TOP DRAWER BOOK REVIEW
by
HL Carpenter

Nobodies to Somebodies
by Peter Han
ISBN 1-59184-186-4
233 pages; hardcover; $22.95
Penguin Group, New York, 2005

Nobodies to Somebodies asks the question youths have wondered through the ages: Can the old folks teach us anything?

You don’t need to read the book to learn the answer. But if you’re interested in the thinking patterns of the latest generation of workers, you can catch a glimpse of how their synapses fire in Nobodies to Somebodies.

Thirty-year-old author Peter Han interviewed 100 individuals that met his criteria as ‘leaders’. From those interviews, he extracted fourteen lessons he considered useful for those just starting careers. Not surprisingly, he slayed a few myths along the way, such as they inherited their success or they were just lucky. What is surprising, and a bit sad, is that out of the 100 interviewees, only 14 were women - and five of those were in the nonprofit sector.

Whether or not you consider yourself a nobody, it’s instructive to learn how others got started on their career paths. Nobodies to Somebodies is a reminder of how much remains the same – and how little human aspirations change – from generation to generation.

Review originally published December 2005.