Launch day for Second Act!
What Late Bloomers Can Tell You About Success and Reinventing Your Life.
It’s the UK launch day for Second Act, my book about late bloomers: who they are, how they flourish, and what we can learn from them.
So many people have had lovely things to say about Second Act. Full quotes are at the bottom, but here’s a taste.
said it has a “mix of compelling stories and persuasive evidence.” says Second Act “showcases Henry’s wide reading, deep understanding and playful prose style.” Tyler Cowen said, Second Act will “revolutionize how we think about talent, and how we study the history of the arts and also politics.”Matt Clifford, who co-led the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, invests in AI at Entrepreneur First, and Chairs ARIA, the new government science funding body, said that I have “the most encyclopedic knowledge of great achievement of anyone I know.” (He’s much too nice.)
My splendid friend
called it “a brilliant ode to the infinite variety of human experience.” And I was delighted when Dan Rothschild, who runs the Mercatus Centre, said “this is not a work of therapeutic managerialism.”And if that wasn’t enough to persuade you, it’s already 17% off on Amazon.
Here’s the opening couple of pages,
Katharine Graham became the CEO of the Washington Post Company — a major publishing business that owned radio and television stations, as well as Newsweek and the Washington Post — one summer afternoon in 1962, at the age of forty-five, when her husband shot himself. She had no idea what was going to happen. For most of her life, she had been so denigrated and mocked by her mother and husband that she lacked the confidence to dress herself for a party, let alone believe herself capable of running a major corporation. Despite the fact that her father had owned the Post, and nurtured her talent, she believed that running a business was never in her blood. She said that when she bought a house in her late twenties, she did not know the difference between income and capital. She was obsessed by news and politics but bored by advertising and balance sheets. And so, when she woke up from a nap that August afternoon to find her husband – alcoholic, manic depressive, adulterous, verbally abusive – shot dead, Katharine Graham faced a transformative moment. For the six months before Phil Graham died, Katharine had worried that he would take the Post away from her, after he started a bitter-minded legal attempt to take control of the company. In her grief, she faced a challenge. She could either run the business herself or let it go out of the family. She was advised to sell. She declined.
Katharine Graham went on to become one of the most successful CEOs of the twentieth century, and one of the few women of her time to hold so much commercial and political power.
To the people around her — and perhaps to herself — Katharine Graham’s success as a CEO came out of the blue. She had no training in business. She lacked confidence. But she had everything a late bloomer needs to succeed. She didn’t come out of the blue at all. She had just been overlooked. Her talents were always there, but they were unappreciated.
Katharine Graham never lacked the qualities she needed for success. What was missing was opportunity. In among the long years of self- doubt, there were many flashes of the steel, signals of the character that would later see her acclaimed as one of the most powerful people in Washington and one of the most successful CEOs in the United States, in whose company Warren Buffett confidently invested and whose salons became essential attendance for new presidents. From her abusers, she drew resilience. From her elite background she had acquired the skills for success. Circumstances that might have crushed other people didn’t quite crush Katharine Graham.
Graham’s story exemplifies many of the ways in which late bloomers flourish. Because she was a woman, she wasn’t going to be just given the opportunity to run the company. In a perverse, tragic way, she got a lucky break. But she was prepared to take that break. She was well educated, knew the newspaper business in detail, had been acquainted with the Post from her childhood. She was networked with the right people and learned from the good influences of her upbringing and education. Above all, she was resilient. Persistence is a perpetual theme of late blooming, and Katharine Graham persisted and persisted and persisted, no matter what. She shows us that simply deciding to act when faced with a challenge can reveal new depths of capability. The more she did, the more capable she became. ‘Do your work,’ said Ralph Waldo Emerson, ‘and you shall reinforce yourself.’
This book is going to examine the factors that made Katharine Graham — and others like her, in fields ranging from painting to entrepreneurship — a late bloomer, so that we can better understand what a late bloomer is and how we might find more of them.
Praise for Second Act
“Henry Oliver is a rare talent: smart, funny and insightful. Second Act showcases his wide reading, deep understanding and playful prose style. Read this book to discover why it’s never too late for a second act in your own life.”
, Atlantic writer, author of Difficult Women, writes .
“If you are at all interested in talent, you should join me in pre-ordering Second Act— a study of late bloomers by the brilliant @HenryEOliver, who has probably the most encyclopedic knowledge of great achievement of anyone I know.”
Matt Clifford, co-led the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, co-founder of investment firm Entrepreneur First, Chair of ARIA, the new government scientific funding body.
“When we feel defined by the past we can struggle to see a different future. With its mix of compelling stories and persuasive evidence, Second Act will make you realise that, far from being done, you haven't even got started yet.”
, author of How to Disagree, writes
.“Henry Oliver’s new book on late bloomers will revolutionize how we think about talent, and how we study the history of the arts and also politics. It is one of the forthcoming books I most want to read.”
Tyler Cowen, economist, author of Talent, blogger at Marginal Revolution, Bloomberg columnist.
“Success and failure are often seen as all too reliant on time. Work for long enough and you'll get there, or be precocious early on and you'll do great. This is not just untrue, it maligns the human condition. Henry's book is a brilliant ode to the infinite variety of human experience. Using stories from those who have done this before, he shows past is not prologue, future is in fact unwritten, and achieving excellence is not age dependent!”
, investor, author of Inventing God, writes
“The frequency of the messaging, “adulting is hard,” “we can’t make it work,” “I’ll never amount to anything or make any money,” from the 20- or 30- or 40-year-old generation saddens me. The reality is that MOST of us felt that way... I certainly did. Life is hard… for everyone. I loved Second Act for its hopeful honesty about the slow nature of “becoming.” If we find work we love that adds something to the world and we commit ourselves to that work, the universe finds a way. We mustn’t lose hope.”
Jonathan DeYoe, host of Mindful Money podcast
“This fascinating well-researched book sparks insights into how talent blooms across all ages and disciplines drawing on lives across politics, culture, business and arts. So absorbed, I read it a single sitting.”
Ben Yeoh, Then Do Better, investor, playwright, host of Ben Yeoh Chats
Congratulations! I hope it's a big success!
Really excited for this to make its way across the Atlantic! Congrats, Henry. Launch day is such a big milestone and something to be very proud of.