. Or, one can re-read any of their other motivational books.

[Brooks Tanner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read many, many books on the subject of how to live a happy and successful life. This one ranks in the top handful. It gets to the core of the issue perhaps better than any. Insightful and inspiring.