Insights on Leadership and Strategy from Sport, Business, War and Politics
By Greg Mills and Emanuele Pirro
How have people managed extraordinary things to escape the shackles of their circumstances? Can success be taught, or does it depend on personal talent alone? Is it nature or nurture? Does luck have a part to play?
The Essence of Success finds common threads across different disciplines such as sport, business, war and politics.
A message of empowerment
A consistent set of leadership attributes emerges around personal organisation and dedication. These include maintaining attention to detail while keeping an eye on clear and realisable long-term goals. They also involve assiduous planning, careful prioritisation and building a team that delivers both institutional capacity and personal support.
In addition, The Essence of Success highlights compiling experience, building skills and focusing on changing yourself rather than others. It encourages taking a long view and thinking things through to the finish. All these factors contribute to the achievement of success across different eras and diverse settings. They apply in public life as well as private business, in conflict and in the sporting arena. Together, they form the essence of success.
The book’s overall message is one of empowerment, regardless of your level of potential. It reminds readers that success begins with self-mastery and consistent effort. As Sir Chris Hoy told the authors, “The only person you have to beat is yourself, yesterday”.
This statement perfectly captures the book’s guiding principle: real success comes from continual personal growth, self-discipline and the courage to improve every day.
About the authors
Dr Greg Mills heads the Johannesburg-based Brenthurst Foundation. The organisation was established in 2005 by the Oppenheimer family to strengthen African economic performance.
As a member of the advisory board of the Royal United Services Institute, Dr Mills continues to shape debates on leadership and reform. He authored bestselling books Why Africa Is Poor, Africa’s Third Liberation and Rich State, Poor State. Together with President Olusegun Obasanjo, he co-wrote Making Africa Work: A Handbook for Economic Success. His writings earned him the Recht Malan Prize. His latest works, Expensive Poverty and The Ledger: Accounting for Failure in Afghanistan, were published in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
Emanuele Pirro is a five-time winner of the Le Mans 24-Hour endurance race. He serves as a member of several bodies within motorsport’s global governing organisation, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA).
He spent nine years as a factory driver for BMW and seventeen years for Audi. In addition to his achievements on the track, he has acted as a brand ambassador for both Audi and Lamborghini. He also headed McLaren’s young talent programme and currently serves as president of the Grand Prix Drivers Club, founded by Juan Manuel Fangio in 1962. His journey embodies discipline, teamwork and perseverance, which together represent The Essence of Success.
- PUBLISHER | Penguin Random House SA |
- ISBN | 9781776392551 |
- Recommended Retail Price | R380.00 |
- Classification | Leadership |
