The Other 90%: How to Unlock Your Vast Untapped Potential for Leadership & Life: Amazon.ca: Robert K. Cooper: Books

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Some 10-to-90-percent splits are good, like giving one-tenth of what you make to those less fortunate or putting 10 percent of it into a smart saving plan. Others are bad, like being a miserly 10-percent tipper or using only that tiny portion of the capabilities of your powerful computer software. Worst of all is the fact that most of us use only 10 percent of our intelligence and creativity potential, leaving vast quantities of what we're capable lying dormant, unused and untapped. It's this ratio that Robert Cooper hopes to help reverse with The Other 90%, his inspirational guide to waking the sleeping giant within each of us.

Cooper groups his observations and advice under four keystones: trust, energy, farsightedness, and nerve. In a diagram at the beginning, he illustrates each of these keystones with insights quoted from an unusual mixture of literary and political figures, setting the tone for a book that mixes tales of the famous with those of the unknown and moments of ordinary life with the eureka moments of exceptional triumphs. He promotes trust in its broadest sense, such as incorporating and blending all three streams of intelligence (brain, heart, and gut) into decision making, and trusting oneself enough to escape the trap of comparison. He shares simple suggestions for cultivating calm energy, so as to be quick and effective without rushing, and encourages readers to learn the difference between the trivia in life that counts (and drains us of precious energy) and that which doesn't. Being farsighted, for Cooper, is essentially learning to align more of your actions--and ultimately your life--with your biggest dreams. And nerve is the art of developing a thick skin and making adversity your ally on the road to achieving those hopes and ambitions.

The Other 90% suffers a bit from the problem of many inspirational books, being so densely packed with anecdotes that the good advice is sometimes lost in a blur of well-intentioned examples. Indeed, some of Cooper's most profound comments leap out of the least elaborate stories, such as the memory of his grandfather gazing at Sirius, one of the brightest but most distant stars, and explaining that he did this "because it draws my gaze the farthest away from where I'm standing right now." But Cooper's enthusiasm is timely; the accepted notion that we only use one-tenth of our capabilities was revised a few years ago by studies indicating we only use one ten-thousandth. So there's room for all kinds of improvement. --S. Ketchum

From Publishers Weekly

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.

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I got off to a bad start in school. Read the first page

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index

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Customer Reviews

22 Reviews

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4.0 out of 5 stars (22 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Good Read, Great Concepts, Jun 17 2004

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P. Chaffold "Avid Reader" (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Other 90%: How to Unlock Your Vast Untapped Potential for Leadership and Life (Paperback)

This was an easy read, with great concepts. I have applied some of the things in this book, and I am all the better because of it. I recomend this in the personal library....a reference book to keep us on track.

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3.0 out of 5 stars The book was good but....., May 22 2003

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L. King "isabow" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Other 90%: How to Unlock Your Vast Untapped Potential for Leadership and Life (Paperback)

I felt the author could have contributed more to the content. Giving basic over-views of personalities and some testing results are good but the book misses the mark somewhere. It really doesn't get into the meat of the matter.

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1.0 out of 5 stars More B.S., more trite thoughts, Mar 6 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Other 90%: How to Unlock Your Vast Untapped Potential for Leadership and Life (Paperback)

Cooper's book is yet another warm and fuzzy management guru text --- from yet another management guru who never served a day as a real manager, of a real company. It contains all sorts of motherhood and apple pie stories --- along with trite sayings such as "When you find a back door that's open, close it" or my personal favorite "Use the lanterns of your life to help light the way." If you're looking for an inspirational book, one with a solid basis, forget this one. You'd be better off reading the daily horoscope.

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Most recent customer reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars A Very Mixed Bag
The Other 90% starts off with some very good ideas and ambitions. No one can argue with trying to get more out of life. But this book suffers from a lack of reasoning. Read more

Published on Feb 9 2003 by Eric Kassan

5.0 out of 5 stars So Many Wonderful Tools!
Can you say POWER PACKED? There is so much meat in this title it is best to read slowly so you can truly utilize and practice each technique. Read more

Published on Oct 26 2002 by Julie Jordan Scott