Success at work for most people means a job that is economically and psychologically satisfying, that makes a contribution to society, and that supports a healthy personal or family life. This book is about how paths to success at work have been changing over the past two decades, and why. The material is based largely on the experience of 115 Harvard MBAs from the class of ’74. Based on a landmark twenty-year study of 115 members of the Harvard Business School’s Class of 1974, Kotter describes how the globalization of markets and competition—the powerful economic aftershock of the oil crisis of 1973—is altering career paths, wage levels, the structure and functioning of corporations, and the very nature of work itself. Kotter shows how these resourceful men and women, confronting the toughest economy in memory, have nevertheless found exciting and fulfilling careers and are on the road to amassing, mostly through smaller enterprises, personal net worth of many million of dollars. Through revealing personal profiles of these successful individuals and data from questionnaires completed by the Class of ’74 over two decades, Kotter shows that today, conventional career paths through large corporations no longer lead to success as they once did. But at the same time, Kotter explains, globalization is creating larger markets and enormous new opportunities for those with the education, motivation, and talent—and equally large hazards for others who fear competition and overvalue security. From his analysis of the choices, actions, successes, and failures of the members of the Class of ’74, Kotter persuasively documents that the greatest opportunities have shifted away from large bureaucratic companies to smaller or more entrepreneurial ones; and away from professional management in manufacturing to consulting and other service industries, leadership, and financial deal making. In conclusion, Kotter demonstrates how the successful use of these new strategies requires high personal standards and a strong desire to win, and a willingness to continue to learn over an entire lifetime.
John P. Kotter (The Free Press)