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If I Could Tell You Just One Thing...: Encounters with Remarkable People and Their Most Valuable Advice
Richard Reed built Innocent Drinks from a smoothie stall on a street corner to one of the biggest brands in Britain.
He credits his success to four brilliant pieces of advice, each given to him just when he needed them most. Ever since, it has been Richard's habit, whenever he meets somebody he admires, to ask them for their best piece of advice. If they could tell him just one thing, what would it be?
Richard has collected pearls of wisdom from some of the most remarkable, inspiring and game-changing people in the world - in business, tech, philanthropy, politics, sport, art, spirituality, medicine, film, and design. From Hollywood greats like Judi Dench and Richard Curtis, to entrepreneurial legends like Richard Branson and Simon Cowell; from sports stars and TV personalities like Andy Murray and James Cordon to political activists and born survivors like Mandela's Comrades and Katie Piper, Richard has picked some of the world's most interesting brains to give you a lesson in how to live, how to love, how to create and how to succeed.
He credits his success to four brilliant pieces of advice, each given to him just when he needed them most. Ever since, it has been Richard's habit, whenever he meets somebody he admires, to ask them for their best piece of advice. If they could tell him just one thing, what would it be?
Richard has collected pearls of wisdom from some of the most remarkable, inspiring and game-changing people in the world - in business, tech, philanthropy, politics, sport, art, spirituality, medicine, film, and design. From Hollywood greats like Judi Dench and Richard Curtis, to entrepreneurial legends like Richard Branson and Simon Cowell; from sports stars and TV personalities like Andy Murray and James Cordon to political activists and born survivors like Mandela's Comrades and Katie Piper, Richard has picked some of the world's most interesting brains to give you a lesson in how to live, how to love, how to create and how to succeed.
345 pages, Hardcover
First published November 3, 2016
761 people are currently reading
5260 people want to read
About the author
Richard Reed
1 book6 followersRichard Reed CBE is an English businessman, investor and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of Innocent Drinks (founded in 1998), an international company producing fresh fruit smoothies and vegetable pots sold in various outlets around the world, and of Jamjar Investments (founded 2012). He pioneered "wackaging" — quirky messages on packaging — of products such as smoothies.
He is the author of If I Could Tell You Just One Thing...Encounters with Remarkable People and Their Most Valuable Advice (Canongate Books, 2016), donating the author's profits from the book to five mentoring and social inclusion charities.
Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Gooreads database with this name.
Richard^^^Reed
He is the author of If I Could Tell You Just One Thing...Encounters with Remarkable People and Their Most Valuable Advice (Canongate Books, 2016), donating the author's profits from the book to five mentoring and social inclusion charities.
Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Gooreads database with this name.
Richard^^^Reed
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 277 reviews
October 24, 2017
In his interview with Margaret Atwood, as he's asking her futilely for advice and re-explains the concept of the book to her, she responds: "Aren't you just talking about a book of trite sayings that you'd read in the toilet full of things like 'Make a smiley face and you'll feel smiley'?" - That.
June 12, 2017
This sanctimonious prig brown-noses and blows smoke up the "arse" of everybody with an atom of fame to come up with a name-dropping diaper-bomb of fortune-cookie worthless bon mots ("find your thing," "if you're going to be late, enjoy it," etc.). This self-righteous, smug, politically correct ass-kisser has produced one of the worst pieces of crap you can imagine. I detested this book.
November 4, 2023
مجرد سماع الغرب ينظر عليك مثير للغثيان هذه الأيام
May 19, 2017
Richard Reed (CBE) is a successful British entrepreneur who credits his success to critical advice he received when he needed it the most. In this book, he extracts the pearls of wisdom from world leaders, professional sportsmen, successful businessmen and influential luminaries he comes across and admires, asking them each for ONE piece of advice they can give anyone.
I know what you're thinking.... Great. Just another self-help book with obvious, commonsensical or pompous advice from big egos or celebrities. It's OK. I thought that too when I picked up this book but I am happy to admit I was wrong.
The main difference between this book and the rest is the fact that it is not based on advice from a self-proclaimed know-it-all author. Although Richard is a respectable success story and distinguished entrepreneur who has been awarded with a CBE himself, the book is about passing on the most valuable advice those luminaries can part with. They include presidents such as Bill Clinton, to global leaders such as Pepsi Co's CEO, Richard Branson or freedom fighters such as the Mandela family in South Africa or athletes such as Andy Murray.
As with any book, some of it won't apply to you but with a huge line up of 50+ luminaries, you bet you will come across some pearls of wisdom that will apply to you and inspire you.
What I like about this book is that it doesn't focus on the advice first, it focuses on the circumstances and the struggles they have been though first which explains the reason for their advice. Also a huge bonus is that each chapter is very short and brief. You don't need an autobiography on each leader and you don't want a long winded advice spanning paragraphs. Each luminary and advice can be digested quickly in minutes.
I know what you're thinking.... Great. Just another self-help book with obvious, commonsensical or pompous advice from big egos or celebrities. It's OK. I thought that too when I picked up this book but I am happy to admit I was wrong.
The main difference between this book and the rest is the fact that it is not based on advice from a self-proclaimed know-it-all author. Although Richard is a respectable success story and distinguished entrepreneur who has been awarded with a CBE himself, the book is about passing on the most valuable advice those luminaries can part with. They include presidents such as Bill Clinton, to global leaders such as Pepsi Co's CEO, Richard Branson or freedom fighters such as the Mandela family in South Africa or athletes such as Andy Murray.
