“The Seductive Illusion of Hard Work is a labour of love propelled by conversations I have had with innovators, poets, quants and activists around the world. My goal is to help interesting people discover meaningful work and augment their career intelligence along the way,” says author Utkarsh Amitabh on his newly launched book.
The book is divided into six sections and brings about many sub-units of learning that conclude with practical tips for the reader. One also comes across insights drawn from top thinkers and achievers from the world such as Paul Graham, Richard Feynman, Haruki Murakami, Maya Angelou, Yuval Noah Harari among others. Founder of the Network Capital, one of the world’s largest career navigation communities, Amitabh have graduated with an MBA from INSEAD Business School where he was facilitated with Andy Burgess Scholar for Social Entrepreneurship.
He says, “A big component of who I am can be traced to the institutions and communities I have been a part of. Something I learned early on was to contribute meaningfully to every experience. I enter discussions and meetings asking how I can contribute to the situation/ context/ person, not what I can get from it. This has served me well - I have wonderful friends around the world and I have fun doing what I do.” In his book, he argues on career intelligence accentuates that hard work is necessary but insufficient for success.
The book broadly discusses certain romanticised proclamations of hard work and age-old stereotypes surrounding it. Further, it provides a solution-oriented approach through case studies, mental models, and philosophies. Amitabh says, “I reflected on the design principles of some of the most interesting communities and came up with principles that students can apply in their daily lives to strengthen their contribution capital.”