Decoding Greatness: How the Best in the World Reverse Engineer Success

Did you know that Barack Obama used to be terrible at public speaking? That Stan Lee almost quit writing comics around age 40? That after a slump and injury, Roger Federer took almost a year off to revamp his entire game to become the greatest of all time? Well I did not, which is part of why I enjoyed "Decoding Greatness" enough to have read it twice already!But the even bigger reason for my enthusiasm for the book is its giant trove of deep, sometimes counterintuitive, always actionable insights about how you, too, can achieve world-class results. This is a book about reverse engineering success — also known as emulating those who are great at what they do so you can get similar results. Friedman expertly structures the book to make its life-altering information easy to digest, reference, and implement.Heck, I've already implemented not one but *two* of its suggestions (and it's still the release day). For one, if journaling is good enough for Thomas Edison, Michael Phelps, and Serena Williams, I figure it's good enough for me. So I just acquired my first-ever 5-year journal. I'll also be tracking my own performance in various realms to find more "leading indicators."Some other super-useful techniques:• Reverse outlining: To write a great article or book, read then break down the structure of the best works in the genre. Then, emulate that structure.• Totally new stuff tends to bomb; people actually prefer the familiar. So for maximum creative success, you want "optimal newness" -- something that's "derivative with a twist."• Visualization is miraculously effective! Just make sure you visualize the whole process of doing the thing. If you just visualize standing on the damn podium, that's actually counterproductive. Optimal dose: 20min/day.• Reflective practice: This is so huge. “We’ve been taught that education occurs from the outside in—that learning happens through exposure to new information. But that’s only half the equation. Reviewing past events with an eye for insights, patterns, and predictions is how we turn experience into wisdom.”I also appreciate all the tools that Friedman casually drops in that I had no idea existed. Want to see all the chord progressions for any pop song? Get the Capo 3 app! All the parts of every car in the world? The A2Mac1 website has you covered! And then there's the epic, word-by-word breakdown of the late Sir Ken Robinson's greatest TED talk of all time.Of course, there's even more in there: the science of giving and receiving useful feedback; cognitive task analysis; how to interview an expert to get actually useful information (harder than you think); and my favorite — pressure acclimatization training, as exemplified by speed cuber Dan Knights and basketball god Stephen Curry.As a coach, therapist, and performer, I'm a huge fan of the literature of high performance, and this book is now one of my favorites. Implementing any one of its dozens of science-backed ideas is bound to measurably improve your game. Do more than that, and who knows how far you'll go! "Re-read great books often", another of the book's recommendations, is one I'll be applying to this one regularly. Get one copy for yourself and one for the favorite budding performer in your life.-- Ali Binazir, M.D., M.Phil., Happiness Engineer and author of  The Tao of Dating: The Smart Woman's Guide to Being Absolutely Irresistible , the highest-rated dating book on Amazon, and  Should I Go to Medical School?: An Irreverent Guide to the Pros and Cons of a Career in Medicine