As with any book, some of it won't apply to you but with a huge line up of 50+ luminaries, you bet you will come across some pearls of wisdom that will apply to you and inspire you.
What I like about this book is that it doesn't focus on the advice first, it focuses on the circumstances and the struggles they have been though first which explains the reason for their advice. Also a huge bonus is that each chapter is very short and brief. You don't need an autobiography on each leader and you don't want a long winded advice spanning paragraphs. Each luminary and advice can be digested quickly in minutes.
October 24, 2019
منوع ، مدهش و ثري بالنصائح ، أحببت مرافقته لي لأيام ❤️
April 17, 2020
كتابٌ عظيمٌ، مليء بالطاقة الإيجابية، والتحديات، والصعوبات، والمُغامرات وغيرها الكثير. كتابٌ يستحقُ القراءة بالفعلٍ
في هذا الكتاب يسلطُ الكاتب -ريتشارد ريد- الضوءَ على مجموعة مِنَ الأشخاص البارزينَ؛ سواء كان رئيس دولة، رئيس شركة، مُحامٍ، جندي، مُمثل، مُوسيقي، فنان...إلخ.
والكتاب كانَ عبارة عن مجموعة نصائح مِنْ مجموعة مِنَ الأشخاص المشهورين؛ والذي كان صدى صوتهم يجولُ في أذهان المُستمعينَ.
حيثُ قامَ "ريتشارد" بمُقابلتهم شخصيًا، وسؤالهم عنْ أثمنُ نصيحةً مُمكن أنْ يُقدمونها لهُ؛ وتدوين نصائحهم، وصياغتهم في هذا الكتاب الرائع.
سُرد الكتاب بأسلوب جميل جدًا -وهذا الأسلوب المُفضل لديَّ- يخلو مِنَ الملل، ويحمل في طيَّاته التحفيزُ والإثارة، ويجذب القاريء ويجعله يُكمل الكتاب وهو حاملٌ معه نصائح ذهيبة عظيمة جدًا.
وكان السرد أشبه بالسيرة الذاتية، مع صيغة المُخاطب، فكان مثل عرض وثائق لمجموعة أشخاصٍ.
ولعل مِنْ أبرز هؤلاء الأشخاص كان (الرئيس كلينتون، العريف أندي ريد، لوسي جايلز -أول أنثى تشغل منصب رتبة مُقدم-، دمبيسا مويو، والمُحامية الشهيرة نانسي هولاندر...إلخ).
وكان مجموع هولاء الأشخاص زُهاء 60 شخصًا يشغلون مهن ووظائف ومناصب مُختلفة.
والذي لاحظته، أنَّ العنصر النسائي تفوق على العنصر الرجالي بشكل رهيب جدًا؛ فكانت النساء فيه ووظائفهن ونصائحهن أقوى مِنَ الرجال؛ مثلاً نجد أنَّ مِنْ بين النساء:
_ المُحامية "نانسي هولاندر" التي عُرفت بمُواجهتها للحكومة الأمريكية مُنذ كانت في الصغر؛ وصولاً لدفاعها عن مُتهم بريءٌ، أُلقيَ به في سجن "غوانتانامو" دون أيَّ تُهمة أو أي حُكمٍ ضده.
_ كذلك نرى "مارغرت باسباي" والمُلقبة "ابنة أفريقيا"، الكاتبة، والمُذيعة، والناقدة الأدبية، والتي دعت إلى إلغاء التمييز العنصري.
_وأيضًا، البروفيسورة سارة-جاين بلاكمور، والتي كانتْ أوَّلُ مَنْ أجرت تجارب على عقول المُراهقين؛ والتي تعرَّصتْ لهجماتٍ عنيفة عن تلك التجارب، إلا أنها آمنتْ بنفسها واستمرتْ في بحثها، وحققتْ مُرادها.
وأمَّا عن النصائح، فكانتْ بلا شكٍ عظيمة جدًا، ولابُدَّ لكُلٍّ مِنَّا الاستفادة منها، وجعلها نِصبَ أعيننا؛ مِنَ النصائح:
_ (قفْ لأجلِ ما تؤمن به دائمًا، باقتناع وشغف ونزاهة، لا تدعْ الإيديولوجية تعمكَ، بلْ ابقَ صادقًا مع ما يُرشدكَ، تحدثْ بصوتكَ أنتَ، وبكلماتكَ أنتَ، بطريقةٍ تعني لكَ شيئًا، ولا يُمكنها مِنْ أي شخصٍ آخر).
"نيكولا ستارجن".
في هذا الكتاب يسلطُ الكاتب -ريتشارد ريد- الضوءَ على مجموعة مِنَ الأشخاص البارزينَ؛ سواء كان رئيس دولة، رئيس شركة، مُحامٍ، جندي، مُمثل، مُوسيقي، فنان...إلخ.
والكتاب كانَ عبارة عن مجموعة نصائح مِنْ مجموعة مِنَ الأشخاص المشهورين؛ والذي كان صدى صوتهم يجولُ في أذهان المُستمعينَ.
حيثُ قامَ "ريتشارد" بمُقابلتهم شخصيًا، وسؤالهم عنْ أثمنُ نصيحةً مُمكن أنْ يُقدمونها لهُ؛ وتدوين نصائحهم، وصياغتهم في هذا الكتاب الرائع.
سُرد الكتاب بأسلوب جميل جدًا -وهذا الأسلوب المُفضل لديَّ- يخلو مِنَ الملل، ويحمل في طيَّاته التحفيزُ والإثارة، ويجذب القاريء ويجعله يُكمل الكتاب وهو حاملٌ معه نصائح ذهيبة عظيمة جدًا.
