The basic message here is to apply systems thinking to other aspects of life. If you're an engineer or otherwise methodical-minded person, this won't be an earth-shattering insight. But it might be useful if you have trouble wrapping your head around the concept, and need a lot of repetition and anecdotes to get the idea.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Sam Carpenter is smart and confident. This book walks through his journey, the success and the failure. It is always refreshing to read a book that does not only show the success, but the failure as well. Failure is what let you achieve great success.

This is a book that will be equally applicable to your life as well as your business. It's for anyone (although aimed at someone owning a business in reality) - the system can be used in your personal life, or if you work for someone else.

The thing I found frustrating is that he spend the first quarter of the book telling you that there is a system and if you apply it it works. The second quarter goes onto his life story: the third quarter the system itself; and then the final part is resources and filler information.

I wanted to system to be introduced sooner than it was - he could have threaded information about it througout the first half of the book, instead of repeatedly saying that once he found the system and used the system it worked.

The system itself is good - not ground-breaking, but it encourages you to spend some time setting up systems, standard operating procedures (SOP's), for everything. Which funnily enough, I was in the process of doing before I started reading this book, so I was already moving in that direction.

It makes a lot of sense - if you have a simple system in place, you don't have to remember how to do something, or you don't find yourself hesitating, or doing things differently. If you're in a job and planning on moving forward in your career, to have set up SOP's for your job will not only make moving on easier, and easier for your replacement but sharing the knowledge that you have done that will make you look organised, professional, proficient, and forward-thinking. All good things!

The author has a website where you can download the relevant templates to enable you to set up your initial strategic objective and your operating procedures, which is very helpfu.

Do I recommend this book? Yes, if are prepared to wade through some waffle first to find the gold!

I found this book to be solidly average. If you’ve never been introduced to systems thinking or methodologies like Six Sigma, you might enjoy this book. There are a few good concepts and stories that I enjoyed. However, overall, I found this book overly verbose.

I’ve been running my own business for almost 30 years now and I can tell you, seeing things from another’s point of view is essential to keeping your business successful. You can’t only take your own advice and run things your own way without feedback from others.

Sam Carpenter’s “Work The System” has some interesting ideas. Not all of them are new, fresh or unheard of, but any business owner or self employed person will find some good ideas in here.

I first listened to this as an audiobook. I then realized I wanted to have the Kindle version to make some highlights and notes to go back to. You never know when you may want to incorporate something new.

Keep an open mind, especially in business. Try out other’s successful tools if you haven’t already and see how they work for you.

Special thanks to Greenleaf Book Group Press, Sam Carpenter and NetGalley for this ARC.

#WorktheSystemFourthEdition #NetGalley

Gave great insights and stories to support his points, would highly recommend others to give this a quick read.

If there is anything I learned in 2020, it's the need to have different streams of income and with this in mind- Ii was reading this book looking for insights on how to run a business.
The author promises that in reading this book you'll learn how to:
1. Make a simple perception adjustment that will change your life forever.
2. See your world as a logical collection of linear systems that you can control,
3. Manage the systems that produce results in your business and your life.
4. Maximize profit, create client loyalty, and develop enthusiastic employees.

And above all, "Design the life you want—and then, in the real world, create it!" and what he succeeds at the end of it, is simply unraveling what is and what is not when it comes to the process of getting things done- and I find this way better than most books I've read on this topic- because of the what he shares at the very beginning about systems- and this includes the personal life, social, business, spiritual and how to take care of all these to be able to fulfill our goals.

Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.

The book is very constructive and walks you well through the process of creating a working strategy for a business. It really helps a lot with the understanding on how the world around operates and how creating or structuring a system can support businesses growth and own well-being.