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Book Review: 10-10-10 by Suzy Welch
Author, mother and every-woman Suzy Welch offers up ‘A Life Transforming Idea' in her new book, 10-1o-1o: 10 Minutes, 10 Months, 10 Years.
I have to admit that I love motivational books and I love books that offer new approaches to transforming your life. 10-10-10 does all of this and more. I picked up the book and read it from cover to cover in one night. I have even referred to it several times since writing it and have recommended it others as well.
The premise of the book is that when facing the tough decisions in your life, you need to ask yourself three questions in order to solve your dilemma:
What are the consequences of my decision in 10 minutes?
What are the consequences of my decision in 10 months?
What are the consequences of my decision in 10 years?
This thought provoking book helps you to live in the now while considering your future at the same time. Suzy recounts stories giving the reader a glimpse of her personal life and what made her into the success that she is today.
Suzy Welch shares, “To live by one's values, she says, one must contemplate the lasting impact of our choices in our lives. Sometimes, someone is going to take a short-term hit. You're not going to make everyone happy.”
Suzy really forces the reader to consider the impact of a decision for years to come by delving into “our unconscious agendas, fears, needs, and desires — and ultimately helps us identify and live according to our deepest goals and values.”
While not always an easy read (true self exploration never is easy and really never should be), you are guaranteed to come away with a greater understanding of yourself and more knowledge to make better decisions in your life. 10-1o-1o: 10 Minutes, 10 Months, 10 Years by Suzy Welch is a must read and would make a great gift!
The Word on the Web about 10-10-10:
From Simon & Schuster- “Now, in this immensely useful and revelatory book, she [Suzy Welch] fully explains the power of 10-10-10, a transformative idea that can replace chaos with consistency, guilt with joy, and confusion with clarity.”
From the Boston Herald- “Welch, who co-authored the best-seller ‘Winning' in 2005 with her husband, former General Electric Co.CEO Jack Welch, is moving on to helping the masses make better decisions…as she shares her secret to living well.”
From O Magazine- “By asking herself three easy-and utterly profound-questions, Suzy Welch has managed to solve just about every personal and professionaly quandary in her life. An amazing, spectacularly snappy guide to decision-making.”
Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals- “This eloquent, witty, intelligent book is a triumph on several levels. Not only does it provide insightful and instructive lessons for making personal decisions but the intimate life stories illustrating Suzy Welch's decision-making process are endlessly absorbing, captivating the reader's interest from start to finish.”
Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence- “Suzy Welch sparkles with brilliant ideas. In 10-10-10 she offers a profound, easy-to-apply tool for making tough decisions simple, finding clarity amid life's confusions. If you're wondering what to do, which path to follow at the fork, whether to stay or leave — no matter what it may be — 10-10-10 will help you find your way.”
Suzy Welch gives her top five tips for making '10-10-10′ decisions:
1. Every good 10-10-10 process starts with a ‘values excavation,' a disciplined, rigorous and candid self-search for your most authentic and deeply held beliefs.
2. The most powerful 10-10-10s always focus on a clearly defined question. You simply can't make a good decision unless you know what you're trying to decide.
3. Too often, our decision-making revolves around weighing the obvious options and considering advice from the usual suspects. But 10-10-10 breaks you out of ‘closed-loop' thinking.
4. Our decisions have consequences right now, in the foreseeable future and when the dust has settled. No single time frame should drive us; when all three are balanced, we are centered.
5. Most of us can't help it. With all the pressures in the world and the many people we care for, we seem to give in to the two deadly G's of decision-making: gut and guilt. But values-driven decisions are ultimately more sustainable, transparent and life-affirming.
Suzy Welch has written a pretty good 2 page article that she’s managed to expand into a book. Examining the short, medium and long term consequences of important decisions is a good idea, but, come on, don’t you already do that?
By the way, Suzy Welch is hardly “every woman.” Born into a well to do family, she attended Philips Exeter Academy, went on to a job earning over $275,000 as the editor of the Harvard Business Review and eventually married Jack Welch (aka “Neutron Jack”) with whom she had an affair while he was still married and while she was writing an article about him for HBR. Not an “every woman” in my book and not really someone I’d recommend as a role model.
The hype over this book provides the following lessons:
1) If you can write well (and Suzy Welch can write well), you can sell books, even if your book really doesn’t say anything new.
2) If you’re married to Jack Welch and have friends like Daniel Goleman, your book has a really good chance to get published and your well known friends will be more than happy to provide blurbs for you. You’ll also get fawning reviews and get lots of publicity from people like Oprah. Remember when Oprah’s shows use to be about things people cared about and wasn’t just a hype machine?