Customer Reviews

Everything I Know About Business I Learned From Monopoly: Successful Executives Reveal Strategic Lessons From The World's Greatest Board Game

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After buying the rights from creator Charles Darrow, Parker Brothers introduced the board game Monopoly® in 1935. It soon became an American icon of capitalism in its most competitive form. Popular estimates claim that nearly 1 billion people have played the game. Ironically, the game flourished during a time when the Great Depression still held its sway on the American psyche. Author Alan Axelrod attributes this odd phenomenon to the cathartic affect the game had on people. Still, many attribute its success more to its ability to mirror real life. Monopoly as a metaphor for business serves as the impetuous for this book.

Axelrod fills his book generously with quotes from leaders of industry. While the board game differs considerably from real life in some substantive areas, such as starting out on a level playing field, the game compensates for these few exceptions by creating a playing environment that relies more on skill and attitude. The author emphasizes this important lesson, "...our own fates are in large part decided by our actions and not completely by our starting points" (28). The book primarily aims to distill the practical lessons learned from playing the game, but at the same time teaches you many of the skills needed to become a better game player.

The chief contribution Monopoly® makes to the business world is to expound the point that passing "GO" and collecting a $200 income will not win the game. A winning strategy necessitates aggressive play in analyzing, buying, selling, and trading properties. Axelrod believes that players must be bifocal, keeping an eye on both strategy and tactics, "To be sure, the business of business is making money, but it is also managing and manipulating money" (63). An important component in accumulating properties includes the willingness to leverage your buying power by taking on debt and mortgaging auxiliary properties.

Player psychology also figures in prominently. By better understanding yourself and your opponents you can make better decisions. Successful deals require both players to feel that they gained something from the trade. When negotiating Axelrod reminds us what is most important to keep in mind, "The rookie salesman makes the mistake of selling price rather than value" (99). To improve your own playing build a healthy tolerance for taking calculated risks. Eliminate chance from the equation by "doing the math" and basing decisions on facts.

Finally, the better players build on their investing and psychological advantages by exploiting market conditions, such as economic scarcity. The natural shortage of houses and hotels in the game teaches us that it pays to take advantage of market inefficiencies. This extends to finding deals by picking up properties at auction. Vigilance and preparation rule the day.

In the "real world" it is quite difficult to accurately assess all of the conditions that lead to a venture's success or failure. There are myriad reasons why the information needed to do so is simply not available which range from disclosure restrictions for a continuing business to fear of suit by the principals of a failed business. As such, it is, as a rule, quite difficult to completely analyze the success or failure of a real enterprise - though many have tried.

In Everything I Know About Business I Learned From Monopoly, Axelrod tries to impart business wisdom through a mechanism that can be completely analyzed, the game of Monopoly. As such, he provides insightful commentary on how the game and the "real world" are both similar and different. He illustrates, for example, how in business watching for industry or customer-base changes is similar to watching for the change of game phases in Monopoly, and how both are critical to the decisions that you make to ensure continued prosperity.

Over all, the book is very specific on Monopoly-playing suggestions (mentioning the probabilities attached to rolling dice and landing on properties many times) and somewhat vague on the specifics of applying these principals in business. This is to be expected, though, as the book is clearly about analyzing the game and applying the lessons learned to the business world. Within that context, it does its job quite well.

This book is basically a simulation and, like any simulation, its value is determined by the reader's ability to apply its lessons to reality. At the very least, you will get to read a variety of interesting quotations by industry-leaders; for the more attentive and imaginative readers, the game of Monopoly will provide a whole new mechanism for testing strategies for business in general.

This book will make you want to start up a game of Monopoly, or if you're feeling a bit ambitious, you'll want to start up a new company. I guess that's part of the appeal of this book. If you love Monopoly, arguably the most popular board game in American history, then you'll enjoy this book. If you are a successful businessman, or have ever aspired to be an entreprenuer, then this is the book for you.
I admit it, I'm a Monopoly afficionado. For that reason, the cover of this book caught my eye. After reading only a couple pages, I knew I had to sit down and finish this book.

