Customer Reviews

Masters of the Universe: Winning Strategies Of America's Greatest Deal Makers

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

 

 

Although the book is interesting to read the stories are too concise to gain any particular insight into the "winning strategies". Generally this book is not much more revealing than numerous articles available on the persons concerned. Also stories on specialist dealmakers, like Forstmann, are intermingled with stories on corporate dealmakers, like McColl. Corporate M&As is a rather different subject from LBO maneuvering, in my view, and shouldn't have been combined in one book.

As a business writer, I fruitfully used this book as the barest presentation of the facts before going to do a heavy reporting project. However, had I not spent some time with one of the protagonists in this book and then a great deal more with his associates, I would never have clearly understood what they actually do and how they work. As it stands, this book offers a quick and dirty intro to the biggest dealmakers of their time. While some background and explanations are offered, it leaves out the gritty details and true complexity of what goes on in these huge and often risky deals. That disappointed me about this book more and more as I delved into my work.

Kadlec also adopts a kind of chummy tone with these guys, like they are bar pals as well as subjects for his work, and so you wonder what he may have left out to protect his professional relationships. He barely questions what they do and never really broaches the questions of ethics, as if such considerations don't exist; well, they do, and the people I spoke to were informed and concerned about ethics.

So this is merely a superficial trade-journalistic treatment. While this has merit, it is rather more like a vanilla milkshake than the full meal I had hoped for. I wanted deeper info, but then I was preparing to enter on a several-month project about a field I knew little about when I started.

The writing is also not very good, and lengthy interviews are included verbatim, which is a shoddy way to beef up the text to little purpose.

Not strongly recommended.

I like books that summarize outstanding businessmen. Sometimes I learn something. Sometimes I'm just entertained. This book does not contain massive new information but it entertained me and I learned something. While I recommend the book, it is not in the top 10 business books I have read.

I must admit to being utterly disappointed with this book. So much so, that I skipped most of it and ultimately decided it to be a waste of time. Spelling errors, repetitive language and uninteresting commentary seem to be a consistent theme in this book. I would neither recommend its purchase, nor borrowing it from a friend. Don't waste your time.

the thoughts of some of the most successful businesman, presented like they would sit across the table and willing to share their experiences and approaches with a real good friend. a post-post graduate course in "BRILLIANCE".

This book does a great job showing how an assortment of business people from different industries became successful in their careers. The most important lesson to learn from this book is that many of these business people came from a similar background to your own and you too could have the success they did. This book does not give a large amount of detail as to how each businessperson became successful, but it still gives an excellent high-level view.

Kadlec recounts tales of the "High Rollers" in a casual and conversational manner that business people of all levels can understand. He provides insight into the 'can do' mentality of the big dealmakers that can inspire us all.

Masters of the Universe is a very good airplane/bedroom compilation. It's really a history of the "great" business innovators and shakers during the late 19th and 20th century. Each "mover" is 10-12 pages long. If you like history and business, this should be very educational.