Book Notes – In this series, I share my insights, ideas, and reviews of my favourite books, whose topics are wide-ranging.
Rating – 8/10
Amazon Link – Leapfrog: Six Practices to Thrive | A Self-help book to help you find success at the workplace : Sud, Mukesh, Narayan, Priyank: Amazon.in
Favourite Quotes
“An old Chinese proverb reminds us of the power of small wins : ‘The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones’.”
“Curation brings together the foreign and the familiar”
Insights and Review
So this book compiles findings from different fields of the psychology of success to see what to imbibe to “leapfrog” in your life. For those of you who don’t know, leapfrogging is when a new entrant into an industry jumps ahead of its competitors. This book says it will help you leapfrog into the future by adopting its six practices.
This book has a simple style, but seeing this as lacking value would be remiss. Rather, its simplicity should make it easier to understand and thus imbibe what it says.
Out of all the principles, I resonate with grit the most. Brought to the international stage by Angela Duckworth, grit combats the cult of genius, this idea that top performers (in whatever field) are at the apex because of some God-given talent. Instead, Duckworth proposes that passion and perseverance (grit) will get you to the top. Crucially, grit is a quality that can be developed, meaning people like you and me can make it if we work hard. Sud and Narayan say this involves three things: “Follow deliberate practice, refine your mental maps, and learn to embrace boredom.”
The book also touches upon nudges, an interesting behavioural science concept where tiny design changes greatly influence how people make choices. The authors give a hilarious example of how placing a sticker of a tiny fly in the men’s urinals at Schiphol International Airport in Amsterdam resulted in 80% less spillage, as it encouraged men to “aim” while they tinkle. Ingenious and hysterical.
In this manner, the book takes you through other insights, like maintaining intellectual humility and being multidisciplinary. It talks about the importance of curation in thinking like an entrepreneur—to be deliberate with your consumption in this climate of information overload.
I resonated with this idea of a T-shaped profile—the concept of building a profile where one has in-depth knowledge in a particular field along with subsidiary knowledge in diverse fields. This is a valuable skill in a world that is growing more interdisciplinary by the second.
The book ends on a high note, with the story of Richard Karlgaard, who started the Forbes magazine with his Steve Forbes. He was 44 when the magazine launched, showing that there is always time to start something. In a world gripped by the allure of prodigies, this is a message we must shout from the rooftops—being a late bloomer is okay.
The self-help genre is a very polarising one. I know many literature majors who are wholly against it. I don’t understand why. As I see it, this genre lays out tools that you can use to better your own life. The onus is on you; these books are merely guides. This book is one great example. It gives you the frameworks to use, with examples of how they’ve succeeded. It also gives you some actionable steps you can take right after reading, like planning out your journey using the “Personal Journey Map” that they provide. That’s rather generous.
The best thing about this genre, which applies to this book, is that you don’t have to adopt every framework. We are all different and thus operate on different frequencies. We can pick and choose what we want to adopt. Even if you choose one of these practices to imbibe, you’ll be better off.
I am fortunate to have met both the authors and professors at Ashoka University (where I study), and they have been incredibly kind in answering my questions. Give this book a shot if you find yourself in a bit of a slump.
