Review by Laadams -- Defining Moments of a Free Man from...
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Laadams
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Review by Laadams -- Defining Moments of a Free Man from...
[Following is a volunteer review of "Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream" by Dr Frank L Douglas.]
Are you a leader? What gave you the skills needed to lead others to success? In Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream, Dr. Frank L. Douglas recounts his personal journey of becoming a leader in his field. Dr. Douglas started life in humble beginnings in Guayana and approached life swimming against the tide. Immigrating to America with a Fulbright Scholarship set his course, albeit with twists and turns, towards being one of the most influential figures in pharmaceuticals. His contributions enhance our world with products like Allegra, Nicoderm CQ, Nicorette and many more. The upstream battle is never easy and in this autobiography, Dr. Douglas bears all of his internal and external struggles to get to where he is today.
Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream is a good read. I always enjoy discovering what it takes to create something. The ability to see a need, to devise a plan, to gather resources and people to help administer the plan, and to ultimately realize a goal. Dr. Douglas was this maven for the pharmaceutical field. He spearheaded the creation of new drugs that have brought healing and vitality to the world. What takes place before a drug hits the market is remarkable and here we get a sneak peek behind the scenes with this first-hand account. In this in-depth view, Dr. Douglas focuses on his school and subsequent professional career including advances and demotions that seemed to heavily revolve around racial biases. The racial bigotry seemed to fuel Dr. Douglas and may have been a driving force to help him succeed in life. Fighting racial bias was only one obstacle.
Another obstacle turned accomplishment that stood out to me was when he was sent to Frankfurt, Germany by the company Hoechst Marion Roussel (HMR) where he was overseeing Research and later also Development after HMR purchased Marion Merrell Dow for $7.1 Billion. Dr. Douglas soon felt the backlash of the merger from coworkers but overcame these with a crash course in learning the German language in order to communicate with his colleagues without an interpreter. This earned him respect and helped move the company forward towards its goal. This demonstrates only one instance where his ability to adapt and learn for the betterment the community brought him further ‘up the stream’.
Dr. Frank L. Douglas recounts in detail his interpersonal conversations and, while this is interesting, in most cases it did become daunting as the book progressed. I feel that this may be the case because I am unfamiliar with the pharmaceutical field and many of the terms used did not carry any interest or understanding for me. What I disliked most was the heavy use of technical terms. I would have also liked to hear more about his home life through all of this as it purely focuses on what was happening at work.
The part of the book I liked most was at the end where years of work had come together to a few lines on a scrap of paper that Dr. Douglas keeps in his pocket. His personal statement starts out “I want my life to be centered on enabling others to discover and do that which is noble and fair.” He continues on to synthesize what his years of experience have distilled down to. It is this that I feel is so compelling about this autobiography. The ability to glean wisdom from someone else’s trials is why I love reading books like this one. I did have trouble following along at times, therefore I rate this book a 3 out of 4 stars. The rating would have been higher had it been professionally edited. I also did not like the cover as it did not appeal to my eye. This book is for the academic reader or one who is interested in leadership skills, interpersonal or racial relations.
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Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on Smashwords
Are you a leader? What gave you the skills needed to lead others to success? In Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream, Dr. Frank L. Douglas recounts his personal journey of becoming a leader in his field. Dr. Douglas started life in humble beginnings in Guayana and approached life swimming against the tide. Immigrating to America with a Fulbright Scholarship set his course, albeit with twists and turns, towards being one of the most influential figures in pharmaceuticals. His contributions enhance our world with products like Allegra, Nicoderm CQ, Nicorette and many more. The upstream battle is never easy and in this autobiography, Dr. Douglas bears all of his internal and external struggles to get to where he is today.
Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream is a good read. I always enjoy discovering what it takes to create something. The ability to see a need, to devise a plan, to gather resources and people to help administer the plan, and to ultimately realize a goal. Dr. Douglas was this maven for the pharmaceutical field. He spearheaded the creation of new drugs that have brought healing and vitality to the world. What takes place before a drug hits the market is remarkable and here we get a sneak peek behind the scenes with this first-hand account. In this in-depth view, Dr. Douglas focuses on his school and subsequent professional career including advances and demotions that seemed to heavily revolve around racial biases. The racial bigotry seemed to fuel Dr. Douglas and may have been a driving force to help him succeed in life. Fighting racial bias was only one obstacle.
Another obstacle turned accomplishment that stood out to me was when he was sent to Frankfurt, Germany by the company Hoechst Marion Roussel (HMR) where he was overseeing Research and later also Development after HMR purchased Marion Merrell Dow for $7.1 Billion. Dr. Douglas soon felt the backlash of the merger from coworkers but overcame these with a crash course in learning the German language in order to communicate with his colleagues without an interpreter. This earned him respect and helped move the company forward towards its goal. This demonstrates only one instance where his ability to adapt and learn for the betterment the community brought him further ‘up the stream’.
Dr. Frank L. Douglas recounts in detail his interpersonal conversations and, while this is interesting, in most cases it did become daunting as the book progressed. I feel that this may be the case because I am unfamiliar with the pharmaceutical field and many of the terms used did not carry any interest or understanding for me. What I disliked most was the heavy use of technical terms. I would have also liked to hear more about his home life through all of this as it purely focuses on what was happening at work.
The part of the book I liked most was at the end where years of work had come together to a few lines on a scrap of paper that Dr. Douglas keeps in his pocket. His personal statement starts out “I want my life to be centered on enabling others to discover and do that which is noble and fair.” He continues on to synthesize what his years of experience have distilled down to. It is this that I feel is so compelling about this autobiography. The ability to glean wisdom from someone else’s trials is why I love reading books like this one. I did have trouble following along at times, therefore I rate this book a 3 out of 4 stars. The rating would have been higher had it been professionally edited. I also did not like the cover as it did not appeal to my eye. This book is for the academic reader or one who is interested in leadership skills, interpersonal or racial relations.
******
Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on Smashwords
