THE OTHER 90%: How to Unlock Your Vast Untapped Potential for Leadership & Life

Business consultant Cooper, a popular speaker on leadership and achievement, appears on the same elite lecture circuit as Tom Peters, Stephen Covey and Ken Blanchard. However, this well-researched, intelligently written but unoriginal self-help book sorely lacks the dynamism that Cooper presumably brings to the lectern. Taking inspiration from a wise grandfather who challenged him to go beyond his limits (the grandfather believed that most people use only 10% of their potential), Cooper achieves a synthesis of motivational and parental voices. His advice is boilerplate: cultivate passion for your endeavors; record feelings in a "day book"; synchronize your calendar with your family's schedule. Readers will appreciate suggestions for pleasurable or salutary behaviors—dream big; challenge yourself; be childlike; appreciate nature; care about people; practice good posture, eating habits and a sense of humor—and his belief that intelligence resides in the gut and heart as well as the brain. A chapter on the Quaker saying "Let your life speak" pales in comparison to Palmer Parker's brilliant book of that name. With its clever catch phrases—e.g., periodically shift your perspective "from the microscope to the telescope"; "Develop the skin of a rhino and the soul of an angel"—Cooper's book may sell well because of his successful speaking career. But readers seeking a fresh look at motivation won't find it here. Agent, Stephanie Tade. (May 15)