All self-help books ask their readers to believe there is a single formula for success and that the book they are holding contains it. All self-help books fall short of their promise because both premises are flawed.
What makes a self-help book different is the ease with which it claims the book’s formula can be implemented. The Asian model demands a lifetime (sometimes several lifetimes) of dedicated pursuit, thereby putting the author safely beyond the statute of limitations. The American pattern, contra-wise, promises miracles with minimum sweat. Measured by cash-in-the-till, the American approach has the Asian one beat by a mile. Rob Yeung is clearly a firm believer in the profitable American model. He puts money as the first criterion of success on the fourth page of The Extra One Per Cent (“All I care about is how much they earn”) and a more rounded definition, ten pages later, is belied by the millionaires he holds up as models through much of the book.
Dr Yeung (he has a PhD in sport and exercise psychology) has distilled the secret of what makes “extraordinary, outstanding, exceptional” people down to eight capabilities (he dislikes the word “competencies” and finds it inadequate to describe the successful). We are assured it is these and only these capabilities that distinguish “iconic people from their less stellar counterparts”. To disguise the prosaic nature of the concepts he is expounding, Dr Yeung uses somewhat less usual terms for most of them. A quick scrutiny of what the capabilities would be called in plain language will tell you they are a pretty over-used lot. What remains to be seen is whether their treatment is particularly insightful or innovative.
Each of the eight capabilities is accorded a chapter and a ninth capability (execution) is tucked into the concluding chapter. The ingredients that go into each chapter conform to the recipe followed by books of this type: hagiographic profiles, borrowed research, boxed exercises and platitudinous prescriptions.
The tone in which Dr Yeung describes the great people he has interviewed — and most of them are successful business entrepreneurs — brought to my mind the breathlessly gushing TV journalists who accompany our homegrown business chieftains on the boss’s day out. A bit of unintended humour does seep through the perfect make-up plastered on these paragons. For instance, a banking star from HSBC shares the modest and profound goal he had at the start of his career in these words: “My strategy when I joined was to get as high as I possibly could as quickly as I possibly could.” He goes on in the same vein of ingenuous self-seeking: “I had to find a way of increasing my internal network, increasing my PR coverage.” Or the heroic struggle of one of the leaders of the sustainability movement, which is captured in these pan-searingly poignant words: “... his biggest private challenge has been his attempt to cut down on the beef he eats.”
Many of the research studies on which Dr Yeung bases his arguments have uncharacteristic or extremely limited samples. For instance, the generalisation on the effect travel has on creativity is buttressed by a study carried out on 205 MBA students in the US! Even where sample sizes are larger, one wonders whether the conclusions drawn by the researchers are the only ones that fit the data. The study of 45,000 Americans that infers that unhappy people watch 30 per cent more television falls into this category. It is a common misconception that appending a section of “Notes” confers scientific respectability to a book. One wonders how seriously the notes have been compiled, however, when there are claims like “There are literally hundreds of studies …” (note 52), “There are thousands of studies …” (note 61), “There are hundreds of studies …” (note 67) and “There are many studies …” (note 93).
I must admit I was not inclined to spring up and do the exercises Dr Yeung has so thoughtfully included in an attempt to liven up the book. In some cases, my reluctance was occasioned by my desire to avoid looking stupid, as would have happened if I had inked a large “E” on my forehead as demanded by the figure illustrating the exercise for divining my “power condition”. I also couldn’t quite see myself interrupting a heated discussion with a suggestion that my interlocutor and I use an egg timer to limit speech to alternating bursts of exactly one minute. Or maybe it was just my laziness about writing down my feelings, thoughts and aspirations, which is Dr Yeung’s stock remedy for most ailments.The Rx with which the good doctor concludes each chapter tends to be either borrowed or banal. Plodding through gems such as “Remember that nothing in life can ever be certain”, “… make good decisions and set an example to those around you” and “… consider not only what you want to have but what you want to be”, it was only when I reached the end of the book that I realised what the 1 per cent in the title actually quantified. It’s the approximate amount of new or practically useful advice you get from 250 pages replete with humdrum homilies.
The reviewer is CEO, Banner Global Consulting
THE EXTRA ONE PER CENT
How Small Changes Make Exceptional People
Rob Yeung,
Macmillan 2010
Pages: 270, Price: Rs 495