وكان السرد أشبه بالسيرة الذاتية، مع صيغة المُخاطب، فكان مثل عرض وثائق لمجموعة أشخاصٍ.
ولعل مِنْ أبرز هؤلاء الأشخاص كان (الرئيس كلينتون، العريف أندي ريد، لوسي جايلز -أول أنثى تشغل منصب رتبة مُقدم-، دمبيسا مويو، والمُحامية الشهيرة نانسي هولاندر...إلخ).
وكان مجموع هولاء الأشخاص زُهاء 60 شخصًا يشغلون مهن ووظائف ومناصب مُختلفة.
والذي لاحظته، أنَّ العنصر النسائي تفوق على العنصر الرجالي بشكل رهيب جدًا؛ فكانت النساء فيه ووظائفهن ونصائحهن أقوى مِنَ الرجال؛ مثلاً نجد أنَّ مِنْ بين النساء:
_ المُحامية "نانسي هولاندر" التي عُرفت بمُواجهتها للحكومة الأمريكية مُنذ كانت في الصغر؛ وصولاً لدفاعها عن مُتهم بريءٌ، أُلقيَ به في سجن "غوانتانامو" دون أيَّ تُهمة أو أي حُكمٍ ضده.
_ كذلك نرى "مارغرت باسباي" والمُلقبة "ابنة أفريقيا"، الكاتبة، والمُذيعة، والناقدة الأدبية، والتي دعت إلى إلغاء التمييز العنصري.
_وأيضًا، البروفيسورة سارة-جاين بلاكمور، والتي كانتْ أوَّلُ مَنْ أجرت تجارب على عقول المُراهقين؛ والتي تعرَّصتْ لهجماتٍ عنيفة عن تلك التجارب، إلا أنها آمنتْ بنفسها واستمرتْ في بحثها، وحققتْ مُرادها.
وأمَّا عن النصائح، فكانتْ بلا شكٍ عظيمة جدًا، ولابُدَّ لكُلٍّ مِنَّا الاستفادة منها، وجعلها نِصبَ أعيننا؛ مِنَ النصائح:
_ (قفْ لأجلِ ما تؤمن به دائمًا، باقتناع وشغف ونزاهة، لا تدعْ الإيديولوجية تعمكَ، بلْ ابقَ صادقًا مع ما يُرشدكَ، تحدثْ بصوتكَ أنتَ، وبكلماتكَ أنتَ، بطريقةٍ تعني لكَ شيئًا، ولا يُمكنها مِنْ أي شخصٍ آخر).
"نيكولا ستارجن".
February 7, 2021
Some chapters I really enjoyed and found the advice inspiring. Others not so much, but that’s to be expected - not every persons advice can be relevant or chime a chord for everyone.
The main reason this got 3 rather than 4 stars is because of the nauseating way that the author proclaims every single person he has spoken with is the absolute best in their field, when you realise this trend is going to continue for every single chapter his saying how great someone is loses its kudos.
It was pleasing at the end to find out that the authors profits from the book went to charity though.
The main reason this got 3 rather than 4 stars is because of the nauseating way that the author proclaims every single person he has spoken with is the absolute best in their field, when you realise this trend is going to continue for every single chapter his saying how great someone is loses its kudos.
It was pleasing at the end to find out that the authors profits from the book went to charity though.
July 24, 2022
After the first few chapters, the “one piece of advice” quickly became much the same. ‘Do what you’re good at, do what makes you happy, don’t let yourself be defined by “insert thing that could be contrived as negative”, be healthy, be yourself, don’t let other peoples ideas/assumptions/bias stop you’ etc etc etc.
My one piece of advice; spend your valuable time reading something a bit more interesting :-)
My one piece of advice; spend your valuable time reading something a bit more interesting :-)
January 28, 2019
Interesting enough glimpses into lives of ‘remarkable’ people from different industries and backgrounds, but all famous or successful. The best thing about this book was discovering new people and discovering new things about known people and what they’ve been through. With a mostly British focus, I do wonder what pearls of wisdom other lesser known people would have to offer which would be just as valuable (but not sell as many books perhaps). Bill Gates advice was my favorite; to foster a love of reading, as it’s the gateway to everything else.
January 23, 2017
Great book for inspiration from a wide variety of luminaries. Although there's a heavy emphasis on remarkable Brits, the advice they give is universal. I look forward to Reed's subsequent publications of advice.
May 19, 2021
An interesting range of people/fields covered, and all good nuggets of advice. Would have been better with less breadth, more depth. Agree with Amanda’s assessment that Margaret Atwood’s summary nailed it.
August 10, 2020
يلتقى الكاتب مجموعة من المشاهير والناجحين ليسألهم عن نصيحة واحدة يقدمونها للأخرين
معظم النصائح لم تعلق بذهنى وأحسست أن دار النشر تريد أن تملئ ورق وفقط أحياناً ستجد جملة واحدة فى صفحة كاملة
معظم النصائح لم تعلق بذهنى وأحسست أن دار النشر تريد أن تملئ ورق وفقط أحياناً ستجد جملة واحدة فى صفحة كاملة
December 18, 2017
Interesting book with some very good advice. But I would have liked each chapter to be somewhat longer to help me internalize the advice given. Maybe it would be a smaller list but I think that would be more useful. Nonetheless, I liked it and will return to some chapters a couple more times.
January 28, 2019
مختصر جميع النصائح " عش شغفك وابحث عن السعادة".
