The Unfair Advantage is a business parable wrapped in deeply personal storytelling and tied together with bold, energetic strategies for leadership transformation. This book is about harnessing the raw energy, creativity, and intense focus that often accompany hypomania—without spiraling into its destructive counterpart. Through the fictional (but strikingly real) journey of Jack Whelan, a struggling CEO of a shopping cart company, author Todd Hagopian outlines a practical playbook for operational turnarounds, self-management, and personal growth, built from his own lived experience with bipolar disorder.

What hit me hardest in the opening chapters was Hagopian’s transparency about his own mental health battles. This isn’t your typical business guru boasting a polished success story. He lays it bare—arrests, career meltdowns, sleepless nights, and finally a diagnosis that changed his life. That vulnerability gave the whole book a rare authenticity.

What I appreciated most was how the fictional narrative serves as both teaching tool and mirror. Jack’s spiral at Cartwell Manufacturing, from the tense call with Spencer to the chaos on the factory floor, mirrors so many real-life corporate messes I’ve witnessed. The depiction of employees like Deb and Tim sniping over process bottlenecks was painfully familiar. Then enters Eugene Spark, the eccentric, wildly successful, bipolar billionaire. He’s a character, no doubt, but also a mouthpiece for the HOT system. The idea of weaponizing mental health quirks into business edge? That’s bold. And kind of brilliant.

There are definitely moments where the book toes the line between clever and slightly eccentric. The “Karelin Method,” for instance, draws parallels between Olympic wrestling and ruthless prioritization. It sounds absurd until you realize it’s essentially about cutting the fluff and focusing like a maniac. Likewise, the idea of creating internal “battles” to drive team performance initially felt gimmicky, but then I thought about how motivated people get when there’s a shared enemy—even if it’s just a metric or a competitor. Hagopian’s methods are aggressive, high-octane, and results-driven. They’re not for the faint of heart, but they’re also not reckless. He’s built in guardrails, and that’s what makes it smart.

The Unfair Advantage is an inspiring read. It’s part business manual, part memoir, part redemption arc. It’s definitely not your typical airport leadership book. But it’s real, it’s raw, and it’s useful. I’d recommend this to high-performing professionals, startup founders, or turnaround specialists who are hitting their limit—or are just wired a little differently and want to turn that into a strength.

ASIN: B0FV6F52G2 | Pages: 310