The Art of Being Unreasonable: Lessons in Unconventional Thinking -- Contents -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- 1: The Art of Being Unreasonable -- Being Unreasonably Unreasonable -- Discovering the Art of Unreason -- 2: Why Not? The Powerful Question -- "Why Not?" as the First Step to Success -- Nothing Sets Me off More Than Being Told I Can't Do Something -- "Why Not?" Should Be Something You Ask Every Day -- 3: Forget Conventional Wisdom -- Conventional Wisdom Strangles Innovation -- Innovation Is a Permanent Revolution -- Success Is a Starting Point, Not a Conclusion -- Nothing Lasts Forever -- Look Outside Your Personal and Professional Comfort Zone -- 4: Do Your Homework No Matter How Much Time It Takes -- Don't Waste Time on Shortcuts-They're Usually Dead Ends -- Pay Attention to History -- Is Core Competency Just Another Term for Complacency? -- Once You've Done Your Homework, Put in the Long Effort-It Will Pay off in Unexpected Ways -- Big Ideas Don't Happen in a Moment -- You Can't Do it All Yourself, So Ask Questions and Delegate -- 5: The Value of Being Second -- Follow the Smart First Movers -- Markets Evolve and First Movers Sometimes Can't, or Won't, Keep Up -- First Movers Always Leave Some Room-You Just Need to Find It -- Study a First Mover's Failure for Clues to Success -- Whether You're the First Mover, The Second, or the Last-Just Keep Moving -- 6: How to Work 24/7 and Still Get 8 Hours of Sleep -- Work Doesn't Have to Be Your Life, But Your Life Is Your Work -- Know What You Have to Do, Which is Less Than You Think -- Not Everyone Needs 8 Hours -- Setting Priorities Means Being Disciplined, but Not Rigid -- If You Can't Delegate, It's Not Them, It's You -- Try Saying "Let's Move On"-Even to Me -- 7: Bright and Young Is a Winning Combination -- Sometimes You Are What You Wear -- Interviews Don't Have to Be Tricky.

Qualifications Are Almost Everything -- How to Keep 'Em Once You Hire 'Em -- Youth Can Be a Risky Bet -- Older People Can Be Young Too -- 8: Risk -- Clinging to Safety Is More Irrational Than Taking Risk -- Asking the Key Questions -- Risk Can Be Contagious-Don't Catch the Deadly Kind -- Never Bet the Farm-Or Even Half the Farm -- 9: How to Get Results -- Make Sound Promises and Offer Something in Return -- Perfect Your Pitch, and Make It Big -- 10: Leverage -- Some Straight Talk About the Mother of All Loans-Your Mortgage -- Spread the Wealth-How to Leverage Doing Good -- Extend the Power of Your Dollar-Find Money That Costs Less Than Yours -- Leveraging People and Effort Works Just as Well as Leveraging Money -- 11: Marketing -- Know Your Customers and What Moves Them -- Focus on Value Because Your Customers Will -- Market Like a Major Player, but Don't Spend Like One -- Make What You're Selling Matter-From the Name and Slogan on Down -- Selling a Cause Requires More Than Conviction -- 12: Investing -- Don't Fear Risk, but Don't Take One if You Don't Have to -- Focus on Picking an Advisor, Not Stocks -- Diversify or Die -- Volatility Happens -- 13: Negotiation -- How to Make a Sound Offer Every Time -- In a Good Negotiation, Everybody Wins -- Never Be Afraid to Ask -- Surviving the Silences and the Stares-Stay Unemotional and Disciplined -- Be Ready to Say Yes and Don't Sit Down Unless You Can Make a Decision -- Don't Swing Wildly-Start Close to Where You Want to End Up -- Never Forget What Makes the Other Guy Tick -- 14: The Logic of Being Logical -- A Logical Idea Is One That Makes You Say, "Why Didn't I Think of That?" -- Like Wine, an Idea May Need to Age -- 15: I Ain't Nothing but a Hound Dog -- Go After Big Game -- Whether or Not You Succeed, You Have to Keep Hunting -- Unreasonable Persistence Produces Big Payoffs.

Even the Unreasonably Persistent Must Know When to Quit -- 16: Is That the Best You Can Do? Motivating People by Challenging Them -- High Expectations and Shared Challenges Create Loyalty -- Nothing Motivates Like Achievement -- What's Better Than Praise-Money and Higher Expectations -- Fear Is Not a Motivator-It Only Gets You Unhappy Employees and Poor Work -- Whether You Succeed or Fail, Keep Moving -- 17: Competition -- Just Because There's a Winner Doesn't Mean There's a Loser -- Architecture-The Purest Form of Competition -- The Unexpected Pluses of Architecture Competitions -- Concept Over Cost -- 18: It's Better to Be Respected Than Loved -- Disagreement Is Healthy-Learn How to Distinguish It From Dissent -- Good Principles Are Portable-Stick to Them -- Let Go of Power Before You Let Go of Principles -- Don't Become Ensnared by Egos-Not Even Your Own -- If You're in the Way, Move -- Nothing Wins People Over Like Success -- 19: Giving Back -- Everyone Can Be a Philanthropist-Not Just the Rich -- Don't Just Give It Away-Look for the Place to Make a Difference -- Start Giving Now-And It Doesn't Have to Be Money -- Be a Philanthropic Game Changer-Start Local and Think Like an Entrepreneur -- 20: Education: Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste -- The World Is Moving Forward, but American Education Is Stagnant -- If There's a Crisis, Get Involved and Make a Change -- Big Goals and Big Results -- Taking Big Risks Means Getting Big Pushback -- 21: The Unreasonableness of Art and Artists -- Why I Collect -- Doing Homework-Even for an Avocation-Will Deepen Your Experience -- Pursuing a Passion Sometimes Means Casting Aside Your Business Sense -- How Not to Get Distracted by Your Passion -- A Passion Is Not a License to Spend -- For Even Greater Rewards, Share What You Love -- 22: Reflections and Second Thoughts -- My Parents' Unintentional Gift.

My Sons and My Choice-On that Elusive Work-Life Balance -- Don't Let Others Define Your Failures or Your Successes -- My Proudest Moments-They May Not Be What You Think -- I Hope My Greatest Achievement Is Yet to Come -- The Best Move I Ever Made -- Appendix: Eli Broad Career Highlights -- Index -- Supplemental Images.