March 20, 2020
بينما إعتاد الجميع حمل كاميراتهم والإستعداد لأخذ الصور التذكارية عند مقابلة أحد المشاهير أو الشخصيات المعروفة، إعتاد ريتشارد ريد حمل قلمه ومذكرته وذلك سعياً منه ليس وراء صور السيلفي ولكن وراء مجموعة من النصائح القيمة. فعند لقائه بأحد تلك الشخصيات يقوم بتوجيه السؤال الذي يثير فضوله دائماً وهو لو كان بإمكانك إعطاء النصيحة الأهم لغيرك من خلال سنوات خبرتك الطويلة ماذا سوف تكون؟
المقابلات لم تقتصر على مشاهير السينما فقط بل ضمت رؤساء دول، سياسيين، جنود، رياضيين، ناجون من الكوارث، كتاب وروائيين، طهاة، عارضيين أزياء، مهندسين ومدراء تنفيذيين، موسيقيين، فلاسفة، رواد أعمال، رجال دين و كوميديين.
ففي النهاية استطاع هؤلاء الأشخاص إخراج أنفسهم من دائرة الإعتياد والطبيعة إلى مجال القدرات الفائقة والخوارق، تجاوزوا الصعاب وحطمو الأرقام القياسية في تحقيق أهدافهم بجدارة.
.
. 💮رأيي الشخصي:
الكتاب عبارة عن مقابلة مفتوحة مع أعظم الشخصيات في العالم وجرعة كبيرة من الطموح والأمل.
.
المقابلات لم تقتصر على مشاهير السينما فقط بل ضمت رؤساء دول، سياسيين، جنود، رياضيين، ناجون من الكوارث، كتاب وروائيين، طهاة، عارضيين أزياء، مهندسين ومدراء تنفيذيين، موسيقيين، فلاسفة، رواد أعمال، رجال دين و كوميديين.
ففي النهاية استطاع هؤلاء الأشخاص إخراج أنفسهم من دائرة الإعتياد والطبيعة إلى مجال القدرات الفائقة والخوارق، تجاوزوا الصعاب وحطمو الأرقام القياسية في تحقيق أهدافهم بجدارة.
.
. 💮رأيي الشخصي:
الكتاب عبارة عن مقابلة مفتوحة مع أعظم الشخصيات في العالم وجرعة كبيرة من الطموح والأمل.
.
March 12, 2020
الحواجز الوحيدة
الموجودة هي في رؤوسنا نحن
نخلقها
نغذيها
ونختار أن نبقيها حية
- كاتي بيبر
/
الكتاب لطيف جدًا - ومتنوع بسبب تنوع الشخصيات الموجودة فيه بالتالي تنوع القصص
كتاب مُحفز بشكل ما .
الموجودة هي في رؤوسنا نحن
نخلقها
نغذيها
ونختار أن نبقيها حية
- كاتي بيبر
/
الكتاب لطيف جدًا - ومتنوع بسبب تنوع الشخصيات الموجودة فيه بالتالي تنوع القصص
كتاب مُحفز بشكل ما .
October 5, 2019
"يمكن لنصيحة واحدة أن تغير حياةً ، وقد غيرت حياتي في عدة مناسبات. وعلى مدى سنوات اكتسبت تقديرًا عميقًا للتعلم من الناس الأكثر حكمة وخبرة مني. لذا قبل عشر سنوات ، قطعت وعدًا بسيطًا على نفسي: كلما قابلت شخصًا بارزًا ، سأطلب منه تقديم أفضل نصيحة لديه. ويبدو الأمر دائمًا أجدر بالاهتمام من طلب سيلفي".👍❤❤
August 11, 2019
I read this book as a stop gap between novels that had stuck in my mind. Easy to pick up and drop at will. Interesting viewpoints but not a book i think I would necessarily recommend.
December 6, 2023
The variety of voices in here is the strong suit- everyone is going to find something wise in here. I enjoyed much of the advice, but could have lived without a fair bit of the filler. Health warning: there's a bit of it where it felt like several rich white men telling you to just work hard and follow your passion, and then you too could become a rich white man. Because doing those two things always leads to financial reward...
December 30, 2023
3.5
Interesting at times and authors self indulgent tendencies shine in others. Some nuggets of interesting reflections but often feel too short.
Praise goes to the varied selection of participants from a wide cross section of society, particularly female leaders who rarely get asked questions of this nature or an opportunity to share deeper personal insight.
Likely you will gain something from reading this, if only to learn about an inspiring human you may not have heard of before.
Interesting at times and authors self indulgent tendencies shine in others. Some nuggets of interesting reflections but often feel too short.
Praise goes to the varied selection of participants from a wide cross section of society, particularly female leaders who rarely get asked questions of this nature or an opportunity to share deeper personal insight.
Likely you will gain something from reading this, if only to learn about an inspiring human you may not have heard of before.
March 24, 2024
High highs and low lows across these interviews! Short, easy to digest, looks at the days and careers of people across media, politics, sciences, and justice. Would recommend to get a cross-section of (sometimes disagreeing) global, western, wisdom.
August 14, 2025
Encounters with mediocre people and their most boring interviews to date.
Entitled B-list celebrities thinking they have sound advice when really - you give the average person enough reason to think millions care, and they say stupid things.
Entitled B-list celebrities thinking they have sound advice when really - you give the average person enough reason to think millions care, and they say stupid things.
Currently reading
June 10, 2020مبدع
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 29, 2021
ينبغي على المرأة أن تقول بنفسها : لدي حياة واحدة،لقد منحت لي هذه الحياة وبعثت في لذا ينبغي أن استخدمها لأفضل غاية ممكنة
جود كيلي
جود كيلي
June 9, 2025
I actually really liked learning about everyone’s stories and their advice
August 28, 2025
The advices are boring especially on few last chapters.
