Got What It Takes?

Beyond talent, what factors have determined and defined the careers of well-known individuals? Timing? Contacts? Risk-taking? Willpower? Training? Luck? In Got What It Takes?, Emmy Award®-winning interviewer Bill Boggs shares the success secrets he uncovered in candid conversations with 44 powerhouses, ranging from major names in entertainment and the arts to leaders in sports, fashion, the business world and more, including: Mark Burnett, Craig Newmark (Craigslist.com), Matt Lauer, Anna Quindlen, Renee Zellweger, Daniel Boulud, Sir Richard Branson, Mario Cuomo, Clive Davis, Bobby Flay, Jim Cramer, James Blake, Bobbi Brown, Joseph Abboud, Norman Lear, Brooke Shields, Bob Pittman, Bill O'Reilly, Maria Bartiromo, Joy Behar, Jeff Lurie, Diane von Furstenberg, Jeff Zucker, Donald Trump, Norman Lear, Tom Perkins, and Joe Torre, among others. They speak frankly about their careers, crucial influences, how they deal with adversity, stress, bad luck, bad press, the inner resources they draw upon, and the choices they made that helped them to prevail in their careers and in their lives. Their stories are engaging, surprising, inspiring, and filled with practical strategies that have been tested in the trenches. This readable book is packed with revelations and a host of suggestions about how you can approach your career and the professional challenges you face. It's an inside view of what makes the most successful people tick and a lessons-in-life career guide from accomplished stars at the top of their games.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Self-Help, Nonfiction, Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.