Review of Finally, I am CEO

[Troy Patrick Reardon]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Finally, I am CEO" by Dr Michael Earle.]

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3 out of 5 stars

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Finally, I am CEO by Michael Earle is a memoir about the author’s career in the oil and gas industry. Starting as a field geologist, he travels the world studying geologic formations to determine the likelihood of finding and producing oil. Over the years, he changed companies many times and slowly worked his way up to higher and higher levels of management. The culmination of this life’s work is serving as CEO of an oil company based in Greece. Each chapter takes you through a different career stage in the author’s journey. Helpfully, the chapters end with the author turning the experience into takeaway lessons for success.
The author must have filled many journals throughout his life because the book contains incredible detail. At each stage in the career, you can be sure to find robust descriptions of the geology being studied and thorough breakdowns of the business plans being decided. The chapters contain many graphs and figures, and there is a picture gallery as well. My favorite part of each chapter was the discussion of his family life and the lessons he learned.
It is not easy to follow all of the geology descriptions and business decisions that are described in the book. Unless readers really know a lot about either of those things, I suspect they will struggle to follow many of the details. However, I picked up the book because I wanted to get a better understanding of the oil industry, and I certainly achieved that goal. The author is extremely knowledgeable. Even though there was much that I struggled to follow, I still learned a great deal. For example, I didn’t realize just how much research went into finding potential oil sites and how often the research failed to produce an active well.
I give the book a 3 out of 5. I think the book would have better achieved its goal if it had toned back on some of the details and given more of a surface-level, reader-friendly description of the events. It would make it easier for the reader to follow the story. There are so many acronyms and foreign business names that it is hard to keep track of the overarching narrative. I think the author could have done more to bring that out. Nevertheless, there is great knowledge to be found in the book. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in getting a detailed view of life in the oil industry or the corporate world.

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Finally, I am CEO
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[Kibet Hillary]

I have not read the book, yet, but the fact that the author goes into detail about prospecting and the whole career journey, indeed, points to a high likelihood of being keen and taking notes then. I am glad that each chapter closes with key lessons that readers can apply. This is an informative review, @Troy Patrick Reardon.