Make Your Own Luck: Success Tactics You'll Never Learn in B-School [Hardcover]

Peter Kash (Author), Tom Monte (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 2002

Each year, tens of thousands of young people emerge from colleges, business schools and graduate degree programs full of ambition, energy and a mistaken belief that they know how the business world works."Make Your Own Luck "will help new graduates and business people at any stage in their careers identify and adopt the behaviors that lead to success. Using more than a hundred examples from the author's own experience as well as from the experiences of well-known highly successful individuals, this book will teach readers what it really takes to succeed.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kash, a professor at the Wharton School of Business and an international business consultant, is a self-made millionaire. Starting out without any special connections or advantages, he has managed to make, lose and remake several fortunes. His principles for success are straightforward: take advantage of luck, talk to people even when you don't know who they are, be honest and help others. Kash recalls when he was in a difficult negotiating position with some Japanese investors. When the investors saw Kash stop to help a blind woman on the street, they immediately agreed to close the deal. The reason: they saw him as a helpful, generous man. While Kash is obviously an optimist, he's also realistic: "The first thing you have to realize about business is that rejection is a badge of honor. You don't go anywhere in the business world without taking risks, exposing yourself and your ideas to criticism, and then occasionally experiencing rejection for them. This takes courage." Written in a chatty, informal style, the book is full of anecdotes from Kash's own life, and the upbeat messages are tempered with a dose of humility and wit. Though some of his advice is familiar, Kash's warm, personal tone and emphasis on respect toward others makes this book more appealing than other tomes in this genre. Agent, Linda Roghaar.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Peter Kash has raised more than $500 million in venture capital and has helped start more than a dozen successful companies. He teaches at Wharton Business School, is a visiting professor at a number of institutions, including Nihon University, Japan’s largest, and serves on the Hedge Fund Association Board of Directors.

Tom Monte has been a co-author or ghost writer on many bestselling books, including Robert Pritikin’s The Pritikin Weight Loss Breakthrough.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall Press; 1st edition (January 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735202249
• ISBN-13: 978-0735202245
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,321,774 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Make up your own mind, March 13, 2002

By 

Martin Schray (West Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Make Your Own Luck: Success Tactics You'll Never Learn in B-School (Hardcover)

Make Your Own Luck is a practical guide for getting the most from what you have. Make Your Own Luck is really a feel good kind of book not based on heavily researched scientific fact.

The author reminds the reader of old platitudes and gives antidotal evidence support these platitudes. Yet in the hustle and bustle of everyday life these reminders are welcome and help realign the compass guiding our lives.

The author reminds us the life is full of unexplained coincidences. If we notice and engage (rather then ignore) these coincidences we can usually find opportunity knocking. Make your own luck covers topics such as failure (required to succeed), rejection (required to succeed), finding a purpose in work and specialization (which can be a path to success).

The underlying tone is the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The author adds the concept of the "web of life", which could be described as "what goes around comes around".

I would recommend Make Your Own Luck. Although the concepts are tried and true they are still important to consider and pursue. In a busy world we need to be reminded and make sure we are following our compass.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A life Altering Book, August 16, 2002

By 

Daniel Macksey (Chicago, IL. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Make Your Own Luck: Success Tactics You'll Never Learn in B-School (Hardcover)

I have to say that I pick up a lot of books (from personal success to mathematical tomes) and read them over a period of a week to a month, but not this book. This book is so engrossing that I finished it in two days! Peter Kash really hit a note inside me when he talked about the coincidences and serendipity in eveyone's life. When you look at the world the way Peter Kash does everything begins to become clear and you can't help but to look forward to everyday, to meet new people and to appreciate your family and the people you know well. I have recommended this book as a Must read to all of my friends and I recommend it to anyone who is trying to get a "lucky break" on their way to the top! I can assure you that this is not "fluff" or New Age "Gobbledygook". This is a book written from the "gut" from a solid, successful, entrepeneur, who comes across - not as a know it all - but of someone who has learned a lot of secrets on how to make your own luck. Truly a life altering book for this reader.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Web of Life-Human Connectedness, January 20, 2002

By 

yoni barnhard, md (riverdale, ny USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Make Your Own Luck: Success Tactics You'll Never Learn in B-School (Hardcover)

In Make Your Own Luck, Peter Kash proves a wise storyteller of moral fables from Wall Street that illustrate his obsession with showing that values are the foundation of achieving the successful destiny we desire. Hidden within this "rough roadmap" of success tactics in the world of finance are many gems of sage advice for seeking the deeper meanings found while pursuing success. The link between professional pursuit and spiritual fulfillment are indeed mutually bound together as Kash reminds us thoughout this marvelous celebration of the sweetness of human life. The book eloquently weaves together a sense of wholeness and purpose for our daily pursuits. It was profoundly uplifting to hear the voice of humility and gratitude spoken by a successful financier. Kash
has triumphed on Wall Street. He was among the first to recognize the advent of a new age in medical science. He was successful in creating companies using the new tools of molecular science to offer hope to people dying of cancer, and suffering from diabetes and autoimmune diseases. The resounding compulsion with tying human endeavor to proper values makes it less surprising that this seasoned entrepreneur chose (a key value in Kash's world)biotechnology-an "industry" that alleviates human suffering.
As a physician involved in both the clinical and research worlds of medicine I felt a strong human bond with the author. His practical advice alone is a helpful guide for anyone trying to achieve success in any endeavor that requires human contact. Understanding the Web of Life and the opportunities inherent in this human connectedness is a worthwhile task for anyone. What motivated me to internalize the advice in this practical B-school course was its emphasis on seeing opportunities for improving ourselves, others and the world around us in every one of our pursuits. It is uplifting to see that for Kash, success tactics are intimately bound to strategies that recognize our obligations and responsibilities to others. We create the Web of Life through our actions.
I think that Make Your Own Luck should be read by all first year medical residents. Kash, in his work-day reality of corporate finance and return on investment, provides a higher meaning to the pursuit of success. This message should be at the basis of every human encounter in the health care profession. I toast Kash for reminding all of us that supporting the tactics that make us successful must be a strategy rooted in gratitude for the chance to join the Web of Life.