Customer Reviews

The Monk and the Riddle: The Art of Creating a Life While Making a Living

5 star:		(70)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I really enjoyed this book. I've been recommending it to friends and colleagues, but I've had a real struggle trying to summarize what it's about. Regardless, a big part of my enthusiasm is that Komisar has given a voice to so many of my core beliefs about my own career.

So, here's my attempt at summarizing the book. It's a story about a business plan being pitched by a budding entrepeneur that Komisar is reviewing for a VC friend. The (factitious...I presume) story includes Komisar's personal perspectives about how one's career interacts with one's life and passions, how his own career, life, and passions have evolved together, and how VC's look at business plans / ideas. The story is well written and not the typical Harvard Business School Press book, in that all of the wisdom and content are presented neatly within a story.

If you need more from your job than a wage, you will likely find some pearls of wisdom in this story. If you like what you read here, check out Komisar's article in the March/April '00 HBR. If you're interested in some insight into how VC's look at business ideas, there is certainly plenty of information within this story for you too.

Finally, about the five stars, the book is absolutely deserving of them. This story hit me right between the eyes in so many ways, was so elegantly presented, and so refreshing, that I highly recommend it.

Consider this book a gift of 15-20 years, the period it took Randy to gain the life lessons that are conveyed in this deceptively thin, but deep, book.

So deep in fact, that many readers and reviewers may miss their significance for three simple reasons:

First, the book doesn't give answers. This is a brilliant insight which frustrates 'inside the box thinkers' no end. After you've written a dozen business plans and pitched a hundred venture capitaliists, you quickly discover the conribution of 'dumb luck' in getting a company funded and through a liquidity event. The hubris which generally accompanies fast millions blinds most people to the mere veneer of control they exert on the destiny of a business.

Second, some people won't get the cosmic joke. Using the vehicle of a pseudo dotcom called Funerals.com, the book gently makes fun of the absurdity of monomaniacal obsession with business, contrasted to the shortness of life. Again, the authors allow the reader to explore the journey of a startup in ways which few others dare imagine.

Third: they permit the struggle to appear deceptively easy. Randy glosses over how the passions of the founders are quickly subsumed by the demands of capital, perhaps the only shortcoming that bears mention.

If Randy or a top tier business school could develop an algorithm that properly values passion on the balance sheet, inspired founders everywhere would be more likely to adopt his guidance from day one.

Implicit in the message is the question: "What do you have to become to be successful?" Their insights may help you avoid a Faustian bargain. That is a gift you'll want to savor and pass on to others.

Mr. Komisar has a simple message: It's the journey . . . not the destination . . . that counts, stupid! What that means is that you should focus on getting the most out of the moment, in creating a synthesis between what you value and what you spend your time on and do. The book opens with a brief story of Mr. Komisar giving a monk a ride on his motorcycle. After a long afternoon of riding, he delivers the monk where he wants to go. A few minutes later, he learns that the monk wants now to return to where they started. Finally, it sinks in. The monk just likes riding on motorcycles. He doesn't really have a destination in mind. Mr. Komisar connects that anecdote to his life as a young lawyer where he was so focused on goals, that he didn't see the conflict between his ambition for the future and the selling out of his values. Through a number of job changes and experiences, he emerges as someone who understands that the journey is all that counts, and takes on the role of virtual CEO for start-ups. This role means that he tries to help management accomplish what it wants, rather than representing the investors as venture capitalists do. It's a shift in direction that makes all the difference. My hat's off to Harvard Business School Press for publishing this heart-warming, inspiring book.

Most of the book is a fable about a stiff would-be entrepreneur named Lenny who seeks Mr. Komisar's advice. To get some idea of this fable, Lenny starts his pitch by saying that his business concept is to put the fun in funerals. Through the course of the book, Lenny learns (with a lot of prodding from Mr. Komisar and Lenny's co-founder) to connect to his original passion, to provide a place on the Web where geographically-dispersed families can connect to grieve when a loved one dies. They can also get advice on how to handle the grief and the funeral. Mr. Komisar interspaces his own experiences with the fable to provide context for his observations.

The fable is so far-fetched that it works well, because it allows you to see the differences more easily between serving an empowering vision that excites you, investors, potential employees, and customers and just trying to make a bundle.

For those who want to know a little more about fund-raising for start-ups, the fable is filled with worthwhile advice. If you want to know more, read Confessions of a Venture Capitalist (which I also reviewed).

