Customer Reviews

The Book of Entrepreneurs' Wisdom: Classic Writings by Legendary Entrepreneurs

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Peter Krass has edited the Wisdom Series series which includes this volume. Each anthologizes brief essays by various executives who are most highly regarded as leaders, managers, entrepreneurs, etc. Following an insightful Introduction, Krass provides a brief bio of each author which precedes her or his essay. Here we have "classic writings by legendary entrepreneurs" whose essays are organized by Krass as follows:

Part I: The Start-Up [eg Michael Bloomberg, Kim Polese, and Doris Drucker]

Part II: The Maverick Element and Other Qualities [eg Warren Avis, Andrew Carnegie, and Mark McCormack]

Part III: Venture Capital, LBOs, and Going Public [eg Tom Monaghan, Conrad Hilton, and Henry R. Kravis]

Part IV: Risk and Strategy [eg Richard Branson, Dave Thomas, and Steve Case]

Part V: Inventors Turned Entrepreneurs [eg Henry Ford, Steven P. Jobs, and Benjamin Franklin]

Part VI: Branding. Image, and Selling [eg Howard M. Schultz, John H. Johnson, and P.T. Barnum]

Part VII: Entrepreneurial Management [eg Alfred C. Fuller, Debbi Fields, and Anita Roddick]

Part VIII: Personal Stories [eg Herman W. Lay, Kenneth H. Olsen, and Samuel Goldwyn]

Krass has done a brilliant job of selecting and then organizing the 54 essays, many of which are otherwise unavailable or virtually inaccessible. (For example, Doris Drucker's "Mrs. Drucker Starts a Business." Yes, she is the wife of that Mr. Drucker.) If you enjoyed reading this book as much as I did, I urge you to check out each of the other volumes in the Wisdom Series, also published by John Wiley & Sons.

This book is a collection of 50 essays and speeches by the world's leading entrepreneurs-from the past to the present.

Barry Diller, Michael Dell, Richard Branson, and Phil Knight are among the successful entrepreneurs who share their best advice and strategies in the pages of this book. Filled with insights on a wide variety of entrepreneurial issues, the book discusses such topics as how to set and meet personal goals, how to create the right image for your company, problem solving, generating ideas, going public, and effective management. Editor Peter Krass introduces each selection and provides interesting and relevant background information on each entrepreneur. He also highlights significant comments and advice from each entrepreneur.

This book features each entrepreneur's ideas in his/her own words. Informative and inspiring, this book will appeal not only to entrepreneurs, but to all general business readers.

Peter Krass is an author and editor. He is the editor of The Book of Investing Wisdom, The Book of Leadership Wisdom, and The Book of Business Wisdom (all available from Wiley).

Reviewed by Azlan Adnan. Formerly Business Development Manager with KPMG, Azlan is currently Managing Partner of Azlan & Koh Knowledge and Professional Management Group, an education and management consulting practice based in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysian Borneo. He holds a Master's degree in International Business and Management from the Westminster Business School in London.

This book is a fantastic accounting of many famous business owners and their stories. It shows the would be business owner that through hard work, dedication, and commitment, dreams and goals can be reached.

Peter Krass has compiled 50 essays by different spectacularly successful entrepreneurs, among them Barry Diller, Michael Dell, Richard Branson, Harvey Firestone and Steve Case, in which they share lessons they learned in their life the hard way.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone thinking about a career as an entrepreneur, and to any parents wishing to plant the idea of being an entrepreneur in their children's' heads.