I've found that observing highly successful people after they are already successful is not terribly useful. They do alot of the same, logical stuff that most reasonably intelligent people would do to advance their own goals. The difference is in how the world responds to their actions because of what they have already achieved. There are few people on this planet that won't give serious consideration to virtually any proposal by someone like Reid Hoffman - whereas the exact opposite is true for most everyone else.
> observing highly successful people after they are already successful is not terribly useful
Plus, successful people themselves start looking for the "why" only after the fact - and most often don't realize to what degree most of it was about being at the right place at the right time, not really about their "super power".
But I get it, this is how you sell books, for whatever they're worth.
In other words:
Ever met someone who wrote a book "These are my super powers that will make me rich in a couple of years - Just watch me"? No, you haven't - because nobody can tell in advance, even if they know exactly all they're strengths.
Actually, I wrote that to Mike Arrington several years ago.
Hehe
Anyway people who are kicking ass are too busy doing it to write a book on how they are doing it. And anyway few would read their book unless they succeeded. So they write it later and with help.
The closest I can think of is Rework by 37signals.
I'm writing a book like that. Well, it's been on hiatus for about a year, but I am technically still writing it. Just that most activity happens on the mailing list.
Sometimes this is true. But lessons tend to be more memorable -- and thus more likely for us to internalize them -- when conveyed through an already-happened story that's remarkable.
