A lively, readable, and enlightened set of principles for success without savagery.
A lifelong entrepreneur distills his experiences in this manual on achieving success.
In his nonfiction debut, Lewis looks back on his 40 years in real estate and homebuilding to fashion a motivational-style guide for both his fellow entrepreneurs and general readers. He tells his readers that they basically have four alternatives: They can be unsuccessful and unhappy, successful yet unhappy, happy but unsuccessful, or the gold standard, happy and successful. “Because happiness and success are unrelated,” he writes, “they should be understood and pursued separately. Then you can achieve both!” He first lays the foundation of his book by giving an engaging autobiographical account, from dramatically narrated tumor scares to his navigation of the Great Recession of late 2007 to 2008—on which, surprisingly, he looks back with pride: “Those were some of the best business decisions I have ever made. And even as a veteran homebuilder, I learned a new lesson, and I haven’t borrowed a nickel since.” He then broadens his manual, delivering more universal precepts, the “five fundamental requirements for long-term success in your life and your career.” The discussion that follows includes such generalities as personal character, hard work (which leads to self-worth), humility, and, most interestingly, instructions on crafting a life for yourself that makes you morally and personally deserving of your success. Lewis models these precepts on his understanding of Christianity. “Jesus’ life and ministry radiated love, kindness, grace, humility, forgiveness, compassion, generosity, loyalty, strength, and goodness,” he writes. “There was no self-righteousness, no superiority, no hypocrisy, no mean-spiritedness, and no dogma.” In many of the motivational books he cites throughout, such sentiments might come across as empty sanctimony, but the narrative tone here is a wonderfully convincing combination of charisma and Christian philanthropy. If more entrepreneurs followed this kind of personal and professional philosophy, the world would be a better place.
A lively, readable, and enlightened set of principles for success without savagery.Pub Date: March 30, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-9600953-0-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: T.W. Lewis Company
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2021
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
Career and business advice for the hashtag generation. For all its self-absorption, this book doesn’t offer much reflection...
A Dumpster diver–turned-CEO details her rise to success and her business philosophy.
In this memoir/business book, Amoruso, CEO of the Internet clothing store Nasty Gal, offers advice to young women entrepreneurs who seek an alternative path to fame and fortune. Beginning with a lengthy discussion of her suburban childhood and rebellious teen years, the author describes her experiences living hand to mouth, hitchhiking, shoplifting and dropping out of school. Her life turned around when, bored at work one night, she decided to sell a few pieces of vintage clothing on eBay. Fast-forward seven years, and Amoruso was running a $100 million company with 350 employees. While her success is admirable, most of her advice is based on her own limited experiences and includes such hackneyed lines as, “When you accept yourself, it’s surprising how much other people will accept you, too.” At more than 200 pages, the book is overlong, and much of what the author discusses could be summarized in a few tweets. In fact, much of it probably has been: One of the most interesting sections in the book is her description of how she uses social media. Amoruso has a spiritual side, as well, and she describes her belief in “chaos magic” and “sigils,” a kind of wishful-thinking exercise involving abstract words. The book also includes sidebars featuring guest “girlbosses” (bloggers, Internet entrepreneurs) who share equally clichéd suggestions for business success. Some of the guidance Amoruso offers for interviews (don’t dress like you’re going to a nightclub), getting fired (don’t call anyone names) and finding your fashion style (be careful which trends you follow) will be helpful to her readers, including the sage advice, “You’re not special.”
Career and business advice for the hashtag generation. For all its self-absorption, this book doesn’t offer much reflection or insight.Pub Date: May 6, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-16927-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Portfolio
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
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