[review] Reaching Excellence by Robert Greene: How to Escape Mediocrity
Reaching Excellence (Amazon, Fnac) is a book I read very regularly (I’ve talked about it before). Whenever I want to boost myself to work on a project or acquire a skill, I read a few excerpts and it reminds me that I need to go further, to motivate myself fully, and that 10,000 hours of practice await me.
From the outset, Robert Greene presents mastery as the result of a long process of learning, practice, creativity, and self-knowledge. Mastery is neither a mysterious gift nor a privilege reserved for geniuses. It results from an accessible process: choosing a field aligned with your inclinations, studying it extensively, practicing with discipline, experimenting, and then developing an intuitive.
understanding. The human mind becomes powerful when it stops seeking shortcuts and accepts the time needed for learning. Superior intuition is born from a deep accumulation of experiences, connections, and observations. To reach excellence, you must stay close to reality, maintain your curiosity, endure discomfort, and progress step by step. Mastery gradually transforms conscious knowledge into direct, flexible, and creative perception of everyday reality.
The book contains many stories about “masters” like Da Vinci, Einstein, Marcel Proust… it’s the author’s style to rely on historical facts and historical figures to draw lessons. He summarizes their lives succinctly but very much oriented toward “mastery” and “excellence” to prove that (1) these people were not born with excellence (2) however, they have obsession and passion for what they do and succeed.
There are four important points that Robert Greene mentions that I really like:
- Finding a mentor
- Developing relational intelligence
- Aiming for interdisciplinarity while having a specialty
- Developing mechanical intelligence
And then I remembered that my greatest successes had the shadow of a mentor. These “mentors” never officially said they were my mentor, but gave me valuable advice. One of them even did a mini “skills assessment” for me, indicating the career change I should pursue. And he was right again, because even 13 years later, the path he pointed out is still in demand. These “mentors” are visionary, so by following them, you are 10-20 years ahead of everyone else.
For relational intelligence, the author is absolutely right. You need to know how to “read” people, their motivations, their fears, à la Marcel Proust. You must observe their actions and not listen to their words. You need to know how to highlight your work and not just settle for working. In my old jobs, those who got promoted were the ones who showcased themselves the most, not the best ones. The Chapter 4 (seeing people as they are, relational intelligence) is a chapter I reread a lot. Most people don’t aim for excellence, so you absolutely need to know how to navigate this ocean of mediocrity, without offending others, without creating enemies.
Finally, for interdisciplinarity, I’ve noticed that the most competent people I’ve met had very varied interests. My “mentor” also did photography, painting… and he was excellent in each of those fields. This ties into the 4th point: Mechanical intelligence is formed by manipulating materials, building, repairing, and observing the physical reactions of a system. The hands give the brain immediate feedback that theory doesn’t provide, and exercises intuition.
The Chapter 6 (merging the intuitive and the rational, mastery) is probably my favorite. I wish I had read it earlier because I came to the same conclusion, but after years and years of training and hard work. It feels good to have someone put words to this process and explain it simply.
According to him, superior intuition is not a mystical sensation independent of knowledge. It appears after a long enough immersion for the mind to instantly recognize complex patterns. The master perceives what is important, anticipates consequences, and chooses without having to formulate each step of reasoning. This speed rests on an immense library of experiences organized by practice.
That’s exactly it! After years, I can audit a Google Ads advertising account in 15 minutes to find the most impactful improvement opportunities. I’ve even saved a company that didn’t know why they lost 80% of their revenue just before Christmas. At that time, I didn’t have time to take this client into my portfolio, I offered them a free audit, and in 15 minutes I found the cause and saved their revenue. Yet my 15 minutes are the result of about ten years, including 3 where I came home every day at 11 PM, the result of dozens and dozens of audited, analyzed accounts, reports…
What the younger generation lacks is time. Training, focus, obsession lead to excellence, and they have too little time – and they don’t also set aside time to achieve mastery.
I think this book should be read by all those who are disappointed by the prevailing mediocrity, by parents who don’t know what to do with their teens who are on TikTok all day, by those stuck in their bullshit jobs. The book won’t give the answer, but it will give the path to follow to achieve excellence.
Reaching Excellence by Robert Greene, available on Amazon, and Fnac
I find the book a bit long because it’s full of stories and examples of other innovators. But there’s also a short version if you’re interested in that (Amazon link, Fnac link).