This is a wonderfully written, carefully crafted and well-researched book by the highly respected and award-winning psychologist and author, Dr. Ron Friedman. I wasn't convinced at first whether a book entitled DECODING GREATNESS would work for me as a part-time freelancer/creative and stay-at-home mom who's never stepped inside a corporate boardroom. Honestly, I was both excited and apprehensive when I read the book jacket. But Dr. Friedman immediately alleviated my concerns in his introduction with terrific examples of how the mindsets and techniques in DECODING GREATNESS can apply to anyone in any field, from artists and athletes to business owners and entrepreneurs, musicians and writers--anyone who wants to achieve their own definition of success but could use a personable and motivating mentor to lay out the framework for them. The book is thoughtful and intelligent, with specific step-by-step guidelines and numerous examples to inspire you on your professional journey, wherever that might lead you. I truly can see how these ideas might serve as a blueprint for "greatness" in any profession or endeavor in which you want to excel, from music to science. I found Dr. Friedman to be very well-informed, and to have a positive and uplifting approach and expansive vision. I appreciated how he was able to blend the intricacies of theory with interesting story examples and a practical action plan you can apply to your own creative projects or business. I'd actually learned about reverse engineering success years ago in my college days, and how it can save you months (if not years) of toil (not to mention reinventing the wheel!), which is one of the reasons I was tempted to purchase this book. I hesitated a little, not knowing whether it would be helpful as a stay-at-home mom trying to balance home, family, and creative projects on the side. I'm glad I overcame my hesitation! I've never seen this level of organized information presented in such an engaging, easy-to-read book-length format. DECODING GREATNESS is a very welcome addition to my library and one that will not simply sit on my bookshelf: I intend to put Dr. Friedman's suggestions into practice. I'd also encourage anyone in the creative field who thinks this might be "just another business success" book that really doesn't apply to them, to take a chance! You'll learn, as I have, some very valuable and directed techniques that with a little commitment might just bring your ambitions into focus and raise your art to a new level. I'd like to add that I did *not* receive this book for free. This was an actual purchase and I feel that my money was well spent. I'm excited to begin applying the brilliant advice and terrific ideas in Dr. Friedman's new book, and hope others will be as inspired as I am to see where it leads in their own lives!

The book contains interesting facts from history that were enjoyable to read in addition to the lessons contained in it. The book helped me see that great successful people aren’t doing something magic and unattainable. And that I can learn from them by paying attention to their patterns to achieve success for myself. It applies to everything in life. For example from writing a best selling novel to just being a little more persuasive or memorable in your everyday conversations.

Ron does a great job of explaining the process of reverse engineering and provides many real life examples that help the reader understand how to implement them.

I started taking notes from this book now I have 50 pages of notes with me. Examples after examples to prove his case. I recommend this book for parents, entrepreneurs, sports persons , artists.. it fits everyone.

I enjoy the genre of books by Malcolm Gladwell, Cal Newport, and Tim Ferriss.Amazon recommended this book by Ron Friedman. The clever algorithm did not disappoint.The book is full of useful suggestions. I was struck by the idea of 'retro-engineering'Friedman shows you how you can take apart something that you like, chunk it down, and recreate it with your own spin. By doing this you can find the formula or algorithm that makes it good. It worked for Apple and Microsoft,   all car companies do it, and most successful athletes.  Successful writers like Stephen King and Malcolm Gladwell started off doing it.Friedman shows you a method to reverse outline good writing so that you can identify the essential elements that make it good.  You can reverse outline bad writing as well!A valuable book that opens the lid on some helpful techniques and models for success.

This is a really well written book with excellent storytelling to help bring the concepts of reverse engineering to life. It is a great combination of science and storytelling providing a clear blueprint using examples of some of the world’s best performers.The book highlights that traditionally the view is that to succeed you either need to rely on innate talent or diligent practice but there is a third way, which is reverse engineering. This is finding a hidden structure within a piece of work, a product, service or approach.The book does such an amazing job of bringing to life the concept of reverse engineering, it shows how Steve Jobs and Bill Gates used this to achieve phenomenal success. Barack Obama was really bad at speaking and he then had to change his approach by spending time in Chicago's churches, paying close attention to the way preachers get their message across and inspire their audience. Roger Federer reversed his career slump by changing his vulnerability into a major strength.The book has many more fascinating stories like these and it helps you understand pattern recognition and using data to analyse the structure of a something you want to reverse engineer. I really enjoyed the analysis of Sir Ken Robinson's TED Talk and bringing this to life using data and algorithmic thinking.This book will inspire you with fascinating stories and enable you to harness the power of reverse engineering. If you want to produce results for the projects you are working on, tap into your creative genius, create breakthrough ideas and learn complex skills then this book is a great enabler. It is a book I will be referring to often and will support in transforming how I approach my work and learning. Highly recommended.

not as good as its blurb makes out. I didn't get anything new from it.