46 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is a MUST READ book about Dr. Phil!, November 2, 2005
I just finished reading this book, "The Making Of Dr. Phil" which is an excellent book, and I recommend it to everyone who wants to see what the Wizard Of Oz looks like behind curtain.
It paints a clear picture of the kind of person Dr. Phil really is, a hypocrite! What is interesting is that this book did not receive much publicity, as there is an alleged campaign against the book by Phil, and most media outlets refused to interview the writers for fear of retaliation from Phil. It also shows that Phil is really just an expert psychological manipulator and a very aggressive entrepreneur. Here are some random bullet points I picked out of the book, it's a worthwhile read...pick it up now!
· Phil is not a therapist, and never really was. He hated doing therapy. He went into psychology as a way to make money. He is an expert negotiator, businessman. He is no longer even a licensed psychologist. Phil just uses psychology as a way to make money. He quit practice and went into the Court business, as that was a way he could use psychology as a weapon, and as a way to make a lot of money, and not have to deal with all these dumb people with their problems!
· Phil has quite a sordid past. His first Gym business went bankrupt, and there is lots of evidence that he was still selling to people, when they knew it was going under. They were just spending all the money that came in, and were not putting the money into the health club. They had people buy long-term contracts, and then sold these contracts to 3rd parties, and even after the gym went under, those folks STILL has to keep paying for it! This was based on a tricky contract Phil designed. After that company went under, Phil left in the middle of the night, and to this day the people who got shafted are still bitter about what happened.
· His first marriage was a disaster, he was controlling, abusive, and there were all sorts of charges of endless womanizing. His first wife speaks out very clearly on all of this.
· "You Seminars" which became Pathways, with Thelma Box, was pure sleazy "charismatic" seminar stuff. This is where Phil started to apply all of his salesmanship and psychological seminar tricks, and started to make some money. Thelma Box spills the beans on how Phil takes credit for other people work, and even tried to scam her near the end. Phil would also abuse the "volunteers" that worked for Pathways.
· Phil is NOT a registered psychologist anymore. He ran into trouble years ago, when a 19 year old woman lodged a complaint against Dr. Phil, she said he sexually abused her, pulling her into his lap, reaching into her blouse, etc. He was severely disciplined by his licensing board in a number of different ways.
· His new company, Courtroom Sciences, CSI, tested the loyalty of his employees by staging calls from people pretending to be from the media. His demands, perfectionism, impatience, infuriated outbursts created an atmosphere of fear, resentment, and anxiety. CSI was a 24/7 job for all his employees, they "own you". Dr. Phil behaved in a sexist manner towards his female staff, calling some of their work "an abortion". He was verbally abusive, swearing, calling a woman a stupid b*tch, etc. Former employees describe CSI as being like a "cult" in the demands it would place on them.
· Dr. Phil Show: Phil got a lavish office, but were very cheap with the crew, no food on-set, 16 hr days, he made the job a "living hell" for the crew, making it "the worst show they had ever worked on". He would yell profanities at his crew, making last minute changes and keeping people up all night. Even his wife Robin was interfering with the lighting, and caused the Emmy award lighting director to be fired! The staff all has to sign non-disclosure agreements, so they could only leak info out. Phil did not bother to learn the names of his crew.
· Phil's ego is so big, he refuses to have any other experts in psychology on other than himself.
· All guests on the show sign massive releases that release them from everything.
· He gets $125,000 per speech.
· He launched products called "Shape Up", in a deal with Alticor, the parent company of Amway.
· Phil presents himself as though he thought up all the valid psychological ideas he uses, he makes it seem they are all his own ideas. McGraw also doesn't seem to follow the APA guidelines or ethics, in how he deals with the people on the show.
· He tries to erase his ugly past from the record, and pretends it never happened. He filed for bankruptcy after his health club went out of business, then left town in the middle of the night, and didn't mention it again. The same with his first marriage, which was a disaster, with allegations of Dr. Phil cheating on his wife many times. He tries to pretend things in his life never happened.
· People are so afraid of Phil, that they will not talk about him, won't return calls, and expressed fear of retaliation from Phil.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quite a businessman, November 5, 2003
All right: No, I'm not a huge Dr. Phil fan. My wife can't get enough of him though. But as a businessman, I'm amazed at all he has been able to accomplish in such a short time. I really read this book hoping to learn how he was able to build such an incredible empire of books, self-help tapes, seminars, TV show, diet products, and so forth. After reading this book, which was very entertaining, it's clear his success is a mix of intelligence, persistence, and luck. He apparently has been an entrepreneur since childhood, always looking for ways to make money. But he has failed at these endeavours as much as he has succeeded. Although it seems like everything he touches these days turns to gold, that wasn't always the case. So, while I still won't be watching his show, I have come to admire him more as a businessman from reading this book and hope to start using some of his success strategies to grow my own business. It's quite an inspirational read.
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