Meet Me at the top [Paperback]

Sarina Russo (Author), Russ Gleeson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2002

Meet Me At The Top is an inspiring story about the power of one woman’s self-belief, a power that lifted her from failure to superstardom in business. It is about the impressive journey of Sarina Russo, who climbed from the depths of adversity and entrapment in a smothering culture to the heights of success, financial independence and liberation as a woman. Sarina Russo was selected by an independent international panel as one of the world’s 40 leading entrepreneurs for the Year 2000.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Sarina has been through the worst of times but has turned them into endless possibilities. -- Francine LeFrak, President, LeFrak Publications, New York

This book has spoken louder than any other motivational book; it has compelled me to live the lessons with vigour. -- Nick Jones, Stenhouse Recruiting

internationally recognized as a pioneer and a woman making great things happen... wonderful role model, especially for young women. -- Peter Beattie, MP, Premier and Minister of Trade, Queensland, Australia

About the Author

The Child: Sarina Russo came to Australia from Sicily as a five year-old. She had everything against her as a young migrant in Brisbane. Her struggle with the new language she had to learn aroused skepticism and doubt in teachers who constantly failed her in English and told her she would never make it to senior school. She was the student the teachers would have voted most unlikely to succeed, yet all the while she was the clever, resourceful and charming kid who helped her father in his modest business ventures.

The Young Woman: Sarina Russo left those school gates feeling inadequate, totally disillusioned. She became a typist and was fired from job after job because she had an ‘attitude’ problem, but inside her a spirit was burning. Somehow she was going to make it; somehow she was going to ‘be someone’. But her life was strictly controlled. As the youngest daughter of a family that lived to a strict Sicilian tradition she was obliged to live at home with her parents and spend her spare time working on their vineyard. Their destiny for her was motherhood, lots of children. She didn’t want marriage. She wanted freedom and a career, but the ties that bound her were frighteningly tight. It was not until the age of 26 that she managed to run away to find her own destiny.

The Fledgling Business Woman: After being fired again and again she rented a room above a bank and started a small typing school. And that was when she discovered her real talent - getting people to the starting line of a new phase in their lives, motivating them to believe in themselves. She got jobs for all of her students. As her reputation grew - with students who loved her motivational teaching style and employers who liked the skills and attitudes of the people they recruited from her courses - her business grew. Today Russo Institute of Technology is a major educational institute with a campus for 1000 in the heart of Brisbane drawing students from around the world. Alongside it she has built another major business, Sarina Russo Job Access, a network of recruitment offices around the eastern states of Australian helping thousands of people on the unemployment register to find jobs.

The Entrepreneur Takes Wing: She had many setbacks - refusals by the education department to endorse her courses, a fire that destroyed her school, knock-backs from banks to whom she went for loans to finance business growth, naysayers, but by this time she had discovered the power of self belief and persistence. Her motto was ‘it can be done’ and so it was. While she grew her business she embarked on a path of self development through constant learning. She honed her business skills, every year for 10 years, by attending entrepreneurship courses, at the Harvard Business School, from which she received the coveted OPM designation in 1999.

The Queensland Icon of Today: Sarina Russo has achieved massive success as an educator, businesswoman and property owner. In her book she shares the secrets of her success in business: how to lead a business, how to recruit, how to enhance performance, how to win and retain customers, how to build a brand and much more. This is a book that will make its readers see new possibilities for themselves; it will make them set higher goals and it will show them how to be the best they can be by acting on the secret she shares about how ordinary people can become remarkable people by doing ordinary things extraordinarily well, by doing them the Russo way. And for the success of every other individual she will be grateful, for her own motivation is this: by enhancing others, I enhance myself.

Product Details

• Paperback: 210 pages
• Publisher: Crown Content (December 2002)
• ISBN-10: 1863503803
• ISBN-13: 978-1863503808
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,507,618 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An inspiration for All Women and An Eye Opener for Me, July 16, 2003

By 

Dana Nushi - See all my reviews

This review is from: Meet Me at the top (Paperback)

This book speaks louder and stronger than any motivational book I have read. It was an eye opener for me. I hope to re-read it again to absorb all the lessons in it. Sarina Russo is truly an inspiration for all women fighting for equal rights and justice. I have a very small suggestion. The author could actually be a guiding star for millions of helpless students and women whose life might improve through an online counseling portal.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Russo's Achievements: Commendable Under Hostile Conditions, June 26, 2003

By 

Alain Paul Martin (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Meet Me at the top (Paperback)

Sarina Russo's book is about leadership and much more. Russo takes us on a fascinating journey of discovery, daunting challenges and achievements against the odds. Her attitude is characterized by the absence of anger and a healthy, passionate, and relentlessly positive outlook on life. This is commendable considering the extreme suffering she endured throughout her youth and early adulthood, from parents and employers alike. Sarina is a living proof that failure can be rich in lessons for those who are mission driven, creative and who never give up building allies and trust, even among adversaries. This book should be a compulsory reading for executives, educators, business and high-school students. It provides an inspiring role model for current and emerging generations of leaders, and everyone frustrated and unfairly treated, who may wish to give up her or his dream. The stories that have propelled many books to The New York Times list of bestsellers pale in comparison with the authentic, credible and humane journey of Sarina Russo. Easy to read for everyone, rich in content and anecdotes, Meet Me At The Top is bound to reach the top of the charts here in North America as it did in Australia.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars She made herself for the top, July 21, 2003

By 

Pierre Fournier (Québec, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Meet Me at the top (Paperback)

This book gives us an insight in the way a leader think an act. Following the chronological events of Miss Russo life we can see that those qualities, that are so much looked for these days, are not limited to over confident specialist. They seems to come first right from the heart and the soul. Growth is assured by a very high dedication to principals that must be deeply encrusted in the person. Miss Russo is a model of that determination, backup by a clear sense of what she should and can do. Events, knowledge, money are important but at least it is refreshing to see that work, help, family and friendship can still be a way to realized dreams.

The book is not an how-to, nor it is a lecture on business and management principles. It is a story, a very good one, it must be read.