Customer Reviews

My Life & The Principles for Success

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Although the autobiographical section of the book is interesting, particularly the segments involving Perot's achievements at the U.S. Naval Academy and his subsequent success in sales at IBM and EDS, the most significant portion of the book is Perot's principles of success.

These principles were originally written as a graduation gift for his son, who is now a very successful businessman in Dallas. Perot's advice is extremely practical, and provokes self-analysis to determine how to play one's strengths to accomplish long-term personal and financial goals. One can actually analyze Junior's recent business deals to see how he has implemented his father's principles.

If you are looking for a 12-step program or some other motivational book of the "believe and achieve" variety, this is not the book for you. On the other hand, if you are looking for a self-made billionaire's realistic assessment of what it takes to succeed, this book is definitely worth every penny.

Along with the book It's Your Ship by Michael Abrashoff, this book should be required reading for business leaders, military officers and non-commission officers, government leaders, college students who are getting business degrees and adults who are getting advanced college degrees. Read the two books and then roll up your sleeves and apply the techniques at in your organization on a continous basis until you die or retire. Don't talk about it, just do it!!!

The first half of this book reads like a "Life's Little Instruction Book" from a rather successful billionaire. Lots of good business and life advice, from a perspective that you would expect -- that of the famous Ross Perot. The second half is an autobiography that could use some more luster -- the first half is what makes this book worthwhile.

I didn't buy this book for myself. I purchased it for a Perot fan. He says the book is very good There are lots of quotes and anecdotes. It's the type of book that you can sit reading for an hour or you can just read a few pages

Although the autobiographical section of the book is interesting, particularly the segments involving Perot's achievements at the U.S. Naval Academy and his subsequent success in sales at IBM and EDS, the most significant portion of the book is Perot's principles of success.

These principles were originally written as a graduation gift for his son, who is now a very successful businessman in Dallas. Perot's advice is extremely practical, and provokes self-analysis to determine how to play one's strengths to accomplish long-term personal and financial goals. One can actually analyze Junior's recent business deals to see how he has implemented his father's principles.

If you are looking for a 12-step program or some other motivational book of the "believe and achieve" variety, this is not the book for you. On the other hand, if you are looking for a self-made billionaire's realistic assessment of what it takes to succeed, this book is definitely worth every penny.

Excellent story about Perots past. Then explaining how one can also be successful. The book is simple ,concise and clear.

This man has lived a fascinating life. He is a brilliant businessman, and a great success in many many ways.

This book unfortunately fell into the pattern of many other autobiographies by folks who do not want to tell the real details.

He describes his childhood with some detail, then goes on to top line his life. He never really goes into strategy and tactics about his business activities - what he did, why, who he met, discussions or details about those people. Nothing.

Rather, he chose to go through the "this happened, and i was with this guy, and he is a really great guy, and so that's all that happened and oh by the way did I say that this guy is a really great guy?" routine.

Nothing to see here. To quote Perot, "That's just sad!"

Perot offers some good, solid principles to follow, both in business and in personal matters. His advice is pretty good, with a few exceptions. Most notably is his theory that a person should never use credit. It is very idealistic to try to use cash in all business and personal affairs, but it is also very impractical. There are many instances where credit is necessary to succeed and/or survive.

Ross Perot speaks quite fondly of his parents and it is easy to see why. He had very unique parents who were helpful, unprejudiced, positive, and giving. This undoubtedly set the stage for Perot's future success.

There are several occasions where Perot interjects his feelings on returning to the days of the past- a time where people helped each other and felt completely safe leaving their doors unlocked at night. He does not make any suggestions on what economic changes are necessary to achieve this or how the present day conditions came about, but we all know the problem. It is GOVERNMENT. Federal programs have failed us all. They have caused extreme apathy among Americans- a feeling that we can always pass the buck and let the government deal with it. This is probably one of the many reasons why Perot has become politically involved.

We can only hope that Americans will wake up and realize the importance of Perot's concerns. We all need to take action and make the changes necessary for a better tomorrow.