Built to Finish: How to Go the Distance in Business and Life

| Steven Pivnik, 2024

What’s It All About?

What do you get when you mix a serial entrepreneur and an intense endurance sport? One heck of a story! In Built to Finish: How to Go the Distance in Business and Life, information technology entrepreneur and endurance athlete Steven Pivnik shares his own formula for success and how others can find the grit to start, the stamina to finish, and the balance to live fully.

In Built to Finish, Steven combines his two journeys in life: his journey down the path of leading an international software and services company, and his journey of leaving Russia to come to the United States. He also weaves in stories and lessons about his quest to compete in the IRONMAN world championship in Kona, Hawaii. His stories from both areas of his life are fascinating and motivating, and his great writing kept me turning the pages.

One thing I especially loved about Built to Finish was how Steven gets to the point. This book is a speed read, and gets to the main points while leaving out the fluff. I found this to be a very reader-focused approach, as it provided great value without getting repetitive or feeling it was just trying to fill the pages.

Favorite Quote

“Pace is not a speed. Rather, it is a situational response to the circumstances you face.”

“Many people subscribe to the false notion that there is always time to do something twice, but there’s rarely time to do it right the first time.”

Biggest Takeaway

Some of the most important decisions we make revolve around how we spend our time and energy. In Built to Finish, Steven compares this concept to knowing your pace while climbing a mountain. If you go too fast while climbing a mountain, your body will give up on you—just like speeding to roll out a new product or process can lead to errors and pitfalls. To find the best outcomes, take a pause. Pay attention to your environment and be intentional about your speed and pace. Don’t be afraid to slow down and listen to your surroundings, and you’ll find intentional new ways to reset and move forward.

Bonus Information

After reading Built to Finish, you’ll feel inspired to do more! You can learn more from Steven Pivnik on the Mindfulness Manufacturing podcast, where he talked more about the lessons in his book. You can find his episode here.

Reviewed by: Trevor Blondeel, February 01, 2024

At Manufacturing Greatness, Trevor Blondeel works with manufacturers to connect the top to the shop. If you’re ready to improve your own organization, contact Trevor to learn how Manufacturing Greatness can help you build stronger leaders and develop a dynamic, high-performing workplace.

Mindfulness Manufacturing

Our show is about providing listeners with real stories that come from a place of experience, transparency, and authenticity. Most importantly it’s about what we learn from these stories and applying Mindfulness in our everyday work and personal lives.
Our intention is to create an environment where people can learn through open honest discussions on how we apply Mindfulness. Although our experiences and stories come from time in a manufacturing environment hence the title “Mindfulness Manufacturing”, we still see our discussions and topics relatable to any organization or profession.

When a mistake occurs on the plant floor, your mind might jump to one question: who caused this issue, and should I write them up for their mistake? But there’s a more productive approach you could be taking—and in this episode of Mindfulness Manufacturing, guest Dr. Jake Mazulewicz breaks it all down!

With a background as a firefighter, EMT, and military paratrooper, Jake knows the challenges of high-hazard industries, and works with organizations to reduce errors and create safer, more reliable workplace environments. In this episode, Jake shares why you can’t procedularize everything, including the way you handle errors and accidents, and offers great insights and stories about how to use connection and curiosity to improve safety, address errors, and strengthen your organization.

3:35 – Procedures and policies are the work that is imagined, and on the floor is how the work actually gets done

4:19 – The work as-done is almost always radically different than the work as-imagined

5:20 – Even when you have standards and people show up wanting to do a good job, you can still see issues that need to be addressed

6:44 – There will always be areas that absolutely need to have procedures in place

8:02 – There are also adaptive jobs, which leans less into procedures and more intro troubleshooting and tacit human knowledge

10:56 – In an ideal environment, both mechanistic and adaptive models are used and respected and needed

12:11 – There are four levels, ranging from strict procedurals to looser guidelines that show what to do, but not how to do it

15:36 – Tacit knowledge gets shared through conversations

16:22 – A way to share important information is to have frontline experts record videos sharing their insights to problems, especially those that are not covered in procedures

19:44 – Through conversation and connection, more knowledge is shared

21:58 – Debriefing also plays a central role

23:45 – If you have strong discipline, you’ll find more freedom

25:31 – In most situations, errors are signals, not defects

27:07 – When an error occurs, be curious and find the deeper cause of the problem

Connect with Jake Mazulewicz

Find him on Linkedin

Visit his website