An upbeat and experience-driven call for entrepreneurs to up their game.
Moore presents a rule-based manual for achieving entrepreneurial success.
The author opens his nonfiction debut with his contention that entrepreneurs are the pioneers of today’s business world, as they “hire the most people, drive the economy, create innovation, promote research and development, and shape new products and services.” Drawing on his experience building his own business, he positions his narrative as a guidebook to help others achieve the success that he repeatedly assures them is within their reach. After starting with an inaccurate quote (Mark Twain never actually said, “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why”), Moore takes readers through his own adventures in the business world, from serving as a financial advisor at Smith Barney to helping run the financial streaming news network JAGFN until its demise to running his own company, VANQUISH (its specialty, as reported in the author’s ominous business-speak, being “animal mitigation”). While narrating these adventures, Moore highlights many of the invaluable lessons he’s learned along the way about trusting his instincts, always being ready to learn, and improving his leadership skills. He conveys these lessons with the verve and directness of a self-described eternal optimist, always sticking to what he calls his basic approach to life: “Wisdom does not come by accident. It does, however, come by experience.” The problem some readers may have with his book is embodied in this quote—everyone has met (and most likely worked for) people who have plenty of experience with little wisdom to show for it. Those willing to overlook such claims (and cliches like “Never think small. Always think big”) will find some inspiring stories in these pages.
An upbeat and experience-driven call for entrepreneurs to up their game.Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9781642257786
Page Count: 278
Publisher: Advantage Media Group
Review Posted Online: July 10, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Perhaps not magic but appealing nonetheless.
Want to get ahead in business? Consult a dictionary.
By Wharton School professor Berger’s account, much of the art of persuasion lies in the art of choosing the right word. Want to jump ahead of others waiting in line to use a photocopy machine, even if they’re grizzled New Yorkers? Throw a because into the equation (“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine, because I’m in a rush?”), and you’re likely to get your way. Want someone to do your copying for you? Then change your verbs to nouns: not “Can you help me?” but “Can you be a helper?” As Berger notes, there’s a subtle psychological shift at play when a person becomes not a mere instrument in helping but instead acquires an identity as a helper. It’s the little things, one supposes, and the author offers some interesting strategies that eager readers will want to try out. Instead of alienating a listener with the omniscient should, as in “You should do this,” try could instead: “Well, you could…” induces all concerned “to recognize that there might be other possibilities.” Berger’s counsel that one should use abstractions contradicts his admonition to use concrete language, and it doesn’t help matters to say that each is appropriate to a particular situation, while grammarians will wince at his suggestion that a nerve-calming exercise to “try talking to yourself in the third person (‘You can do it!’)” in fact invokes the second person. Still, there are plenty of useful insights, particularly for students of advertising and public speaking. It’s intriguing to note that appeals to God are less effective in securing a loan than a simple affirmative such as “I pay all bills…on time”), and it’s helpful to keep in mind that “the right words used at the right time can have immense power.”
Perhaps not magic but appealing nonetheless.Pub Date: March 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780063204935
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Harper Business
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
This guide to Black culture for White people is accessible but rarely easy.
A former NFL player casts his gimlet eye on American race relations.
In his first book, Acho, an analyst for Fox Sports who grew up in Dallas as the son of Nigerian immigrants, addresses White readers who have sent him questions about Black history and culture. “My childhood,” he writes, “was one big study abroad in white culture—followed by studying abroad in black culture during college and then during my years in the NFL, which I spent on teams with 80-90 percent black players, each of whom had his own experience of being a person of color in America. Now, I’m fluent in both cultures: black and white.” While the author avoids condescending to readers who already acknowledge their White privilege or understand why it’s unacceptable to use the N-word, he’s also attuned to the sensitive nature of the topic. As such, he has created “a place where questions you may have been afraid to ask get answered.” Acho has a deft touch and a historian’s knack for marshaling facts. He packs a lot into his concise narrative, from an incisive historical breakdown of American racial unrest and violence to the ways of cultural appropriation: Your friend respecting and appreciating Black arts and culture? OK. Kim Kardashian showing off her braids and attributing her sense of style to Bo Derek? Not so much. Within larger chapters, the text, which originated with the author’s online video series with the same title, is neatly organized under helpful headings: “Let’s rewind,” “Let’s get uncomfortable,” “Talk it, walk it.” Acho can be funny, but that’s not his goal—nor is he pedaling gotcha zingers or pleas for headlines. The author delivers exactly what he promises in the title, tackling difficult topics with the depth of an engaged cultural thinker and the style of an experienced wordsmith. Throughout, Acho is a friendly guide, seeking to sow understanding even if it means risking just a little discord.
This guide to Black culture for White people is accessible but rarely easy.Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-80046-6
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2020
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