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Many of us begin each new year by making resolutions and setting goals—but, somewhere along the way, we often find ourselves giving up on our goals because they seem too big or too crazy. But in her book Be Fearless: 5 Principles for a Life of Breakthroughs and Purpose, author and investor Jean Case encourages readers to dream bigger and make those dreams come true.
In this motivational book, Case pushes readers to achieve great things by taking risks and making a “big bet” on their dreams. To make her point, she tells the stories of other people who took a chance and made a big difference. Whether it’s Jane Goodall venturing into unfamiliar places to work with chimpanzees or John F. Kennedy pushing the country to the moon, each of the subjects stepped out of what seemed logical and reasonable for the time. And in trying something different—something that others may have thought outrageous—they achieved much more than expected.
As the first female chair of the National Geographic Society and an executive at AOL during its early years, Case knows a lot about innovation and taking risks—and she fills her book not just with examples from her own experiences but also with all kinds of inspirational examples of other people who have worked outside the box to make big things happen.
While the book is organized into five principles, though, the stories aren’t really obvious examples of the specific principles. Case sometimes weaves multiple examples into the same chapter—some brief, some longer—and, after a while, they all seem to meld together.
At the same time, though the stories are certainly inspiring, Case doesn’t go far beyond the stories to give solid advice to help readers make their own “big bet.” She opens each chapter with a brief introduction of her point, which she follows with a number of stories to illustrate her point before wrapping it all up with a brief conclusion. The product feels rather academic—and while the stories are all interesting, the book itself offers neither the action plans nor the emotional push to help readers take the leap.
“Be fearless” is a great motto for starting a new year—and Case’s book is filled with great examples of people with big dreams who took big risks and made a big difference. It won’t really help you put a plan into place, but it offers plenty of ideas and inspiration.
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