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Decoding Greatness: How the Best in the World Reverse Engineer Success Audiobook
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For readers of Atomic Habits, Deep Work, and Peak comes a game-changing approach to mastering new skills and succeeding faster.
For generations, we’ve been taught there are two ways to succeed—either from talent or practice. In Decoding Greatness, award-winning social psychologist Ron Friedman illuminates a powerful third path—one that has quietly launched icons in a wide range of fields, from artists, writers, and chefs, to athletes, inventors, and entrepreneurs: reverse engineering.
To reverse engineer is to look beyond what is evident on the surface and find a hidden structure. It’s the ability to taste an intoxicating dish and deduce its recipe, to listen to a beautiful song and discern its chord progression, to watch a horror film and grasp its narrative arc.
Using eye-opening examples of top performers—from Agatha Christie to Andy Warhol, Barack Obama to Serena Williams—and groundbreaking research on pattern recognition, skill acquisition, and creative genius, Friedman reveals the staggering power of reverse engineering and teaches you how to harness this vital skill for yourself.
You’ll learn how to take apart models you admire, pinpoint precisely what makes them work, and apply that knowledge to develop novel ideas, methods, and products that are uniquely your own. Along the way, you’ll meet the culinary detective who exposes top-secret recipes, the burglar who can visit a bank and recreate its blueprints, and the celebrated artist who reverse engineered his way to the top of his profession without any formal education.
You don’t have to be a genius to achieve greatness, but you do need a method for getting there. Bursting with unforgettable stories and actionable strategies, Decoding Greatness is an indispensable guide to learning from the best, improving your skills, and sparking breakthrough ideas.
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“We’d all like to get results and succeed faster. In this addictively readable new book, Ron Friedman shows you a smart, proven framework that actually works. Bursting with unforgettable stories, eye-opening insights, and practical strategies, it offers a new and useful perspective on how greatness is truly achieved. If you want to master your craft, this book is a must-read.”
— Dorie Clark, author of Entrepreneurial You
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“If this book was full of insights about the patterns that drive excellence across fields, it would be well worth your time. Ron Friedman has gone a step further: he actually teaches you how to detect new patterns yourself. With alluring stories and illuminating studies, he shows how we can all learn more from great achievers and innovators.”
— Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author -
“Great innovators have one thing in common: They all cracked the code. In his riveting new book, Ron Friedman shows how history’s most creative minds unlocked the potential of reverse engineering, and more important, how to apply that process strategically in today’s most competitive fields.”
— Marshall Goldsmith, #1 New York Times bestselling author -
“A much-needed handbook for learning how success really happens. Read this book if you want to upgrade from working hard to actually producing results that matter.”
— Cal Newport, New York Times bestselling author -
“This book is your secret decoder ring for understanding how athletes, artists, entrepreneurs, and even criminal masterminds create breakthroughs. Clear, concise, and backed by science, it’s a powerful combination of analysis and storytelling that will transform the way you approach your next project.”
— Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author -
“Decoding Greatness is a playbook for success, applicable to any field you can imagine. By reverse engineering what works for others, we can all find unique ways to drive innovation. Ron Friedman is a master of how people think and work, and shows us how we can apply these insights in our own lives.”
— Jonah Berger, New York Times bestselling author -
“Psychologist Ron Friedman melds storytelling and science with a page-turning effect. I finished Decoding Greatness with a list of things I want to try in my own work, and I bet you will too.”
— David Epstein, #1 New York Times bestselling author
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About Ron Friedman
Ron Friedman, PhD, is an award-winning psychologist and founder of ignite80, a consulting firm that helps smart leaders build extraordinary workplaces. An expert on human motivation, Friedman has served on the faculty of the University of Rochester, Nazareth College, and Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Popular accounts of his research have appeared on NPR and in major newspapers, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Vancouver Post, the Globe and Mail, and the Guardian, as well as magazines such as Men’s Health, Shape, and Allure.