Customer Reviews

Bloomberg by Bloomberg

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Don't be deceived by the modest size of this self-made billionaire's autobiography. As if cramped by the limitations of the book's length, Michael Bloomberg's ego assaults the reader like an over-zealous vacuum cleaner salesman, pushing his ideas on life, work and excellence with all the energy that scores of superlatives can summon. Funny, then, that in many places the story comes off as a crashing bore.

"Bloomberg by Bloomberg" is ultimately redeemed by the compelling nature of the tale. More than anything the spectacular success of Bloomberg, L.P. highlighted the extent of the information technology revolution and the resultant productivity gains that transformed global industry. There's no question that Michael Bloomberg saw these changes coming, and in harnessing them created a company whose reputation for excellence, innovation, and customer orientation set a standard unmatched by any information services company before or since.

The author's pride in Bloomberg, L.P. suffuses the book, and he focuses so much loving attention on its birth and propsperity that at times this seems more like the story of a company than a man. The two are clearly of one soul. But at times it's easy to forget that this is the story of an extraordinary character and not an addendum to "In Search of Excellence".

This life story is one in which the input of outsiders would add tremendous insight. When Bloomberg discusses his dealings with his Harvard Business classmates, his trading buddies at Salomon Bros., or his employees at Bloomberg, it's easy to wish for their side of the story. As it is, the only hint we get of humility or insecurity from Bloomberg himself is his incessant reminder of the fact that he had been fired from Salomon Bros. ("though with a $10million severance), and that he had to call on every psychological resource to overcome this calamitous setback and move on to greater glory. Is he difficult? Has he ever been ruthless or cruel? Does he have any imperfections at all? You won't learn these things from Bloomberg by Bloomberg. And what he possibly doesn't realize is that these are the things that add color to a story, if not authority in the boardroom. Next time he should shop for a biographer. Maybe after he's moved on from the mayoralty to the Big Job, Doris Kearns Goodwin can do him justice.

Michael is clearly a hard driving CEO that has built an outstanding business. It is a great story and the building and history of Bloomberg is tremendous reading. The second half gets tiring fast; all entreprenuers have big egos, and his gets in the way as he dishes out advice on everything from education to family. Read the first half, skim the second.

The most arrogant, pompous, self-important autobiography I've ever read. Mike Bloomberg makes Barbara Cartland seem as modest as Ophelia and as talented as Shakespeare. Sloppily written, utterly devoid of irony or self-perception, it is the sort of book one might expecta Harvard MBA to write. The man, as anyone who has visited the US will know, is a rampant egomaniac, who would probably like to plaster his name across Heaven - and this book shows why. But but but... it is a gripping and exciting story, and Bloomberg's energy, vision, and commitment are passionately communicated - his gradual destruction of Reuters and his building of a global media empire from scratch is a great yarn and he tells it well. His ideas on entrepreneurship and capitalism are less original than he might think, but the book is full of thoughts and ideas about being in business - it certainly stimulated me. Read it, if you have any interest in the media or in business - but with a pinch of salt please!

I do not like Michael Bloomberg's politics, but I respect him as a business leader. His information terminal has revolutionized the financial services industry, and it is always nice to see an American success story.

I bought my book at a discount place, and I am glad I did. It wasn't boring, but it didn't knock my socks off.

Although Mike Bloomberg considers himself a remarkable Liar's Poker-esque character his autobigraphy is more Charlie Brown than Gordon Gecko. Egomaniacal though he may be (perhaps a necessity for the level of success he has achieved) his book espouses the merits of perserverance, hard work, and big cajones. The first time I met Mike Bloomberg, a young person at the lunch we were attending asked him what was the best strategy a young person could employ to be successful at his firm. His paraphrased response, "Get to work earlier than anybody else, stay later than everyone, and get the most good stuff done in between."

I'm a huge Mike Bloomberg fan, and really enjoyed the autobiographical parts of this novel and the story of his company's genesis. The generic computer stuff I could have done without, also the story didn't really flow and was a bit choppy. Overall a good, quick easy read. But I definitely could've used some more Bloomberg, Mike that is.

Unfortunately there is surprisingly very little written about this great man.

Mike Bloomberg's position at a major investment firm was "discontinued" and was given a payout of $10 million. Instead of sitting back, he looked around, saw what was missing in the investment field and started a multi-million dollar hi-tech news and financial service. His rapid growth his artfully told in this fascinating book. It's not great literature. It lacks the humility and grace of Katherine Graham's biography, but it's informative and a good read for entrepreneurs

mike bloomberg, as revealed in this book: charmingly pompous billionaire from the working class, insightful egomaniac riddled with perseverance, brilliant workaholic (say that three times), meticulously non-self-revealing innovator, daring, honest and clear-thinking leader, philosophical bigshot and braggart, supremely confident head of the heap...and whoppingly narcissistic!

as a book, well, this one has its pluses and minuses. it reveals a lot about mike bloomberg the man, perhaps more than he intended - primarily his overarching business ambition, which seems to blot out most other areas of his life, including his family life. he seems not to think this is a problem, and paints a convincing portrait of himself as the happiest man alive. i wonder if his wife and kids would agree.

beyond his world of business and his business history, however, this book is shallow, and tells little or nothing about his personal life (does he even have one? - he may not!) and his personal past (was it really all so picture perfect?! - i doubt it!). and his few lines devoted to divorcing his wife - how they just *drifted apart* - yeah right! he probably devoted two paragraphs of the whole book to her... i'd be curious to hear her side of it.

as for a history of his growth as a businessman, however, this book is generally excellent - rich and insightful. it does get overly and annoyingly technical at points (offering the lay reader the choice between getting a headache and skimming), and goes on WAY too long at other points (skim on!) - both suggesting that he's out of touch with a mass audience. but on the other hand, he's incredibly IN touch with the business world - with his customer's needs - a quality that, when combined with his need to please, left me no surprise that he did so well in that world.

mike bloomberg looks at the world through strange eyes...and his glasses are compelling. i can't say i share his dream for my future, but i admit to becoming jealous of him at points (i think he unconsciously intends that). that aside, however, it's hard to walk away from this book and not respect him.

meanwhile, i myself never heard of bloomberg until he decided to run for mayor of new york city (where i live). after reading this, i can only imagine that the next four years in new york will prove interesting... (by the way, i didn't vote for him - still can't say i trust him...)

Shows how hard work and hustle, good ideas and risking your own dough still pays off big time in America. Fifteen years ago on Wall Street he was considered by many a joke. Now look at him. He laughs all the way to the bank.

I have been using his news service on a daily basis for some time and I can tell you that what he was saying in the book was not an exaggeration of how great his company was. It is the best model of customer-oriented business I have ever come across in years. If you are not a Bloomberg user, don't read this book because you would never appreciate what he was saying as much as a Bloomberg user would.