Unreasonable Success and How to Achieve It

How do people of seemingly ordinary talent go on to achieve unexpected results? What can we learn from them? What are the ingredients for unreasonable success and how is it achieved? In this ground-breaking book, bestselling author Richard Koch charts a map of success, identifying the nine key attitudes and strategies can propel anyone to new heights of accomplishment. The pattern of success is fractal. It is endlessly varied but endlessly similar. Success does not require genius, consistency, all-round ability, a safe pair of hands or even basic competence. If it did, most of the people in this book would not have impacted the world as they did. Who could have predicted that Nelson Mandela, a once-obscure lawyer, could have averted disaster in South Africa, reconciling people of different heritages to each other and establishing a viable democracy? Or that Helena Rubinstein, a young woman growing up in the grotty ghetto of Kraków, could have changed the face of beauty throughout the world? Or that the illegitimate son of a notary would become one of the world's greatest painters, known universally by his first name, Leonardo? Successful people typically don't plan their success. Instead they develop a unique philosophy or attitude that works for them. They stumble across strategies which are shortcuts to success, and latch onto them. Events hand them opportunities they could not have anticipated. Often their peers with equal or greater talent fail while they succeed. It is too easy to attribute success to inherent, unstoppable genius. With this book, you can embark on a journey towards a new, unreasonably successful future.

Richard Koch is the author of The 80/20 Principle, which has sold well over a million copies and has been published in forty-six languages. He is also the author or co-author of twenty-four other books. He is one of the most successful entrepreneur-investors of his generation. Richard was previously with the Boston Consulting Group, a partner of Bain & Company, and co-founder of LEK Consulting. He lives in the sunshine, enjoys playing Perudo and loves Sooty the Labrador. Richard is a Visiting Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford, and has founded the Koch History Centre at Oxford, in association with the university History Faculty and Wadham College.