Success Built to Last: Creating a Life That Matters

Porras, who co-wrote the original Built to Last, teams with successful life coaching company co-founder Emery and top executive coach Thompson, to interview 300 successful people, tagged ""builders,"" to uncover the secrets of their winning life journeys. Though there's a good deal of wisdom here (for example, when faced with failure, builders ""let it go not because they're in denial, but because they must keep focused on what they're building""), the book does not skimp on the platitudes (""losers call it failure; winners call it learning""). The early portion of the book overdoes the authors' excitement about the range and depth of the interviews, setting the reader up for disappointment in the long, less-than-profound stretches. The high volume of contributions, however-from Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, Maya Angelou, Jack Welch, Stephen Jobs and a host of other well-known and lesser-known achievers-makes this book better suited for picking and choosing than reading cover-to-cover. Segmented into presentations on meaning, ""ThoughtStyles"" and action, lessons depend largely on common sense, a willingness to accept responsibility, and the idea that ""pain or passion will make you good enough; but pain plus passion will point you to greatness.""