Inner Mastery, Outer Impact: How Your Five Core Energies Hold the Key to Success

In this informative debut, Wadhwa, a professor at Columbia Business School, provides guidance on achieving “inner and outer success.” Using scientific research and biographical anecdotes from famous and ordinary individuals, the author offers a “user manual for life,” outlines what he calls the “five Core Energies”—purpose, wisdom, growth, love, and self-realization—and details how to “activate” them. To “express” one’s purpose, for example, one should listen to one’s “inner stirrings,” define one’s beliefs and values, devote time and resources toward one’s goal, and live in accordance with one’s purpose even when no one is watching. Biographical sketches illustrate what the energies look like in action; Eleanor Roosevelt, for instance, embodied growth in her transformation from a shy and sheltered child into an internationally beloved advocate of equality and justice. The biographical narratives humanize the scientific findings (“Research shows that people who practice compassion and kindness are happier”), making for a winning mixture. Readers tired of self-help platitudes are sure to appreciate the substance here. Agent: Nathaniel Jacks, InkWell Management. (June)