What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith

PART 1 Expressions

1. No one think's he's a team player.

team player: sb who works well as a member of a team, especially in business

He was a good businessman, but never a team player.

2. My ears perked up at the word "fortune."

perk 在 Elon Musk里面出现的意思是 “津贴”

perk up:1.  to become more cheerful. active, and interested in what is happening around you, or to make sb feel this way

She seemed kind of tired, but she perked up when Helen came over.

2. to become more active, more interesting, more attractive etc, or to make sth do this

A little chili will perk up the sauce.

perky: confident, happy, and active 活泼的；神气的

a perky salesgirl

perkiness: (n.)

3. Could my methods work on a more elite flight of executive material? 

flight 有 “一层楼梯”的意思 a set of stairs between one floor and the next

Bert lives two flights down from here.

She fell down a whole flight of stairs.

可引申为社会地位的等级、阶层

top-flight/ elite flight: very successful or skillful

They've hired a really top-flight sales team.

4. He was perceived as arrogant, inattentive, rude and unfoundedly omniscient.

unfounded: 站不住脚的；无事时根据的 unfounded statements, feelings, opinions etc are wrong because they are not based on facts

Unfounded rumors began circulating that Iran and Susan were having an affair

Sadly, my optimism proved unfounded.

omniscient: [ɒmˈnɪsiənt]  knowing everything 无所不知的

the book's omniscient narrator

omniscience: (n.)

omnipotent: [ɒmˈnɪpətənt] able to do everything 无所不能的  -- omnipotence (n.) 

omnipresent: [ˌɒmnɪˈpreznt] 无所不在的 -- omnipresence (n.)

omnibus: (n.) [ˈɒmnɪbəs] 选集；汇编;

an omnibus law contains several different laws collected together

5. I am a huge apostle for thanking.

apostle: [əˈpɒsl] （基督教的）传教士；倡导者 SYN proponent

a great apostle of non-violence

6. despite your demonstrable success and laudable self-esteem

laudable: deserving praise, even if not completely successful, SYN praiseworthy

a laudable attempt

laud: (v.) formal, to praise sb or sth

He lauded the work of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

PART 2 Sentences

1. All of these ingredients -- the talent, charm, and brains, the unbroken track record of success, the screw-you money in the bank that let him think he could flip off the world -- made this fellow a potent mix of stubbornness and pride and defensiveness.

2. If I can help you consider the possibility that, despite your demonstrable success and laudable self-esteem, you might not be as good as you think you are; that all of us have corners in our behavioral makeup that are messy; and that these messy corners can be pinpointed and tided up, then I can leave the world -- and your world -- a slightly better place than I found it.