The Leap by Rick Smith: Book Overview

The Leap: How 3 Simple Changes Can Propel Your Career from Good to Great was published in 2009 by Portfolio, a Penguin imprint. Its author, Rick Smith, is an entrepreneur who founded a business conference company, and the book grew out of his interest in why some capable people break out into exceptional careers while others plateau.

It arrived at an awkward, fitting moment: in the middle of the global financial crisis, when many readers were either clinging to jobs or suddenly without one.

The core argument

Smith's central claim is that "leapers", people who make a dramatic jump in career satisfaction and success, tend to share three habits. In plain terms:

1. They know and use their natural strengths. Rather than fixing weaknesses, they find work that uses what comes easily to them.
2. They follow genuine interest. The work connects to something that excites them, which fuels the effort that excellence needs.
3. They take calculated risks. Instead of waiting for permission, they make bold moves, but in ways that limit the downside.

Much of the book walks through these three ideas with stories from interviews, along with exercises to help readers identify their own strengths and interests.

What holds up

The strengths-first message lines up with a wider movement in career and management writing in the 2000s, including Gallup's work on strengths at work. Focusing on what you do naturally well is a sensible antidote to the common habit of trying to become average at everything.

The emphasis on combining passion with competence is also useful. "Follow your passion" on its own can be poor career advice; passion paired with real ability and a market for it is far stronger.

And the risk chapter is the most practical. Smith's idea of reducing the cost of failure before you leap, by testing ideas on the side, saving a cushion and building relationships first, is advice that has aged well.

Where it's weaker

Like many business books of its era, The Leap leans heavily on success stories. Interviews with people who made it can't tell you how many people tried the same moves and didn't. That doesn't make the advice wrong, but it does mean the book is better read as a set of sensible principles than as a proven formula.

It also assumes a fair amount of freedom: the ability to change roles, take risks and absorb setbacks. Readers with heavy financial or family constraints may find some chapters a stretch.

Who it's for

The book suits people in a "good enough" job who feel they could be doing more interesting or more fitting work, and who want structured prompts to think it through. It's less useful if you need practical job-search tactics or industry-specific advice.

Putting the ideas to work

You don't need the book to try its three-part check. Ask yourself:

• What do people regularly ask me for help with?
• What work makes me lose track of time?
• What's one low-risk experiment that would test a bigger move?

Our articles on top reasons to leave your job, are you ready to build your empire? and why it's never too late for your dreams pick up the same threads with more practical steps.

Sources and further reading

• The Leap: How 3 Simple Changes Can Propel Your Career from Good to Great (Penguin)
• Fortune via CNN Money (2009): Get out of a career rut

Questions people ask

Is The Leap still worth reading?

As a short, motivating career book, yes, if you treat it as a set of principles rather than a formula. The strengths, interest and calculated-risk framework is easy to apply. Readers who want job-search tactics or labour-market data should look elsewhere.