2🌟 more to the writer's effort to meet each individuals
2🌟 more to the writer's effort to meet each individuals
January 5, 2021
Really good, would definitely recommend!
February 13, 2022
Over the years I've gained a deeper appreciation of learning from people both wiser and more experienced than myself. So I made a simple promise to myself: whenever I met someone remarkable, I'd ask them for their best piece of advice. The result is this book.… If chosen well, a few words can capture and disseminate the main insights gained from someone's hard years of experience, thereby allowing us all to benefit from them.
When I ask people for their best piece of advice i urge them to really think about what they consider to be most important. I put the exact same question to everyone: given all that you have experienced, given all that you know, and given all that you have learnt, if you could pass on only one piece of advice, what would it be? There is something about asking people to stand behind just one nuggets of wisdom that gets them to reflect harder, deeper and be more candid in their response. The material is diverse and wide ranging, and covers everything from achieving success to dealing with failure, from finding love to having better sex, from getting the best out of people to surviving abuse.
Terry Waite, a patient man. Terry's empathy helped him stick to the three rules he set him self when he realised he'd been taken hostage: no regrets, no self-pity and no sentimentality. He also stuck to his principle of non-violence, a philosophy tested to the extreme when one day you found a gun in the toilet left accidentally by his guard. Terry said "I think you forgotten something "and handed it back to him...One related piece of advice he is keen to pass on is that every disaster, or seeming disaster, in life can usually be turned around and something creative can emerge from it. "That is not to say such suffering is not difficult and damn hard, but it doesn't need to be totally destructive. It's the way you approach it, and the way you approach life after ". His advice: what do you have to do is live for the day, you have to say, now is life, this very moment. It's not tomorrow, it's not yesterday, it's now, so you have to live it as fully as you can. Invest in every day.
Esther Perel, author of Mating in Captivity. The quality of your life ultimately depends on the quality of your relationships. Not on your achievements, not on how smart you are, not on how rich you are, but on the quality of your relationships, which are basically a reflection of your sense of decency, your ability to think of others, your generosity. Ultimately at the end of your life if people commend you they will say what a wonderful human being you were, and when They talk about the human being that you were, it won't be the fact that you had a big bank account. It will be about how you treated the people around you and how you made them feel.
Martha Lane Fox. Be bold. If you're bold you might royally screw up but you can also achieve more, so be bold. You've only got your own reputation to lose and that's not important. It's much better to strive for something that seems impossible, that's quite nuts on some level. So be bold, whatever it is. Find those small moments of boldness because they are everywhere.
Harry Bellafonte. Discover the joys of embracing diversity. When people become more open to the strange, to the unusual, to the radical, to the other, we become more nourished as a species. Currently our ability to do that is being manipulated, diversity is being looked upon as a source of evil rather than as a source of joy and development. We must we capture the profound benefits of seeing the joy in our collective diversity, not the fear.
Richard Branson. People talk about work and play as if they are separate things, one being there to compensate for the other, but all of it is life, all of it is precious. Don't waste any of it doing something you don't want to do. And do all of it with the people you love.
Katie Piper. The whole thing has taught me that the barriers we put before ourselves don't really exist. The only way barriers exist is in our heads. We create them, we feed them, and we choose to keep them alive. So we can also choose to break them down. Confidence and happiness are not luck or something only other people can have, they are decisions you make that involve hard work, commitment and believing that you actually deserve it. There are no barriers to stop you getting them.
The Dalai Lama. According to the Dalai Lama the key to preventing destructive tendencies is for us all to develop a sense of inner peace. After all, the negative actions of war and violence, and the harmful emotions of fear and greed, never come from someone with a calm mind, an insight that the Dalai Lama points out is verified by all relevant sources, be they the science of neurology (one of the Dalai Lamas key interests), Our own common sense, or the ancient teachings.
Nitin Sawhney. Do not let others define you and your life. Do not be defined by other peoples expectations of you. Do not be defined by time, either by what you have done up to this point, as that is the past, or by your ambitions, as that is the future. Tune into yourself and define yourself by being your authentic true self in every given moment. Find out what things feel good for your soul and do that. That's your freedom that you have. And it gives you the ballast to resist the world that's trying to manipulate or categorise you in some way.
Jo Malone. No matter how bad it is, no situation is ever greater than you. You always have three options: you can change the situation, accept the situation, or change your mindset on how you see the situation. And you have the power in your hands to choose whichever is best for you. Never allow something else or someone's opinion to become the title of your book. Ever.
Richard Curtis don't have a streak of undermost underestimate our ability to change peoples lives. There is a direct cause and effect of what we do here and what happens there. But if you want to help you have to actually do something. You can't just talk about it. My motto is "if you want to make things happen, you have to make things ". Create an object, slogan, film, Book, birds, hashtag. MakeSomethingSoWonderfulThatItCatchesPeoplesHeartsAndMindsSoTheyCan'tHelpButBe dragged in and Help.AndEvenBetter,Make it funny too.
Jony Ive. "You have to really focus, just do one thing. Aim to become best in the world at it. I learnt the importance of focus from Steve Jobs. His view was you have to say no a lot more often than you say yes. In fact he used to ask me each day what I had said no to, to check I was stopping things and saying no to things and not getting distracted."
Olivia Colman, actress. I have a little rule which I've had for about 20 years. When I leave my front door in the morning, I'm not allowed back in till I've done something nice for someone. It makes you feel nice and helps to remember you're lucky.
