HOW TO BE A BILLION DOLLAR PERSUADER

There's no question that ""professional president"" Culligan -- Curtis Publishing, NBC Radio, Mutual Broadcasting, etc. -- is a Billion Dollar Persuader, give or take a million. And, forswearing modesty (""a lot of ego is essential""), he does lay out his considerable track record for selling broadcasting time and advertising space. Some of his biggest deals, as he reconstructs them, were made in a taxi (with the president of Alcoa), in the Waldorf-Astoria ballroom, at America's finest golf clubs, and, frequently, at New York's posh ""21."" On another occasion, he ""won the day"" by bringing along such NBC stars as Marlene Dietrich, Jack Benny, and George Burns. But just how these anecdotes can help the reader with more modest resources to become a great persuader is hard to say. As for the chapter-end commandments (""Ask great men for help regularly,"" ""Develop a sense of humor""), they simply follow the how-to-line -- unpersuasively.