Customer Reviews

Often Wrong, Never in Doubt : Unleash the Business Rebel Within

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Fasten your seat belts! This will not be a normal book review. It took me 200 pages to figure out why I was having such schizophrenic reactions to this book. After reading a chapter, I would find myself thinking: "What an interesting guy Donny Deutsch seems to be; I'd like to meet him."

And then I would read a chapter that would leave me muttering to myself: "What a jerk! I can't believe what he just said!" I would plow ahead in the book and begin to think: "What an interesting organization he has built. I would love to help them recruit the kind of innovative thinkers and risk takers they seem to value." And then I ran across a string of pages full of profanity and several paragraphs of Deutsch describing his sexual fantasies in the office. Finally, I threw up my hands and said to myself: "What is going on here! Surely, Deutsch is savvy enough to know that he is going to turn off some people with his outrageous revelations and observations. And even if he were not, he has a co-writer who should be able to alert him when he has crossed a line. And what about the editors and Harper Collins? Why are they allowing such outrageous material in a "business book?"

The epiphany came as I read on Page 206 Deutsch's quotation of a character from the TV show "thirtysomething":

"'What I do,' he said, `is strictly chemical. It is reactive. I cause reactions.'"

His invitation to peer behind the Wizard's curtain continues with these words: "My individual brand and the company's have mimicked my age in life. My personal brand for years was the brash, upstart Ad Guy of the Generation, the Bad Boy. It has stuck with me and now I can't get rid of it. Tomorrow I could take over Omnicom (the largest advertising holding company in the world), wear three-piece suits and be the most serious businessman in the industry, and I'd still be seen as the Bad Boy. I'd like to lose that, but I'm not sure I will. I accept the challenge." (Page 219)

With those pithy words, Donny Deutsch the author helped me to understand Donny Deutsch the "advertising world's Bad Boy." As a reader, I had been reacting - reeling from chapter to chapter, responding to the strings that the puppet master was pulling. As Deutsch and Peter Knobler, his collaborator on this project, developed the book, they used it to "advertise" the various facets of Donny's personality and persona. So, he comes across as a protean and complex individual - one moment disarmingly self-disclosing, the next moment brash and outrageous, and the next instant, incredibly sensitive, kind and giving.

I applaud Harper Collins for their courage in following Donny's lead and stepping out of their comfort zone and publishing an author who does not allow himself to be conformed to anyone else's mold or set of expectations. Deutsch has been enormously successful in building a top-ranked advertising organization - and empire. Two things impressed me in a positive way as my mental Polaroid image of Deutsch finally took on full color and clarity. First, he risks, and because he risks, he wins more often than he loses. Second, he values his people, and places them in positions to win.

One side note, I applaud his use of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry as a case study:

"The two best-defined brands in major league baseball are the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. You can tell them apart from a distance. The Yankees stand for the winning combination of quality and wealth. The Red Sox, you know that they stand for: The hate the Yankees. That hatred is what drives them and it is exactly that hatred that got them to the Promised Land. Starting with the Curse of the Bambino and moving through Bill Buckner's legs to Pedro Martinez's Yankee "daddies," the Red Sox had more motivation to win than any other team in baseball.

And how smart they were to personify this hatred. The new Red Sox owners, after losing a bidding war for a prized Cuban pitcher, actually called their rivals "the evil empire." In one memorable phrase - like any good advertising campaign - they used national politics and popular culture to define the Yankees as a combination of the Cold War-era Soviet Union and Darth Vader! What better enemy?" (Pages 222-223)

All I can say to the previous quotation is: "Amen and Amen!"

I found the book to be a worthwhile read, so I am pleased to recommend it - but with this caveat: "Fasten your seat belt!"

Often Wrong, But Never In Doubt: Unleash The Business Rebel In You by Donny Deutsch with Peter Knobler.

Others have shared their reactions to this book. Here are three of mine. First, I am always interested in personal accounts of a successful career and Deutsch reveals a great deal about his -- and about himself -- more than he perhaps realized when writing it. The title is an eye-catcher. In fact, he discusses several of his doubts along the way and acknowledges poor decisions and their consequences. These doubts are of much less interest to me than how he overcame them and what lessons he learned from doing so. Also, there is often a fine line between self-confidence and narcissism. All I know about Deutsch is limited to his book. Based on that, I think he would be -- at times -- insufferable but never boring. And when it serves his purposes, charming. Finally, Deutsch has much of value to say about setting ambitious objectives and then pursuing them with focus and vigor. I recently read two brief biographies of Ulysses S. Grant who, when heading the Union forces, demonstrated how important that can be to achieving ultimate success. On balance, I was entertained and informed more often than irritated while reading this memoir (of sorts) but have neither the interest nor the inclination to learn more about its author.