The author uses basic strategies used in the board game Monopoly to relate to tried-and-true strategies used in the business world. He divides these strategies into separate lessons. There is a lot of information in here about the game of Monopoly that I for one did not know, including a brief history behind the making of the game, the odds of landing on certain properties, and various strategies that come into play during the course of the game.
The author pretty much covers everything there is to know about Monopoly. In that sense, it's a very broad subject and at times I did find myself wondering how this information relates to what the author really knows about business. That doesn't matter though. I really enjoy this book and I highly recommend it.
Some people would argue that the best part of this book is the various quotes and anecdotes from numerous business leaders, CEOs, and executives from around the world. These snippets of what makes business and the game of Monopoly similar are what make this book a worth-while read.

My grading scale is a little tough. I do not give five stars to a book unless it's a classic.

While I found this book interesting to read for a Monopoly Player, I don't think there is any value In the Business side of things.

The book's notes from famous CEO's is great & it's the only thing that gave me reason to turn to the next page, and continue to finish reading the book.

I found the final chapters of the book the most interest; and I suggest as mentioned in another review the book title should be "Everything I Know About Monopoly I Learned from Business".

The information presented in the book related pretty well to the Monopoly game. Each time I read more in the book, I couldn't wait to go play the game. But the information given was meant to be applied to the business world. I am not quite there yet but I feel I gained quite a bit of insight by reading the book and thinking of how it relates to Monopoly. There are quotes and thoughts throughout the book, put in the form of title deeds, chance cards, and other familiar Monopoly things that are rather insightful, but sometimes distracting. The only criticism was with the actual hardcover book itself. The spine broke about 2/3 of the way through.
All in all, a good book that I would recommend.

I liked this book. The chapters were short and to the point. Some of the chapters focused mainly on business while others focused on playing the game of Monopoly with more skill (reducing your dependency on chance). It seemed a little misleading when you read the book only to realize that the quotes in the book from successful biz executives are just quotes from them, not necessarily about Monopoly. They did apply to the chapter, but it seemed a little gimmicky.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to play Monopoly and also is in business.

Everything I know about business I learned from Monopoly is an interesting look at the strategy behind the game of Monopoly and tries to turn it into business lessons. The book succeeds with the first part and is lukewarm on the second. The writing is very choppy and the focus is not great.

As far as monopoly strategy goes this book is very interesting. From statistical breakdowns on property to average time around the board to costs to get around the board the book provides an interesting array of tips and tricks. While the psychological discussion is of limited use it is still interesting to hear about and for a fun read for avid Monopoly fans they will find this part enjoyable.

As far as the business strategy goes it is poorly delivered. There are little specifics given beyond the basic platitudes that so many business books fall victim to in this trite and overused terminology. For those who want lessons on business this is not the book to do it in and you will get very little out of the poor organization and extremely high level analysis.

Overall just two stars. Read if you want to learn more about how to better play monopoly otherwise move on to other business books.

Do not be fooled by the casual nature of this book. The most valuabe insights may be difficult to frame, but it's surprisingly effective in its aim; to improve your perspective on succeeding in business.

It achieves this concisely, one of its greatest strengths. The premise in this case, the board game, is just a conduit. An effective one. If you get bogged down in the material - the properties, pieces, etc... you're missing the point. The author uses it because it's accessible and has existing preconceptions that benefit from being reworked. Most people aren't that successful, so reworking a perspective is just what the doctor ordered. Monopoly, the board game, is good simply becuase it has high exposure; the lessons can be learned from any discipline. This one just works and is entertaining to boot.

So the point is that if you change how you look at the resources in your business, you'll use them more successfully. To illustrate: you don't win Monopoly by becoming the richest; you win by ensuring everyone goes bankrupt first. The effect may be the same in both instances, but understanding the true cause/effect relationships is what separates the most successful from the rest.

This is the overiding theme through this short, and engaging read. You can benefit from how you judge what causes success. The fact that it does this with Monopoly adds to the flavor.

This book does a great job of paralleling basic business concepts with Monopoly game play. This would work perfectly if business was conducted by four persons in your living room.

The book covers concepts including aggressiion, opportunity, maximizing odds and negotiation. If you find these concepts new or intriguing then this is a great book for you. I found it somewhat humorous and witty but not enough to recommend to friends.

I do find myself oddly excited about my next game of Monopoly as I now have some insights on game strategy that I never knew or cared about before.

The was a good book and easy to read, but I have never seen a published book with this many errors in it. They are on almost every page. Titles out of place, misspelled words, errors in punctution, etc. You name the error. This book has it. The content was fine (if a tad redundant), but the reader quickly gets annoyed. This book was rushed onto the shelf!!!