This book takes an entertaining approach to teaching practical strategies for success in everyday decision-making. In its 101 two-page lessons can change your life by teaching you to see competition from a completely new perspective. Fully illustrated in color, the book is full of stories, jokes, and quotes based on strategic principles that go back 2,500 years to Sun Tzu's The Art of War, the book takes competition out of the realm of conflict and redefines it as a matter of making the right choices based to improve the ways you are compared to others.
The original edition of this book was the Winner of the Ben Franklin Book Award as Best Self-Help Book of the year.
This tenth-anniversary edition contains has been greatly improved based on the author's recent nine-volume work on the various aspects of competitive strategy.
What is the Golden Key?
The concept of the “golden key” comes from the ancient Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu. He wrote the world’s first book on strategy 2,500 years ago. He made success easy by breaking choices down into a series of comparisons. “Winning is a matter of balancing a gold coin against a silver one,” he wrote. “Losing is a matter of balancing a silver coin against a gold one.”.
So, the “Golden Key” is comparison. Golden Key Strategy is a system of comparisons that lead to making the right choices to succeed in life.
Why should you care? Because you can use this strategy every day to make better decisions. These decision will improve every aspect of your life. They depend on four basic comparisons..
- Listening: Sometimes, we must compare “what we have heard” with “what we need to learn” before we make a decision.
- Aiming: Sometimes, we must compare “what we choose to do” with “what choose not to do.” We can no longer make this decision unconsciously, as most people do..
- Moving: Sometimes, we must compare “using the best response” with “using a creative approach.” The first requires recognizing situations and the second leveraging surprise.
- Claiming: Sometimes, we must compare “our ability to get more” with “our need to protect what we have.”.
Table of Contents
Part IGolden Key Strategy, the Universal Tool. 13
1. Life’s Swiss Army Knife. 14
2. The Golden Key and Why You Need it!. 16
3. A Million Little, Tiny Decisions. 18
4. Why Our Instincts Stink. 20
5. One Key to Rule Them All. 22
6. How Not to Accept Your Position in Life. 24
7. The Mission You Can Never Forget. 26
8. Doing Something About the Climate. 28
9. It is Good to Be Grounded. 30
10. Taking Command of Your Character. 32
11. Everyone has Skills in System Management. 34
12. Putting the Pieces Together. 36
13. Why Life Never Goes as Planned. 38
14. More About The All-Purpose Tool. 40
15. The Basic Keys to The Golden Key. 42
Part II. Progress Advances Your Position. 41
16. Even a Child Can Do It. 44
17. Pride Is Expensive; Progress Is Cheap. 46
18. The Engine of Manufacturing Luck. 48
19. Listen to Map Your Position. 50
20. Aim to Make Each Move Count. 52
21. Move It or Lose It. 54
22. Claim Without Shame. 56
23. Pistons of Power, Balancing Opposites. 58
24. Master the Power of the Machine. 60
25. Campaigns for the Long and Winding Road. 62
26. All the Directions of Progress. 64
27. More About Progress. 66
28. The Keys to Progress. 68
Part III. Listen to Discover Opportunities. 67
29. Listening to See What Isn’t There. 70
30. Learn to Listen by Stop Listening. 72
31. Playing Games With Listening. 74
32. The Game of “Finding Friends”. 76
33. Learning Leadership By Example. 78
AND 68 More Lessons.
Gary Gagliardi's Biography · Built an Inc. 500 software company with offices across the U.S. and in Europe · Authored over two dozen books on technology, business, marketing, and self-help, with ten of his books winning award recognition in eleven different nonfiction categories · His books have been translated into a dozen different languages and published around the world · Appeared as a strategy expert commenting on topics ranging from politics to terrorism on hundreds of radio and TV shows across the country · Trained employees of some of the world’s largest organizations in competitive strategy · Lifetime certification in computer data processing from ICCP · An alumnus of the Harvard Graduate School of Business After a quick rise in sales and marketing management, first at Bic Pen and then at Tandy Corporation, Gary started FourGen Software in 1982. As its president and CEO, Gary led FourGen for over fourteen years of growth to become one of the Inc. 500 fastest-growing companies, developing adaptable order-entry applications for large corporations. After selling FourGen in 1997, he was invited to speak on the competitive strategies of Sun Tzu to organizations around the world, which he was known for using in building his company. In working with his corporate clients and other organizations, he authored a number of books using Sun Tzu’s concepts adapted to modern competition. Ten of his books have won award recognition in seven different non-fiction categories, including the Ben Franklin Award for the Best Self-Help Book for The Golden Key to Strategy. His original English translation of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War from the ancient Chinese is the only award-winning version. He started the Science of Strategy Institute as an umbrella for corporate trainers using his strategic methods. It offers his books, audios, videos, and an online training site certifying people’s competitive skills. His largest work is a nine-volume exploration of the science of strategy.
