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You've heard the career advice, "Do what you love and the money will follow." That's bad advice, according to Stephen M. Pollan and Mark Levine. The coauthors of the surprise bestseller
Die Broke are back with another book of irreverent wisdom. Where
Die Broke offered a fresh approach to dealing with money,
Live Rich is full of equally original ideas about careers.
Pollan and Levine advocate a kind of enlightened selfishness. Their first rule: work for yourself, even if you are someone else's employee. Identify your own best interests and pursue them aggressively. Be mercenary. And don't sacrifice money for work you love. For love, get a dog. Less cynical than they might first appear, Pollan and Levine are the savvy uncles you wish you had, who share their hardheaded street smarts without telling you what to do. The bulk of Live Rich is a compendium of tips on everything from hiring an accountant to picking stationery. Readers should come away with at least a few good ideas and perhaps with a changed perspective on the relation of work and life. --Barry Mitzman
From Publishers Weekly
With the same format and approach as the bestselling Die Broke, financial adviser Pollan here focuses on earning money rather than spending it. "To live rich" (which, he assumes, is "what we all want"), "you need to abandon the pursuit of meaningful work." That's a grim but perhaps rational way to approach our Brave New Employment World, and the rules are simple: make money (don't worry about emotional gratification at work); don't grow, change (avoid putting down roots at work); and take charge. Entrepreneurs must ensure that their businesses serve them, and employees must be mercenaries. The bulk of the book, as in Die Broke (also a collaboration with Levine), consists of short takes on relevant topics, some limited to entrepreneurs. Those topics include advertising (too broad to be efficient, he says), call waiting (it inevitably insults someone), equipment (lease rather than buy) and time management (offer estimates rather than deadlines). Cutting out social and personal elements makes work more efficient, Pollan declares. Readers happily heading out to lunch with co-workers might disagree.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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