I am a management professional and thus familiar with all this 'self-help' panorama. Hell, we are not only taught about all of Shiv Kheras, Stephen Coveys, Ken Blanchards, Ram Charans and Phillip Kotlers but even made of to munch on all their theories day in and day out. So, to be very frank, I don't go along very well with 'self-help' books. This was the sole reason I was suspicious of Abhishek Ratna's book, No Parking, No Halt Success Non-Stop's success against my premonition. Couple of hrs later from the time I took it in my hands, I knew I did alright and book, super alright. It defied all my expectations and unlike the 'coarse' reads all self-help books generally make, this was a very easy simple and lucid read. This is gotta be Ratna's book's biggest strength for I know how all these books put off their readers off the course going just into few pages. It has been punctuated with great insights and small inspirational stories and anecdotes. All of 50 lessons have been listed in this book in form of a big lesson plan covering all 12 months of a year and having been into a corporate scenario for a better part of my professional life I do know that several of them are right on the money. To a sincere reader who wants to grow in his job and role, it would work as a guide, mentor and guru. You wouldn't need anything else guaranteed.
I must discuss some sections of the book here for they really are standouts. A person who has worked in a corporate environment or working would know all of office politics and dynamics and even claim to know all of Ratna's insights for they definitely look familiar but he/she has only spent all of his/her time only figuring out them and never being able to fully sort out them but Mr. Ratna here comes up with multitude of solutions. Insights from theories and sections such as 'The Tortoise and Hare Story', 'How to Write your own performance review', 'Dangers of restricted thinking', 'What to say and How to Say', 'The Trust Email Story', 'Rule the Ruler', 'Selective Secrecy' 'Selective Absence', 'Selective Intentional Absence', 'Against the obvious' and many others are priceless and need to be checked sincerely. I am putting 'sincerity' word quite liberally in this write-up for I have seen many people starting very enthusiastically with a 'self-help' book but then they lose the track very quickly whenever the book puts forth an 'action-plan' in front of them. In that way only this is a different book for it doesn't teaches you anything, instead it advises you. I finished it in one go and you are hearing that from a non-believer of self-help books, so give it a try without thinking twice.
The book, however, certainly turned me off in some spots. I must admit that Mr. Ratna's book is certainly a revelation for its technical accomplishments like book cover, suitable gaping between lines and nice fonts but it does fail in categories of spell-check, proofread, and uniformity of font-sizes throughout. At various spots, there are different font sizes and a person familiar with them will certainly recognize this inconsistency. There are at least five spots where spellchecks need an expert hand. I rarely critic upon the 'technical aspect' of a book for I always believe that has a lot to do with 'publishers' and 'editing' team but a book as good as this one must not suffer from these 'trivial looking yet recognizable' anomalies. Pricing is another aspect where I would like to be vocal about. 'No Parking, No Halt Success Non-Stop' shall get more eyeballs if it manages to price-tag itself more 'Indian-like'. In India a book that costs as much as INR 295 shall never go on to become a bestseller especially when it's only 203 pages in length and that too in English. Granted, English is the 'prima facie' language of corporate world but if Mr. Ratna have heard of the mercurial success of 'You can Win' or 'Jeet Aapki' (as it's more popularly known in Hindi) penned by Mr. Shiv Khera, another renowned management expert he would understand what I'm saying. I strongly believe that if it has to do well in Indian market, it can definitely do away with its expensive price tag.
Overall, an important and timely read.
Rating: 4/5
I must discuss some sections of the book here for they really are standouts. A person who has worked in a corporate environment or working would know all of office politics and dynamics and even claim to know all of Ratna's insights for they definitely look familiar but he/she has only spent all of his/her time only figuring out them and never being able to fully sort out them but Mr. Ratna here comes up with multitude of solutions. Insights from theories and sections such as 'The Tortoise and Hare Story', 'How to Write your own performance review', 'Dangers of restricted thinking', 'What to say and How to Say', 'The Trust Email Story', 'Rule the Ruler', 'Selective Secrecy' 'Selective Absence', 'Selective Intentional Absence', 'Against the obvious' and many others are priceless and need to be checked sincerely. I am putting 'sincerity' word quite liberally in this write-up for I have seen many people starting very enthusiastically with a 'self-help' book but then they lose the track very quickly whenever the book puts forth an 'action-plan' in front of them. In that way only this is a different book for it doesn't teaches you anything, instead it advises you. I finished it in one go and you are hearing that from a non-believer of self-help books, so give it a try without thinking twice.
The book, however, certainly turned me off in some spots. I must admit that Mr. Ratna's book is certainly a revelation for its technical accomplishments like book cover, suitable gaping between lines and nice fonts but it does fail in categories of spell-check, proofread, and uniformity of font-sizes throughout. At various spots, there are different font sizes and a person familiar with them will certainly recognize this inconsistency. There are at least five spots where spellchecks need an expert hand. I rarely critic upon the 'technical aspect' of a book for I always believe that has a lot to do with 'publishers' and 'editing' team but a book as good as this one must not suffer from these 'trivial looking yet recognizable' anomalies. Pricing is another aspect where I would like to be vocal about. 'No Parking, No Halt Success Non-Stop' shall get more eyeballs if it manages to price-tag itself more 'Indian-like'. In India a book that costs as much as INR 295 shall never go on to become a bestseller especially when it's only 203 pages in length and that too in English. Granted, English is the 'prima facie' language of corporate world but if Mr. Ratna have heard of the mercurial success of 'You can Win' or 'Jeet Aapki' (as it's more popularly known in Hindi) penned by Mr. Shiv Khera, another renowned management expert he would understand what I'm saying. I strongly believe that if it has to do well in Indian market, it can definitely do away with its expensive price tag.
Overall, an important and timely read.
Rating: 4/5
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