James Rhodes, pianist. Music is the one enhancer in life that doesn't have shitty side-effects and doesn't cost a fortune, and I have the opportunity to surround myself in it every day. It's almost too good to be true. But it is true, so I know how lucky I am.
I know how good my life looks. I'm privileged to do what I do. But I still want to die more often I want to live, and I know I am only some medicines and a couple of weeks from being back in that psychiatric ward.
(I ask his advice for anyone in the depths of a trauma): well you can say all the normal things like talk to people, look after yourself, ask for help. But none of that makes any difference. I guess my advice is, and it's not really advice, it's more a wish: I wish that you're lucky enough to survive when you don't want to, because things can get better. Just survive. Just survive anyway you can.
Alain de Botton. One of his main beliefs is that most people assume the big problems in society are political and economic, and we downplay the significance of emotions because they are 'seen as somewhat not quite serious, they're something you do at the weekend, but the more serious sounding things like economic's and politics are really, for the most part, about human emotions and human emotional functioning. It is often our emotional cells that cause the problems of addiction, relationship breakdown, anxiety, anger, frustration, all the other day-to-day misery is to hold people back. Given the scale of the problems, it struck him a strange that there wasn't a single academic discipline that prepares you for what it means to be an emotional creature that is, a lot of the time, slightly out of control. Hence his life's work of finding ways for us to guide and console ourselves.
Bill Gates: if there is just one piece of advice I would give you, then I would urge people to foster a love of reading. It is our core skill as human beings. It is the gateway to everything else. It gets you involved. It allows your curiosity to follow its course. It connects us across time and space. Books and reading are the most important things. Yes, I would say above all else, I would urge people to foster a love of reading.
David Eagleman: the new discipline of neuro law, when Euro science meets the criminal justice system. David is writing and research is full of examples of where a medical issue in someone's brain has caused an otherwise entirely law-abiding citizen to act criminally, the most extreme being when a previously normal 40-year-old man exhibited sudden and uncontrollable Paedophilia. Under MRI scans, doctors found an excise tumour in his brain; and the urges instantly disappeared when it was removed. The conclusion was the tumour has interfered with the brains cortex which helps to regulate social behaviour, and in this case led to deviancy and paedophilia.
David's work in this area raises questions about what we are personally responsible for, and when, if ever, we should be punished. "In that case the tumour is something that could be measured, and the man didn't choose to have it, so the view was it wasn't the man's fault. But most things going on in the brain we can't yet measure, many of which could be causing people to do bad things, but the justice system essentially says, "We can't see a massive tumour so we going to punish you and make you pay for this ".
We are making decisions using a brain we didn't choose, and therefore we should have a certain humility around what we take credit or blame for. We think we are in control of ourselves most of the time, but we are mainly the product of our genes and our experiences, and the effect of those experiences on our genes, and none of those are things we control.'
His position is not to be too quick to judge the bad choices of others feel too smug about our good ones. To a material extent we are all hostage to our own unique, and mainly misunderstood, brain chemistry.
Niklas Zennstrom, founder of Skype: if you see a problem and you get irritated by that problem, then consider if that is something you can fix by becoming an entrepreneur. Don't accept it. Don't just do what everyone else is doing. Be contrarian. Challenge the current way of doing something. Not only would you find that more exciting, but that sense of mission and purpose, of having an impact you can be proud of, means you're more likely to be successful. And to enjoy the journey more.
Simon Cowell. He spent the next 10 minutes enquiring about me, my business, my story. He proves gently and listens intently. His manner is so warm and kind and charming, and his voice is so soothing, I totally relax. A lovely feeling washes over me, like being on a sunny holiday. Are use is my name a lot and drops in the old compliment. I get the impression he really likes me. I start to think we might become good friends. Maybe we'll even go on holiday together. I catch myself, this is ridiculous, I'm a grown man behaving like a teenager.
He explains how he learnt to get the best from people. "My dad told me there is an invisible sign on everyone's head which says make 'me feel important'. Remember that and you will be fine ".
My best advice is to listen, listen rather than talk. I was never bright in school, but I was a very good listener, and I still am. I have a better life because of it. When I meet people, I'm curious about their story, about how they did what they did. Along the way you meet people smarter than you and they teach you what you didn't already know. So I listen to them, take away my little tidbits and off I go.
When I ask people for their best piece of advice i urge them to really think about what they consider to be most important. I put the exact same question to everyone: given all that you have experienced, given all that you know, and given all that you have learnt, if you could pass on only one piece of advice, what would it be? There is something about asking people to stand behind just one nuggets of wisdom that gets them to reflect harder, deeper and be more candid in their response. The material is diverse and wide ranging, and covers everything from achieving success to dealing with failure, from finding love to having better sex, from getting the best out of people to surviving abuse.
Terry Waite, a patient man. Terry's empathy helped him stick to the three rules he set him self when he realised he'd been taken hostage: no regrets, no self-pity and no sentimentality. He also stuck to his principle of non-violence, a philosophy tested to the extreme when one day you found a gun in the toilet left accidentally by his guard. Terry said "I think you forgotten something "and handed it back to him...One related piece of advice he is keen to pass on is that every disaster, or seeming disaster, in life can usually be turned around and something creative can emerge from it. "That is not to say such suffering is not difficult and damn hard, but it doesn't need to be totally destructive. It's the way you approach it, and the way you approach life after ". His advice: what do you have to do is live for the day, you have to say, now is life, this very moment. It's not tomorrow, it's not yesterday, it's now, so you have to live it as fully as you can. Invest in every day.