At another level, the book makes the point that the reason to be an entrepreneur is to avoid the stultification of companies without a soul, operating only to meet the numbers. But you will have learned bad habits of forgetting about your soul-felt needs in mainstream corporate America, so you've got to regear as you enter entrepreneurship.

The book is very well written, and you'll get through it very quickly.

A good related book is Who Am I? which will give you tools to help you identify what you really want to get out of life.

You should also use this book as an opportunity to reexamine your beliefs about life and relationships. You may have lots of stalled thinking outside of your working life, as well.

Overall, I found this episode in the life and adventures of Randy Komisar to be interesting, but not groundbreaking. Though certainly filled with some valuable insights, there was something more to be desired. There was still a lot to learn, however, the most important being the general observations from a real-life perspective on what it takes to enjoy life in the entrepreneurial world.
The work itself was often scattered and forced. There was no real continuity between the flashbacks, often sounding as if Mr. Komisar decided to insert various triumphs in his life whenever he felt like it. Furthermore, I found the characters of Lenny and Allison to be more symbolic than human. They were not actual individuals, but prompts put in by Komisar to respond to the questions he wanted answered. In his interactions with them, Komisar walked an unhealthy line between humility and arrogance, presenting himself as a sort of low-key person who thinks outside the box, yet is always right on everything and draws reverence from those around him. At times, I wondered whether this book was more of a teaching tool or a testament to his own greatness.
I found his main message to be useful, but somewhat hypocritical. His criticism of the "work first and then retire" philosophy struck especially close to home, as that is one I have often embraced. I paid close attention to his words and was partially persuaded. I think he is downright contradictory, however, when he tries to use his own life as an example of how a business does better when fueled by complete passion and the expectation of it being one's life's work. There were many times when I felt like screaming out, "Mr. Komisar, practice what you preach!" Furthermore, I can think of so many ways that his theory is wrong. Sometimes, the best businessman is one who has passion for what he/she is doing, but also has the ability to be objective and analyze the situation with an objective business savvy. When he and his mentor Campbell (of Columbia fame!) ran GO to the ground, sticking with it through its crash landing, he writes as if that is a good thing. That is fine when you have enough money to absorb that kind of failure, but most beginning entrepreneurs do not. Komisar got where he is because of the strategy he condemns.
The other major problem with the book is the premise of funerals.com. I found it to be a very poor example, as it unjustly generalized the funeral market. While I am sure there are funeral homes who take advantage of people in their vulnerable, grieving states, I cannot think of anything less comforting than making arrangements over a computer instead of with people. The character of Allison in representing the opposite extreme really represented absurdity. If she were so feeling and caring, why not establish a not-for-profit website for grieving families? I was never convinced that they were after anything but money, and the only evidence that their purpose was primarily moral was Komisar merely claiming it. If this had been some kind of technological advancement in medicine, for instance, then I could have understood the enduring desire to save lives while also profiting. The funeral example, however, is weak at best, and so is the pathetic Celestine Prophecy/Richest Man in Babylon rip-off with the riddle.
The strength of the book is in Komisar's thoughts about achieving happiness in life rather than about success in business. Unlike the other characters, I was able to connect with Komisar as a human being, experimenting with different companies and developing his own tastes. I gained a lot from reading his experiences, even if they were disjointed, and while I may have disagreed with him on some points, I learned from them. I am glad I read the book, found it useful, but would hardly call it a masterpiece.

A great book about more than just starting a company and the inner workings of Silicon Valley finance. It is about life, of finding the passion to go with the drive, of finding the value in people and discovering your core values. It is about how to live life. It will seen by most as a treatise on forming a business plan and selling it, but to me it is more about finding and fulfilling life's meaning, that each of us must create for ourselves. What is success but rather doing what we think is worthwile and significant. Time is not just change but an opportunity for the best kind of reward, excellance in our achieving our values. The journey has to be the reward for life is too short. I am reminded of a philiosopher years ago named Babarondus who spoke of living in the "frequency" of the moment. Randy explains this phrase as listen, learn, feel, execute, lead, find your excellance. And remember "No time to waste."

...that were supposed to be set forth in this book. The author talks about not puruing the money, yet at every turn the detail lies in his material possesions and his ability to travel to exotic places. Are we really to believe that Lenny changed his heart in a week? No, he just figured out a better way to get his capital.

