Genre: Self Help
Published by Penguin Random House India
MRP: Rs. 799/-
The process to making anything is something that needs heat and willpower from within, whether it’s a single product or even an empire. Products and things are built to create a change and excel in the already present competition. A person in general without experience does need to go through a lot of things to accomplish such a heavy task. This book can be see-through and understand the experience for such people. Not a proper guidebook, but something which has been a journal in an organized way compiled by author Tony Fadell.
The author, Tony Fadell himself is a great example of being included in various things or rather many companies. A well-known man in the Silicon Valley his work is not hidden from anyone. He built NEST, he played out a major role in the iPod department, was with Google too! The book is more about his experiences and its inclusion of advice from other people. He clearly mentions deep life experiences. I would preferably say that the book is the result of his ways of working plus how he tackled and bought out ways to be the leader! Though a lot of people deny it, because of various issues raised around him, but he is what he is!
The book, “Build: An unorthodox guide to making things worth making” may be more like a storyline guide to the process of life on a professional and personal level, with a zest of personal experiences. The author starts the book with introduction to his personal life and then moves to the various years of life-changing events that took place. These events include his major professional achievements as well as a list of start-ups that he gave birth to! Majorly these events are a starter to this whole book, they tell a lot about his personal and professional life.
The book is divided into various sections, wherein the author has presented his raw emotions related to the topic he explains in the process of building product and to be very precise the mindset and the man! The book starts with the very obvious part in every guide that a person would see, that is building yourself, wherein Tony has mentioned the process from adulthood through job and inspiration to sticking to the ground. A basic start yet a much needful one, to attain success is what building yourself is! Over a couple of next few sections, the author mentions more of the professional and important aspects. Those include the head start of building the career in a way wherein you are adjusting and at the same time understand the environment, and how you can quit it to start your own business is its successor part. Building your product is the part wherein the book starts to get a bit intense because this is where the work is real! Here he mentions the maximum number of details to be put in, here he talks about convertibility from intangible to tangible way for the idea and what not! The major aspect of this portion of this section is how ruthlessly he mentions the realities of building the product, well this is where his years of experience with companies come into play. After the product part is over, he doesn’t stop spilling the words in raw format, this goes on with the section of building the company as well as the team! He talks about the positives and the negatives, the crisis and the breakpoints, and whatnot! The author has to be appreciated for such a detailed work which not only includes a few fundamentals for the building, but all the aspects such as marketing, human resource, and finance! Ironically, he even does talk about Death of Sales culture which is worth the read! The end chapter of the book goes up on being the CEO and the things that revolve around it. For the majority of the time, it was of the flow that how the author comments on THE LEADER but lastly hang it on to the personal pleasure level. Well, having said that, the author also writes about beyond personal life, which is a part worth reading.
Having said all of these, and mentioning all the parts, I would say that the book, could have been a bit humble, but it serves the purpose right. For a person starting to read, or not even an avid reader would find it an easy to moderate level. The book is a fair guide to company and product building. A guide book can be designed better than this, but if its about the experiences and the details of it, then there can be no competition to this book!
– Regards, Apurva Barve
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