Reading Reflection No. 2

The book I chose to read was "How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big."

1)What was the general theme or argument of the book?The general theme of this book in particular was how failure and unexpected situations could actually bring you success. This book relies on the stories and experiences of Scott Adams (the author and creator of Dilbert) and how he used it to find the success of his future.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003? I would say that one of the biggest themes that I am learning in ENT 3003 is how knowing yourself and the resources that you have can lead you to a successful venture. I feel like Adams wrote about the same theme through much of the book. He said "goals are for losers". He specifically emphasized it was important to rely on a system instead of goals. I personally believe that this "system" is composed on human capital, social capital, and our other resources. These resources are more powerful than goals.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve? The exercise would involve defining a system for your venture. It seems like a majority of the blog posts that I have read throughout this course have been composed on goals. I would specifically create an assignment that asks students to throw away their goals and come up with a system composed of their resources that could lead them to success.

4) What was your biggest surprise or "aha" moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn the differed most from your expectations? Other than the fact that the author said goals don't help anything. I would say that the biggest "aha" moment occurred when I read that being passionate does not mean anything. I always thought that passion was a resource that could drive you to success in what you care about. According to the author, passion leads to the demise of your venture almost every single time.