Business Book Review: Barking Up the Wrong Tree by Eric Barker

Living up to its hype, the research in Barking Up the Wrong Tree is truly surprising. Get ready to put your highlighters in overdrive.

My Rating: ★★★★★

Length: 320 pages

Publisher: HarperCollins US

Released: 2017

Key Takeaways for Personal Branding

Best-seller, Barking Up the Wrong Tree, by Eric Barker explores success in life outside of just making money. The social science specialist delves into what separates the extremely successful from the rest.

For professionals to parents, Barker’s insights are captivating.

The power of sharing your family history

With my personal passion for legacy, I could not unread this tiny, but mighty reference. Researchers at Emory University explored the number one predictor of a child’s emotional well-being. It wasn’t schools, hugs or Pixar movies. It was whether the kid knew their family history.

Personal branding is as much, if not more, about documenting than it is about creating. If you’re ever in doubt about sharing your story, history and experiences with the world, do it for the emotional well-being of your children.

Why not to be the best in school

Barker shares the harsh trust behind top academic performers, like Valedictorians. Research shows these Number Ones are rarely numbers ones outside the classroom in the real world. This is for two reasons:

1. School rewards students who consistently do what they are told.

“Valedictorians aren’t likely to be the future’s visionaries . . . they typically settle into the system instead of shaking it up.”

2. School rewards being a generalist.

As an example, while you might be passionate about maths, you’ll have to limit this to ensure you’re doing well in history too.

While Valedictorians are well-rounded, they have usually never devoted themselves to a single passion.

Success instead lies with the obsessed creative. Barker claims, despite what teachers say, they dislike these students. Because these children don’t do what they’re told.

“While the valedictorian treats school as a job, working hard to get A’s and follow the rules, the obsessed creative succeeds by bearing down on his or her passion projects with a religious zeal.”

Make Friends

Unlike many of his counterparts, Barker describes ‘networking’ for what it is - ‘icky’. But, when like children, you focus on just making friends, the problem goes away.

Not only do you benefit professionally, but you do personally and physically as well. Research has shown having only a few friends is more dangerous than obesity. It is also the equivalent risk to your health as smoking fifteen cigarettes a day.

So, instead of ‘networking’, focus on genuine relationships. Not superficial ones made online either, for which Barker says:

"Having “friends” stacked like books in a digital library on a network is not the same as actually talking to people and spending time with them. That’s not a relationship; that’s virtual stamp collecting."

Instead of ‘networking’, join groups based around friendship. Like groups that meet regularly for lunch, watch sports together or have a book club.

Favourite Quotes

The thing that sets you apart, the habits you may have tried to banish, the things you were taunted for in school, may ultimately grant you an unbeatable advantage.

Ask yourself, which companies, institutions, and situations value what I do?

If you’re more of an unfiltered type, be ready to blaze your own path. It’s risky, but that’s what you were built for. Leverage the intensifiers that make you unique.

You can’t do it all and do it well. Kill the activities that don’t produce results and double down on what does.

But when it comes to friends in business, we use the awful word “networking,” and it really makes us feel icky. If you focus on making friends, the problem goes away. It’s all about the perspective you take going in.

Every hour at work is an hour you’re not with friends and family.

Researchers speculate that daydreaming is actually akin to problem solving. It uses the same areas of the brain engaged when you’re working on a puzzle.

The book promises to share the surprising science behind success and that it does. The fascinating references will have you talking long after you put the book down. Rarely have I referenced the science in “this book I’m reading” on so many occasions.

Just as the name implies, Barking Up the Wrong Tree will have you looking at success in a new light.

Barking Up the Wrong Tree by Eric Barker:  Available on Amazon.