Book Description:

It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want to Be is a handbook of how to succeed in the world - a pocket 'bible' for the talented and timid to make the unthinkable thinkable and the impossible possible. The world's top advertising guru, Paul Arden, offers up his wisdom on issues as diverse as problem solving, responding to a brief, communicating, playing your cards right, making mistakes and creativity, all notions that can be applied to aspects of modern life.

This book provides a unique insight into the world of advertising and is a quirky compilation of quotes, facts, pictures, wit and wisdom, packed into easy-to-digest, bite-sized spreads. If you want to succeed in life or business, this is a must!

Paul Arden began his career in advertising at the age of 16. For 14 years he was Executive Creative Director at Saatchi and Saatchi, where he was responsible for some of Britain's best known campaigns including British Airways, Silk Cut, Anchor Butter, InterCity and Fuji. His famous slogans include 'The Car in front is a Toyota' and 'The Independent - It is - Are You?'.

In 1993 he set up the London-based production company Arden Sutherland-Dodd where he is now a commercials director for clients such as BT, BMW, Ford, Nestle and Levis.

        -         Courtesy of Amazon.com

My Personal Review:

When I think of this book, the first thing that comes to my mind is, what an EYE CATCHER! Because that is what the book actually does. While it is sitting there on a crowded book shelf amongst other books, it catches your eyes through its cleverly structured title. It seems to me that Paul Arden’s book must be doing something right for it to become one of “The world’s best-selling books”. It appears to me that Paul has made use of his own marketing tactics whilst creating this book.

This is definitely not your average self-help book. Paul Arden’s book is indeed a unique book that attempts to cover several types of self help issues ranging from self-motivation to clever marketing strategies. It may seem to some that the book is designed in a manner that appears to be a misuse of space. What I mean by this is that it contains a collection of vague ideas, in huge font that are presented clearly yet briefly. No page is identical to the other, some pages display only a brief slogan printed in bold. This to some might be an extreme waste. On the other hand, it may be perceived to be quite effective as it clearly and concisely transmits a message to readers in a way that allows them to ‘tattoo’ it in their minds. Although many reviewers criticize this technique of Paul’s, this tends to be the main reason for the success of the book.

I personally believe the pictorial/aesthetic design is quite clever because not only does it convey the messages better, it also makes the book much more enjoyable to read. Its simplicity also encourages readers to read on. Overall, I believe that the decision should be left to you and only you to decide.

A downside to this book is that it does actually lean much more to the Advertising and Marketing world, which is not evident from the blurb of the book. This tends to upset many readers as they feel a sense of deception.

Even though the book tends to revolve around the marketer’s world, it is ideally meant to jumpstart your creativity by getting you to think outside of the box, no matter your field. Even though I've no real footing in the world of advertising/marketing, I still find Paul Arden's ideas creative, necessary and relevant to nearly all aspects of my life; including my personal, social and career life. 

My personal belief when it comes to self help products of all sorts is that if you learn at least ONE important piece of information that will aid you in your life then the source is worth while. In this circumstance, I found several of Paul’s recommendations, slogans, examples and insights to be extremely motivating.