Esther Perel, author of Mating in Captivity. The quality of your life ultimately depends on the quality of your relationships. Not on your achievements, not on how smart you are, not on how rich you are, but on the quality of your relationships, which are basically a reflection of your sense of decency, your ability to think of others, your generosity. Ultimately at the end of your life if people commend you they will say what a wonderful human being you were, and when They talk about the human being that you were, it won't be the fact that you had a big bank account. It will be about how you treated the people around you and how you made them feel.
Martha Lane Fox. Be bold. If you're bold you might royally screw up but you can also achieve more, so be bold. You've only got your own reputation to lose and that's not important. It's much better to strive for something that seems impossible, that's quite nuts on some level. So be bold, whatever it is. Find those small moments of boldness because they are everywhere.
Harry Bellafonte. Discover the joys of embracing diversity. When people become more open to the strange, to the unusual, to the radical, to the other, we become more nourished as a species. Currently our ability to do that is being manipulated, diversity is being looked upon as a source of evil rather than as a source of joy and development. We must we capture the profound benefits of seeing the joy in our collective diversity, not the fear.
Richard Branson. People talk about work and play as if they are separate things, one being there to compensate for the other, but all of it is life, all of it is precious. Don't waste any of it doing something you don't want to do. And do all of it with the people you love.
Katie Piper. The whole thing has taught me that the barriers we put before ourselves don't really exist. The only way barriers exist is in our heads. We create them, we feed them, and we choose to keep them alive. So we can also choose to break them down. Confidence and happiness are not luck or something only other people can have, they are decisions you make that involve hard work, commitment and believing that you actually deserve it. There are no barriers to stop you getting them.
The Dalai Lama. According to the Dalai Lama the key to preventing destructive tendencies is for us all to develop a sense of inner peace. After all, the negative actions of war and violence, and the harmful emotions of fear and greed, never come from someone with a calm mind, an insight that the Dalai Lama points out is verified by all relevant sources, be they the science of neurology (one of the Dalai Lamas key interests), Our own common sense, or the ancient teachings.
Nitin Sawhney. Do not let others define you and your life. Do not be defined by other peoples expectations of you. Do not be defined by time, either by what you have done up to this point, as that is the past, or by your ambitions, as that is the future. Tune into yourself and define yourself by being your authentic true self in every given moment. Find out what things feel good for your soul and do that. That's your freedom that you have. And it gives you the ballast to resist the world that's trying to manipulate or categorise you in some way.
Jo Malone. No matter how bad it is, no situation is ever greater than you. You always have three options: you can change the situation, accept the situation, or change your mindset on how you see the situation. And you have the power in your hands to choose whichever is best for you. Never allow something else or someone's opinion to become the title of your book. Ever.
Richard Curtis don't have a streak of undermost underestimate our ability to change peoples lives. There is a direct cause and effect of what we do here and what happens there. But if you want to help you have to actually do something. You can't just talk about it. My motto is "if you want to make things happen, you have to make things ". Create an object, slogan, film, Book, birds, hashtag. MakeSomethingSoWonderfulThatItCatchesPeoplesHeartsAndMindsSoTheyCan'tHelpButBe dragged in and Help.AndEvenBetter,Make it funny too.
Jony Ive. "You have to really focus, just do one thing. Aim to become best in the world at it. I learnt the importance of focus from Steve Jobs. His view was you have to say no a lot more often than you say yes. In fact he used to ask me each day what I had said no to, to check I was stopping things and saying no to things and not getting distracted."
Olivia Colman, actress. I have a little rule which I've had for about 20 years. When I leave my front door in the morning, I'm not allowed back in till I've done something nice for someone. It makes you feel nice and helps to remember you're lucky.
James Rhodes, pianist. Music is the one enhancer in life that doesn't have shitty side-effects and doesn't cost a fortune, and I have the opportunity to surround myself in it every day. It's almost too good to be true. But it is true, so I know how lucky I am.
I know how good my life looks. I'm privileged to do what I do. But I still want to die more often I want to live, and I know I am only some medicines and a couple of weeks from being back in that psychiatric ward.
(I ask his advice for anyone in the depths of a trauma): well you can say all the normal things like talk to people, look after yourself, ask for help. But none of that makes any difference. I guess my advice is, and it's not really advice, it's more a wish: I wish that you're lucky enough to survive when you don't want to, because things can get better. Just survive. Just survive anyway you can.
Alain de Botton. One of his main beliefs is that most people assume the big problems in society are political and economic, and we downplay the significance of emotions because they are 'seen as somewhat not quite serious, they're something you do at the weekend, but the more serious sounding things like economic's and politics are really, for the most part, about human emotions and human emotional functioning. It is often our emotional cells that cause the problems of addiction, relationship breakdown, anxiety, anger, frustration, all the other day-to-day misery is to hold people back. Given the scale of the problems, it struck him a strange that there wasn't a single academic discipline that prepares you for what it means to be an emotional creature that is, a lot of the time, slightly out of control. Hence his life's work of finding ways for us to guide and console ourselves.
Bill Gates: if there is just one piece of advice I would give you, then I would urge people to foster a love of reading. It is our core skill as human beings. It is the gateway to everything else. It gets you involved. It allows your curiosity to follow its course. It connects us across time and space. Books and reading are the most important things. Yes, I would say above all else, I would urge people to foster a love of reading.
