Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder

Great book

Very inspiring, well researched, well structured, intellectually satisfying to read. Would 100% recommend for anybody, who is looking for a new definition of „success“!

A good and very sincere book written by a very successful businesswoman. The main idea is both highly simple and very old: it's high time to redefine what means to be successful in life or "what is a good life?" Over time "success, money, and power have practically become synonymous in the minds of many" but this idea works – at least appear to work – only in the short term. As A. Huffington (AH) writes "over the long term, money and power by themselves are like two-legged stool – you can balance on them for a while, but eventually you are going to topple over". So, we – people - need to have a third measure of success – she calls it a Third Metric. In her eyes it consists of four constituents: well-being, wisdom, wonder and giving. In fact the book is devoted to a careful discussion around these four notions. All logic of AH is based on two assumptions. "The first is that we all have within us a centered place of wisdom, harmony and strength…The second … is that we're all going to veer away from that place again and again and again".Then in the first chapter she step by step discusses the problems of the present-day society linked closely with well-being:Burnout – as a result of a zeal to overwork that leads to high level of stress and decreases productivity;The link between the health of employees and bottom lines;Overconnectivity of modern life and the state of being drowned in plenty of data;The constant lack of time for all our tasks and our multitasking fever.Her recipes: sleep enough, meditate, do not overwork, turn off your gadgets regularly, use general well-being instead of GDP as an indicator of economic successNext chapter is about wisdom. In fact she is speaking about the same problems as in the previous chapter but at another point of view: "Wisdom is precisely what is missing when – like rats in the famous experiment by B.F. Skinner … -we press the same levers again and again even though there is no longer any real reward". Here AH mentions in passing about the notion of Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom and Big Data. Her recipe: listen to your inner wisdom, break bad habits, change yourself…A chapter named Wonder is about the purpose of life itself – and "that purpose is self-actualization…"; about silence – "ask your soul"; about coincidences which awaken wonder in our lives; about death which is inseparable side of life.At last the chapter Giving is about compassion and altruism: "helping others makes us happier"…"Onward, upward, and inward!" – these are the last words of this book.It's worth noting that the author gives a lot of examples both from scientific studies and from her life and the life of her family as well as from the lives of her close friends. Especially touching – at least for me – were the pieces where AH tells about lessons that she got from her mom and about her mom's death. All mentions on people, events or names are carefully described in Notes. There are Appendices as well where a reader can find references about tools/sites for meditation, relaxing, giving, volunteering, etc.What I don't agree with:The third metric model tacitly equals the human side of human being with money and power. I think that money are necessary only as the means for self-actualization but can't be the purpose of a wisdom man. The more the power may be a purpose only for a very limited number of people. Of course AH is right when she writes that modern society forces us to think that money and power mean success but nevertheless I consider them as lower steps of Maslow hierarchy.And my second doubt is about the assumption "… that we all have within us a centered place of wisdom, harmony and strength". I'm afraid that not all have… and I don't know what is the part of those who have… Of course potentially all people may have… but in reality …

Motivante. Accattivante. Persino l'impaginazione risulta piacevole. Consiglio di leggerlo in coppia con Lean In di Sheryl Sandberg. . . .

Thought provoking and easy to read. Focuses back on traditional values of living a good and happy life, rather than getting burned out by the rat-race lifestyle many of us are getting tired of. Also a fair point that if we want to create a society where women play a role at top management level, we need to create a more sustainable business culture, where people are measured and promoted according to results and not facetime or 24/7 availability. This is the only way women will ever be able and willing to combine a high-responsibility management career with bringing up a family. We are dependent on both to ensure the economic wellbeing of future generations.