Powerful ideas from top nonfiction
Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 7,500+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.
Get started
Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Listen to the Intro
Getting There summary
Gillian Zoe Segal
A Book of Mentors
14 mins
Brief summary
'Getting There' by Gillian Zoe Segal is a collection of interviews with successful people, offering their insights and experiences in achieving their goals. The book provides inspiration and guidance for those seeking to make their own way in life.
Table of Contents
Getting There
Summary of 6 key ideas
Audio & text in the Blinkist app
Key idea 1 of 6
The child of a successful engineer follows his own path to become dean of Harvard Business School.
Did you look up to your parents as a child? Many of us did and still do. It’s not uncommon for people to even follow in the footsteps of their parents when it comes to a career.
That’s exactly what Harvard Business School dean Nitin Nohria set out to do.
Nohria had a great role model in his father. Born in a humble village in India where few had access to education, Nohria’s father was one of the first to graduate from high school. He then studied abroad, and once back in India, built upon his engineering degree to become the CEO of a major company.
Hoping to make his father proud, Nohria too pursued a degree in engineering, yet struggled with poor grades at school. The reason for this was a passion for literature that consumed most of his time.
Nohria’s grades in his university science classes continued to be average, but he excelled in elective courses – history, literature and economics.
This got him thinking that his path perhaps didn’t lie with engineering after all. So he decided to try his luck in a new direction. Excitingly, he received a fellowship to study finance at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Nohria then packed up and moved to the United States.
Once at MIT, Nohria unsurprisingly excelled in his humanities classes. Inspired by his successes, he switched to a degree in management, ultimately completing a doctorate in the subject.
The crowning moment of all his hard work came when he was offered the position of dean at the Harvard Business School.
Nohria believes he’s lived the American dream. Like his father before him, he never stopped working to create new opportunities. And though he might not have followed his father’s exact path, Nohria is glad to have had such a mentor in his life.
Unfortunately, not all parents inspire their children in the same way. However, this doesn’t mean that these children can’t achieve great things on their own.
Want to see all full key ideas from Getting There?
Key ideas in Getting There
More knowledge in less time
Read or listen
Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
Find your next read
Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
Shortcasts New
We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.
What is Getting There about?
Getting There (2015) provides inspiring portraits of successful entrepreneurs, artists, writers and CEOs who through hard work and perseverance pursued their true passions against all odds. This collection of first-person stories aims to show how you too can “get there” and live your dreams.
Getting There Review
Getting There (2015) is a book that showcases the stories of successful individuals and offers valuable insights on achieving personal and professional goals. Here's what makes this book worth reading:
- With compelling interviews and advice from accomplished individuals like Warren Buffett and Anderson Cooper, it provides a wealth of wisdom and inspiration.
- It offers an in-depth look at the journey to success, including the challenges and setbacks faced by these remarkable individuals along the way.
- Through its authentic and relatable storytelling, the book manages to captivate readers and helps them understand that success is a combination of hard work, perseverance, and a little bit of luck.
Best quote from Getting There
If you dont get love from your family, you turn to other things to get it. I get the love I need from my audience.
—Gillian Zoe Segal
Who should read Getting There?
- Entrepreneurs starting their own business
- Young people deciding what to do with their future
- Anyone at the start of an ambitious project
Categories with Getting There
Book summaries like Getting There
The Ultimate Guide to Great Mentorship
Scott Jeffrey Miller
13 Roles to Making a True Impact
12 min
4.1
The Leader’s Greatest Return
John C. Maxwell
Attracting, Developing, and Multiplying Leaders
24 min
4.4
Breaking The Habit of Being Yourself
Joe Dispenza
How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One
16 min
4.5
People ❤️ Blinkist
Sven O.
It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.
Thi Viet Quynh N.
Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.
Jonathan A.
Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.
Renee D.
Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.
People also liked these summaries
4.7 Stars
Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
36 Million
Downloads on all platforms
10+ years
Experience igniting personal growth
Getting There FAQs
What is the main message of Getting There?
Discover the paths to success from those who have achieved it.
How long does it take to read Getting There?
The reading time for Getting There varies. But you can read the Blinkist summary in just 15 minutes.
Is Getting There a good book? Is it worth reading?
Getting There is worth reading for its inspiring stories and valuable insights.
Who is the author of Getting There?
Gillian Zoe Segal is the author of Getting There.
What to read after Getting There?
If you're wondering what to read next after Getting There, here are some recommendations we suggest:
- The Ultimate Guide to Great Mentorship by Scott Jeffrey Miller
- Mentorship Unlocked by Janice Omadeke
- Catalyst by Chandramouli Venkatesan
- The Leader’s Greatest Return by John C. Maxwell
- Psychological Types by Carl Jung
- Confidence by Ethan Nichtern
- The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss
- Breaking The Habit of Being Yourself by Joe Dispenza
- Tribe of Mentors by Tim Ferriss
- Raise Your Game by Alan Stein Jr.