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The Go-Getter: A Story That Tells You How To Be One
 
 
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The Go-Getter: A Story That Tells You How To Be One [Hardcover]

Peter B. Kyne (Author), Alan Axelrod (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (74 customer reviews)

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Book Description

January 9, 2003
The classic motivational parable (over 500,000 copies sold worldwide) that shows you how to make your own opportunities in life, updated for the modern reader by bestselling business author Alan Axelrod

Ever since its first printing by William Randolph Hearst in 1921, The Go-Getter has inspired employees and entrepreneurs to take initiative, increase their productivity, and excel against the odds. Now, more than half a million copies later, Alan Axelrod, bestselling author of Patton on Leadership and Elizabeth I, CEO, updates the tale to address today's most pressing work issues.

In The Go-Getter, Bill Peck, a war veteran, persuades Cappy Ricks, the influential founder of the Rick's Logging & Lumbering Company, to let him prove himself by selling skunk wood in odd lengths-a job that everyone knows can only lead to failure. When Peck goes on to beat his quota, Rick hands Peck the ultimate opportunity and the ultimate test: the quest for an elusive blue vase. Drawing on such classic values as honesty, determination, passion, and responsibility, Peck overcomes nearly insurmountable obstacles to find the vase and launch hia career as a successful manager.

In a time when jobs are tight and managers are too busy for mentoring, how can you maintain positive energy, take control of your career, and prepare yourself to ace the tests that come your way? By applying the timeless lessons in this compulsively readable parable, employees at all levels can learn to rekindle the go-getter in themselves.

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with QBQ! The Question Behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability at Work and in Life $13.57

The Go-Getter: A Story That Tells You How To Be One + QBQ! The Question Behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability at Work and in Life


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Although Kyne's tale of business smarts has been around for some time (it was first published by William Randolph Hearst in 1921), it doesn't feel dated. Indeed, lumber wholesaler Cappy Ricks's situation (he "had more troubles than a hen with ducklings") mirrors that of many business leaders today. It's a straightforward parable about a young war veteran who's handed an opportunity that will either make or break his career. If he accepts the job and pulls it off, he's a go-getter; if he fails, it's curtains. The kid's motto-"It shall be done"-sums up Kyne's point: even if you're unsure, say you can do it. Then figure out how to do it and make sure you succeed. Go above and beyond. The 82-year-old story gets some slight spiffing up by business book writer Axelrod (Everything I Know About Business I Learned from Monopoly), and the afterword is especially helpful in pinpointing Kyne's main ideas.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

A native of San Francisco, Peter B. Kyne was a prolific screenwriter and the author of the 1920 bestseller Kindred of the Dust. His stories of Cappy Ricks and the Rick's Logging & Lumbering Company were serialized in The Saturday Evening
Post and William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan magazine. He died in 1957. Historian Alan Axelrod is the author of the business bestsellers Patton on Leadership and Elizabeth I, CEO. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 96 pages
  • Publisher: Times Books; 1st edition (January 9, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0805065628
  • ISBN-13: 978-0805065626
  • Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (74 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #63,847 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

74 Reviews
5 star:
 (45)
4 star:
 (18)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:
 (8)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (74 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Timeless Classic, Quick Read, Great Business Short Story, December 12, 2004
This review is from: The Go-Getter: A Story That Tells You How To Be One (Hardcover)
This one needs to be added to every young business person's essential reading list. Though written in the 1920's, it does not feel dated, and its lessons and examples are still applicable today.

The young character in the book, Bill Peck, has just returned from the war and is determined to get a job with the leading lumber company. He displays confidence, and that's the first lesson in the book. He refuses to take no for an answer when rejected by two of the top executives of the company. He takes his case directly to the founder of the company, who is impressed by his determination. Bill's confidence is demonstrated by the fact that he had his business cards printed before he had even spoken to the company.

The second lesson is execution. Bill doesn't just throw out empty promises, but promptly delivers when turned loose in the field. It does not matter that he has been given an inferior, difficult to sell product. He finds a way to make it irresitible to his customers.

Finally, the company's founder decides to give Bill the final test, asking him to "deliver the blue vase." Bill shows his resourcefulness and refusal to quit in fulfilling this quest.

Though you can knock this book out in just one sitting, its lessons will stay with you throughout your career.

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25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars The Go Getter: A Parable of Thuggery, September 7, 2010
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This review is from: The Go-Getter (Kindle Edition)

I realize this is the minority opinion, especially for a book with a price tag of $0.00, still in all, I found "The Go Getter" a very strange book.

The protagonist is a one-legged, 1 1/2-armed ex army sniper who lands a job with a lumber company. The guy clearly can sell ice cubes to Eskimos but as we go deeper into the story we find there's a bit of Joe Pesci's character in "Goodfella's" in him. To achieve his ends he bullies, threatens to beat the crud out of those who stand in his way, and at one point considers robbery to fulfill a promise to his boss.

And I thought Kevin Trudeau was extreme.

Stick with "A Message to Garcia". The Kindle edition will set you back $.95 but it has one thing going for it the other doesn't come close to: it's a classic of the genre. You don't have to plunge for this, of course, but as the protagonist of "The Go Getter" might say, "Listen, chum. You're going to download this or by God, I'll beat you with my stump and throw you off a bridge!"

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24 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the top five books I have ever read!!!, September 6, 1999
By A Customer
There have been times in my life when I was behind the eight ball and I remembered the story of the go-getter. It has gotten me through many a tough situation.

It is not a very long book. If it takes you more than an hour to read, then you have reading problems. However, it is the story that makes the book amazing.

I have read hundreds of books, and I would rank only four or five of them five stars, and this is one of them.

If you want to succeed at something then read this book first. You will not regret it!!!

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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
MR. ALDEN P. RICKS, KNOWN IN PACIFIC COAST wholesale lumber and shipping circles as Cappy Ricks, had more troubles than a hen with ducklings. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
skunk spruce, skunk wood, blue vase, art shop, navigation company
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Bill Peck, Cappy Ricks, Matt Peasley, Herman Joost, Ricks Logging, San Francisco, Degree of the Blue Vase, Lumbering Company, Mill Valley, Santa Barbara, Blue Star Navigation Company, Captain Peasley, Geary Street
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