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BEYOND THE MONEY

8 LIFESTYLE SHIFTS FOR ENTREPRENEURS WITH 8 FIGURES OR MORE

Extremely relatable, sound advice for high achievers.

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A business book offers advice on what comes next for already successful entrepreneurs.

The founder and president of a wealth advisory firm and author of Stress-Free Money (2020), Willardson sees a need for looking beyond one’s established fortune. Rather than provide the counsel typically associated with financial advisers, he focuses on what might be thought of as life planning. Eight tightly written, engaging chapters address compelling issues that face the highly accomplished individual. The book appropriately begins by acknowledging a big challenge for entrepreneurs: “feeling like they have no one they can openly talk to.” The solution—joining a kind of support group for like-minded people—may seem obvious, but Willardson wraps the suggestion around his own experience and those of others who have followed that path, validating the idea. The author’s encouragement to celebrate success is also a simple yet essential idea. Here, Willardson embraces the perhaps counterintuitive concept of “measuring your progress backward” so “you can see the gains and feel happiness.” Other aspects of life get similar treatment, whether it is protecting personal relationships, investing in health, or practicing delegation. Likely to especially resonate with business owners is the notion of control: “It’s important to be willing to let go and not get attached to the methods or the process.” Easier said than done, of course—so again, the author cites pertinent examples from his business and valuable insights from other company owners. The closing two chapters are, in a way, a clarion call for entrepreneurs to reach beyond their initial business victories. Willardson believes it is important to never be completely satisfied because “all progress takes place outside of your comfort zone.” As expected, his view of retirement is nontraditional: “Once you’ve reached a high level of financial freedom and independence, you don’t need to think about money anymore. It’s time to use your vision for a higher purpose.” The author writes in plain language and with clarity, judiciously drawing on other sources to support his argument. He demonstrates a keen understanding of the entrepreneurial psyche and stays true to the book’s concept of exploring key lifestyle issues.

Extremely relatable, sound advice for high achievers.

Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2022

ISBN: 9781544536729

Page Count: 170

Publisher: Lioncrest Publishing

Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023

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THE CULTURE MAP

BREAKING THROUGH THE INVISIBLE BOUNDARIES OF GLOBAL BUSINESS

These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.

A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.

“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.

These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.

Pub Date: May 27, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1

Page Count: 288

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014

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THINKING, FAST AND SLOW

Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...

A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.

The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.

Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011

ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1

Page Count: 512

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011

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