This book was not inspiring in the least, as they say, actions speak louder than words.

I don't usually read business books, but this is not your usual buisness book. Randy Komisar has been around the Valley for a long time, and here he tells the story of his wild career. At the same time, he takes readers along as he travels (on a Harley, I think) from deal to deal in Silicon Valley. You would think that his story would be all ego, like so many other business books. But instead he offers an entertaining portrait of a typical entrepreneur. Lenny, a guy who is all boast and energy, but doesn't really understand what drives him. Although the book touches on business issues--how VCs work, how to think through a business plan--its real focus is on personal growth and values. Unfortunately, this is a message sorely missing from most business books these days, and one that really needs to be heard. I know too many Lennys!

This book worked for me on several levels, and I would encourage anyone to read this, even if you aren't planning to start your own company.

First, the book is what I classify as a business adventure - my favorite kind. The overarching framework is a fictional thread about a guy trying to start an Internet business, Funerals.com, with his primary goal of getting rich in 2-3 years. Randy Komisar, the author, uses this storyline to illustrate what he as a virtual CEO/angel investor looks for from people wanting cash for a new business.

But to illustrate how he came to his views (what is important and why), Komisar gives us glimpses into his life, including important roles at successes such as WebTV and failures like GO (see the book "Startup" for more details on this story).

Interestingly, he takes great pride in his adventures at GO, a company that lost tens of millions of dollars and died. This probably illustrates his primary theme, life is about the journey. Don't measure success by dollars in the bank.

The book also works as a great "lessons learned" for life. Komisar, in the fictional part of the story about Lenny and his funerals.com, asks Lenny, "Would you be willing to do this for the rest of your life?" Once again, from Komisar's point of view, life (not just business) is about the journey. But Komisar's question is also very important for making his decision whether a person should receive his funding, recommendation, or help (you will have to read why).

Lastly, the book is very short, and most people will be able to read it in a day or two at most. It works well on a business trip or just as a break between larger books.

A short book with an engaging fictional story, interesting glimpses into the real world of angels, VCs and startups, and some good sage advice about business and life. Not a bad deal.

This is an excellent book for two groups of people: Young Entrepreneur seeking seed or early round financing for an idea or business; and young financiers entering the field of Angel Investing.

It is not a book for "get rich quick" entrepreneurs looking to create yet another burger.... not that you could in this corrected and more realistic market environment. It speaks to the heart and soul of the entrepreneur looking to build a solid company based on a passion for what they do, and to the Angel who wants to help others realize their passion.

Young entrepreneurs will find Randy Komisar's business philosophy and words of wisdom useful in structuring and focus the thinking around the business plan. And it will help organize the presentation to capital sources. It offers the insight of an experienced manager and operator who has been through the ups and downs of various new ventures and may just help you avoid some of the dumb mistakes.

Young Angels will find it offers a lot of helpful guidance for thinking about the plans your looking at. Even if you have management and operating experience you'll find this a useful articulation of many key points.

This book by Silicon Valley legend Randy Komisar, beginning with its title, took me a while to get into, I have to admit. I was way into it (page 60+ or so) and still wondering what the big deal about it was. This is the reason why I give it four stars: it takes a while to hook you. But if you stick to it, Komisar has a wealth of experience to share with you, from his first days in the East Coast, litigating, all through his experiences with tech giants such as WebTV, Tivo and Apple.

The main idea presented by Komisar is that you don't need to postpone your life's dream for later, by playing it safe and engaging in what he calls the Deferred Life Plan. To convey this idea, he presents the reader with the process through which he takes Lenny (an entrepreneur at heart, driven by money, who comes to him for advice) in his pursuit to push his Business Plan for Funerals.com into the attention span of some Silicon Valley VC that Komisar knows. Initially a great idea conceived as a community-building scheme, leveraging the Web to assist those in grief due to the loss of a loved one, Funerals.com had evolved into a very basic money-making scheme that didn't have much of a spark to it, tied to the sale of cheaper caskets by leveraging the efficiencies that the Web can bring about.

In the end, if you take away the Silicon Valley specifics, Komisar's point remains not just valid, but a healthy proposition to lead life driven from within, by passion for what you do and pride rooted in leaving a legacy behind you, instead of ambition and short-term gratification. Highly recommended reading for those who are searching for their mission in life, as well as those who are considering pursuing the entrepreneurial path in their lives.