ACTING UP

A debut business/motivation book draws on the author’s personal life lessons.

History is full of stories about people and companies that either lost their integrity or never had it to begin with, writes Howroyd in this work. Enron, Arthur Andersen, Volkswagen, WorldCom—“the list,” she asserts, “is endless.” In the business world, ethics and values are constantly tested, and the central axiom of this volume is that entrepreneurs should never sacrifice who they are personally for who they want to be professionally. The author, a Black CEO and conference speaker who’s met with many American presidents and built a “workforce solutions”company that stretches over many countries, recalls throughout her book that she and her sister came from an ordinary town in North Carolina. The siblings were raised by parents who kept them grounded in honesty and responsibility, instilling “in us Bryant girls the idea that life holds tremendous possibility.” She recounts that she has tried to bring those values to her many years in the business world, and in these pages, she seeks to share the lessons she’s learned. Along with quotes from her husband, Bernie, she peppers her chapters with “Janicisms” in inset boxes, quick insights like, “An entrepreneur without passion is just a person with an idea waiting around to see if it will happen.” Howroyd’s tone throughout is wonderfully straightforward and empathetic. She has achieved a great deal of success, but on every page, she writes like a confiding, encouraging sister to all the budding entrepreneurs reading her words. Some of her sentiments are the kind of questionable bromides common to entrepreneurial books (“You are responsible for your own income, whether you are the founder of your own startup or an employee of an established company”). But Howroyd is predominantly a cleareyed and forceful voice for greater integrity and personal responsibility in the fraud-filled world of entrepreneurship.

An engaging, spirited call for core values and honest behavior in the business world.