¶ … Failure to Promise: An Uncommon Path to Professoriate is Dr. C. Moorer's self-help book that aims to motivate the reader and help to establish a series of self-analytical tools that will help the reader achieve his or her goals. As an individual pursuing a degree in aeronautical science, it is difficult to fully relate to Dr. Moorer's journey to become an engineer and professor because of the background that he describes in his book. However, it is interesting to see how Dr. Moorer, through his own experiences, has come to understand strategic concepts that are frequently taught in managerial programs and how many of his concepts can be traced back to theories that have been studied for centuries.
As someone that has worked hard and has been forced to overcome struggles, personally and academically, I find it difficult to take much of Dr. Moorer's struggles to heart because it appears as though he was afforded every opportunity to succeed. Despite the fact that he grew up in Detroit, which is now an economically depressed region, Dr. Moorer freely admits that he did not grow up in one of the more destitute areas of the city, but rather lived in a safer neighborhood (The Economic Collapse, 2012). Furthermore, not only did both his parents support him, but they were also successful business owners, which afforded them the opportunity to spend both quality and quantity time with their son. In terms of his education, Dr. Moorer was fortunate and smart enough to get accepted to a magnet school that...
Many students, like myself, are not afforded these luxuries and must succeed and excel in schools that are not equipped to offer specialized courses. One of the things that Dr. Moorer recognizes, after a number of failures, is that he must apply himself to his studies in order to succeed (Moorer, 2010, p. 16). I have always been taught that hard work and dedication will aid in my success. My parents taught me that the effort I put into something will manifest itself in the result. This has lesson has definitely impacted the way I approached my education and academic career path. Like Moorer, I have always been determined to pursue a career in engineering and have, from a young age, knew that I wanted to pursue aeronautic engineering, even though I did not know it was called that at the time.
One of the things that I enjoyed about From Failure to Promise: An Uncommon Path to Professoriate is how Dr. Moorer was able to simplify concepts that I had previously read about in Sun Tzu's The Art of War (n.d.). One of the things that Dr. Moorer does effectively is demonstrate how these military strategies are applicable to education and the attainment of one's goals, including my own. While Sun Tzu's work outlines the best approach to overcoming conflicts from an experienced perspective, Dr. Moorer details the events in his life that led him to the realization of his approach. One of the things that I do not like about Dr. Moorer's journey to success is the fact that it appears…