David Eagleman: the new discipline of neuro law, when Euro science meets the criminal justice system. David is writing and research is full of examples of where a medical issue in someone's brain has caused an otherwise entirely law-abiding citizen to act criminally, the most extreme being when a previously normal 40-year-old man exhibited sudden and uncontrollable Paedophilia. Under MRI scans, doctors found an excise tumour in his brain; and the urges instantly disappeared when it was removed. The conclusion was the tumour has interfered with the brains cortex which helps to regulate social behaviour, and in this case led to deviancy and paedophilia.
David's work in this area raises questions about what we are personally responsible for, and when, if ever, we should be punished. "In that case the tumour is something that could be measured, and the man didn't choose to have it, so the view was it wasn't the man's fault. But most things going on in the brain we can't yet measure, many of which could be causing people to do bad things, but the justice system essentially says, "We can't see a massive tumour so we going to punish you and make you pay for this ".
We are making decisions using a brain we didn't choose, and therefore we should have a certain humility around what we take credit or blame for. We think we are in control of ourselves most of the time, but we are mainly the product of our genes and our experiences, and the effect of those experiences on our genes, and none of those are things we control.'
His position is not to be too quick to judge the bad choices of others feel too smug about our good ones. To a material extent we are all hostage to our own unique, and mainly misunderstood, brain chemistry.
Niklas Zennstrom, founder of Skype: if you see a problem and you get irritated by that problem, then consider if that is something you can fix by becoming an entrepreneur. Don't accept it. Don't just do what everyone else is doing. Be contrarian. Challenge the current way of doing something. Not only would you find that more exciting, but that sense of mission and purpose, of having an impact you can be proud of, means you're more likely to be successful. And to enjoy the journey more.
Simon Cowell. He spent the next 10 minutes enquiring about me, my business, my story. He proves gently and listens intently. His manner is so warm and kind and charming, and his voice is so soothing, I totally relax. A lovely feeling washes over me, like being on a sunny holiday. Are use is my name a lot and drops in the old compliment. I get the impression he really likes me. I start to think we might become good friends. Maybe we'll even go on holiday together. I catch myself, this is ridiculous, I'm a grown man behaving like a teenager.
He explains how he learnt to get the best from people. "My dad told me there is an invisible sign on everyone's head which says make 'me feel important'. Remember that and you will be fine ".
My best advice is to listen, listen rather than talk. I was never bright in school, but I was a very good listener, and I still am. I have a better life because of it. When I meet people, I'm curious about their story, about how they did what they did. Along the way you meet people smarter than you and they teach you what you didn't already know. So I listen to them, take away my little tidbits and off I go.
March 3, 2025
Lots of short chapters where a great range of remarkable people share what they consider their most valuable advice.
I have written down some quotes that I’ll treasure. Not all guidance is great but it makes a good read for something different and everyone can take what they like from it.
I have written down some quotes that I’ll treasure. Not all guidance is great but it makes a good read for something different and everyone can take what they like from it.
July 4, 2018
This is another of those books that has loitered on my 'book-pile' since early 2017, whereupon I had started to read and then got side tracked by something else.
As the title suggests this is a collection of short interviews with famous and note-worthy individuals who dispense their best advice for succeeding in life. As it stands, there are the usual sentiments of hard-work, play fair, etc being espoused here. However, I would point to the particular selflessness of 'Alexander McLean's' interview - remarkable!
A particularly attractive feature of this book from the point of view of someone who likes to summarise and understanding their reading for the purposes of learning are the intervening pages of quotes between interviewee's that neatly encapsulate their best advice. To that end, and at the mid-way point through this tome, I think it's Bear Grylls advice that most closely resonates with me at present:
'It's not the most masculine, macho or the ones with the biggest muscles who win. It's those who look after each other, who remain cheerful in adversity, who are kind and persistent and positive.
These are the characteristics that help you , not just to survive life but to enjoy it. And they're nothing to do with gender. The people who are successful are the ordinary ones that just go that little bit further, who give a little more than they are asked to , who live within that extra five percent.'
Similarly, a quote from Margaret Busby (quoting a Greek proverb) was powerful, though provoking and something that in an ego-centric world we could all do with reflecting on from time to time:
'A society grows great when old men plants trees under which they know they will never sit'
In summary, and to recapitulate, beyond the usual advice one might expect to find, there are some rarer gems here. Recommeded if you are of a philosophical leaning!
As the title suggests this is a collection of short interviews with famous and note-worthy individuals who dispense their best advice for succeeding in life. As it stands, there are the usual sentiments of hard-work, play fair, etc being espoused here. However, I would point to the particular selflessness of 'Alexander McLean's' interview - remarkable!
A particularly attractive feature of this book from the point of view of someone who likes to summarise and understanding their reading for the purposes of learning are the intervening pages of quotes between interviewee's that neatly encapsulate their best advice. To that end, and at the mid-way point through this tome, I think it's Bear Grylls advice that most closely resonates with me at present:
'It's not the most masculine, macho or the ones with the biggest muscles who win. It's those who look after each other, who remain cheerful in adversity, who are kind and persistent and positive.
These are the characteristics that help you , not just to survive life but to enjoy it. And they're nothing to do with gender. The people who are successful are the ordinary ones that just go that little bit further, who give a little more than they are asked to , who live within that extra five percent.'
Similarly, a quote from Margaret Busby (quoting a Greek proverb) was powerful, though provoking and something that in an ego-centric world we could all do with reflecting on from time to time:
'A society grows great when old men plants trees under which they know they will never sit'
In summary, and to recapitulate, beyond the usual advice one might expect to find, there are some rarer gems here. Recommeded if you are of a philosophical leaning!
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