21A – Reading Reflection No. 2

How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, Scott Adams

1) What was the general theme or argument of the book?

The general theme or argument of the book is how the writer, Scott Adams, talks about his life experiences and how failure has been a learning experience for him. In the book he talks about his many of his entrepreneur adventures, how timing, and having a great social capital is important to succeed in life.

2) How did the book, in your opinion, connect with and enhance what you are learning in ENT 3003?

I think this book is a great example of perseverance and what it is reality of being an entrepreneur. He talks about his social network and how knowing people that have experience and knowledges in areas unknown to you can help you be successful. One example is how he began doing conference speeches, and how at the beginning he felt like it was something he could not do, he didn’t know how to market himself and how much to charge. But thanks to his social capital, someone he knew gave him valuable help. He says that in the business world, the product or does not have to be perfect from the start and how important is to adapt to good and bad criticism in order to make it better and profitable.

3) If you had to design an exercise for this class, based on the book you read, what would that exercise involve?

If I was to create an exercise for class, I would ask students to list three things they are good at and write business idea. The reason behind this exercise is that he talks about Dilbert been his most successful idea, even though he has an MBA from the University of California, drawing has always been something he has done since he was a child.

4) What was your biggest surprise or 'aha' moment when reading the book? In other words, what did you learn that differed most from your expectations?

The biggest surprise or ‘aha” moment while reading this book is when he says that talent is not necessary to have success in what you want to do and that goals are for losers. I learned from his experiences that perseverance, getting the timing right, know when to quit, having a great capital network are the keys to succeed and how he emphasizes that many failures have made him successful.