The former CEO of Clif Bar, Co-founder of Plum, and serial entrepreneur offers insights about launching and growing a business while maintaining a fulfilled life in this practical guide filled with hard-won advice culled from the author's own sometimes dark, raw experiences. With a foreword by Steve Blank.
Aspiring entrepreneurs are told that to launch a business, you must go all in, devoting every resource and moment to making it work. But following this advice comes at an enormous personal cost: divorce, addiction, even suicide. It means sacrificing the intangibles that make life worth living.
Sheryl O'Loughlin knows there is a better way. In Killing It, she shares the wisdom she's gained from her successful experiences launching a company from the ground up (Plum), running two fast-growing companies (Clif Bar and REBBL), and mentoring aspiring entrepreneurs (Stanford University). She tells it like it is: If you don't invest in your wellbeing, your business will not succeed, nor will you.
Sheryl knows firsthand the difficulty of balancing the needs of her growing family with her physical and mental health, while managing other work and life challenges. In this warm, honest, and wise handbook, she gives you the essentials for killing it in business--without killing the rest of your life.
Filled with real-life examples and anecdotes, Killing It addresses common questions including:
How do you prepare your significant other for your business venture?How do you time launching and growing your business with the ebb and flow of family life?How do you find joy in the day-to-day?How do you maintain meaningful, supportive friendships?How do you walk away and start again?The ultimate life and business course, Killing It gives entrepreneurs the tools they need to start their enterprise and thrive--both in the office and at home.
About the Author :
Sheryl O'Loughlin earned her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She is the CEO of REBBL super-herb beverages, and she previously served as the CEO of Clif Bar, where she led the concept development and introduction of Luna Bars, and was the cofounder and CEO of Plum Organics. She is the former executive director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She lives in Santa Rosa, California, with her husband, Patrick, and her two sons.
Steve Blank is an entrepreneur, consulting associate professor at Stanford, and a senior fellow of innovation at Columbia. Coauthor of the bestselling books The Four Steps to the Epiphany and The Startup Owner's Manual, he is known as the father of modern entrepreneurship. He co-created the Lean methodology popularized by his student Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup. He has developed and taught innovation methods that are being used widely by startups, companies, and the Department of Defense. His classes are the basis of the innovation programs at The National Science Foundation, National Institute of Health, and the Department of Defense. Steve's career has taken him from repairing fighter planes in Thailand during the Vietnam War to arriving at the beginning of the boom times of Silicon Valley in 1978, where he was part of eight technology startups in the next twenty-one years. Original bio sent from Cassandra:
Cassandra Campbell began doing voice overs as the voice for Calvin Klein's Italian commercials. This was followed by commercial and documentary recording in both English and Italian. She has recorded many audiobooks and has received several AudioFile Earphones Awards as well as an Audie(R) Award nomination. As an actress and director, she has worked at the Public, the Mint, the Berkshire Theatre Festival, Stagewest, Theatreworks, the Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, Millmountain Theatre, the National Shakespeare Company, and the New York Fringe Festival.
Review :
"Killing It is the kind of practical advice entrepreneurs need to thrive in the world of churn."
-- "Irv Grousbeck, consulting professor, Stanford University Graduate School of Business"
"A thought-provoking and honest work by a successful entrepreneur with insights into the realities and issues of starting and running a business. Highly recommended."
-- "Library Journal"
"Cassandra Campbell narrates this personal business lesson with a dramatic flair that supports the author's message without calling attention to her own outsized talent. At once sultry and focused, her vocal approach will help listeners hear this as the type of wisdom we all seek from our teachers and mentors."
-- "AudioFile"
"Jam-packed with real-life stories of what it truly takes to be successful, Killing It also provides a wealth of sage advice and critical questions to ask yourself and your team."
-- "Denise Brosseau, serial entrepreneur and author of Ready to Be a Thought Leader?"
"Keen insights here culminate in a blueprint for a self-preserving path to success."
-- "Booklist (starred review)"
"Sheryl brilliantly captures the ups and downs of her own journey and distills them into guiding principles every entrepreneur should use."
-- "Nancy Duarte, bestselling author and CEO of Duarte, Inc"