I love business books. This is a good one, not a great one. I happen to really like Deutsch on his CNBC show. He is full of energy and his show is fun to watch. The book starts out strong with great stories about his childhood, college years and then getting into the advertising business. One thing that did bother me was Deutsch made it out like he was a sub par student and not well motivated. Yet he attended the prestigious Wharton School of business. In the middle chapters of the book, it just seemed to drag on and on. The first half of the book was a quick read. The second half was just too technical and if you are not in the advertising business, it was like reading a text book. Stick with his TV show.

Often Wrong, Never in Doubt or The Diary of Mr. Deustch and his fantastic ego. Although the book is readable, what at first sight looks like a personal and empathic touch becomes the centre of the book, and offers the message "look how I do things. Do them in the same way as ME and you'll succeed". It's not an arrogant book, simply the author considers himself as a visionary who's got the key of success in his hands.

One of the clearest examples is the chapter Do!, that opens the part named Your Own World, in which the reader expects that the chat about the author's life will stop (we have already reached the middle of the book...) This chapter starts motivating the reader, but after 2 paragraphs, the author returns to himself, talking about all his trajectory until achieving a talk-show. In the next chapters, he will explain how he achieved his forty's sculptural body, why he sold his agency in the best moment, and he will finally bring us to the long queues of autographs that he has to suffer.

His life is interesting, there's no doubt about it, and if he wants the rest of mortals to know it, he should publish an autobiography. There's no need to disguise it as a management book, because without any doubt, it is not.

Don't misunderstand me...I've nothing against businessmen attempting to parlay their success in their chosen field into even further riches. Guys like Donald Trump, Jack Welch and even David Ogilvy, Madison Ave. head honcho of his generation, have done well with these tomes and people generally seem to enjoy them. Though I seriously doubt you'll get much of an education from reading Donny Deutsch's " Often Wrong, Never In Doubt " But dear reader there is definitley more here then meets the eye.

Lets talk honesty. Mr. Deutsch talks in his offering about how he sold his successful company to the Interpublic Group in 2000 for " close to $300 million. " Truth be told the value of the deal is closer at $275.00 million. Now I don't know about you dear reader but $25 million to me is no paltry sum. But stay with me cause theres more.

You might want to hink twice about taking career advice from Donny. Beginning with the dismal year that Deutsch Inc. is currently having. In Sept. Credit Suisse First Boston estimated that the agency has lost "nine" accounts - including Mitsubishi, Bank of America and Revlon. Totaling a loss of $849.00 million in 2005.Plus there have been layoffs. On the new- business side the agency has won only four accounts, with a total billing of $44 million. ( The agency disputes these numbers but doesn't offer much in the way of specifics. ) Linda Sawyer, Donny's second in command has been named his replacement as CEO. Deutsch remains the agency's chairman and, as he says, its " spiritual leader." The crux of the problem seems to be Donny Deutschs never ending self-promotion and and the very company that he founded. He's positioned himself as the voice of the ad business but when propective customers come to his agency they meet these other people who say " No, we're the brains behind everything now. " The clinet goes " huh? "

Of course the other slightly queasy aspect of Mr. Duetsch is his rather brusque feeling toward women in the workpplace. Donny freely admits that " I don't think theres been a day in my business career when there hasn't been some woman at work that I fantasized about. " And while thats not exactly crude it does harbor on an almost juvenile attitude concerning women in the workplace. He's also a strong believer in 'flirting' with potential clients to help land accounts and apparently believes in little more then the 'bottom line.' Though for the life of me how all this might add up to running a successful business is more then I can comprehend. Part of this, I suspect, is little more then Donny playing cute with his public and enjoying playing the part of Madison Aves. " bad boy " Its all so transparent its amazing that some people actually fall for this act.

Overall, Donny comes across as a Donald Trump wanna-be! With his very own show on CNBC, the very same network that gave us the egregious Dennis Miller, Mr. Duetsch now has the opportunity to promote himself ad neaseum. And no doubt he will succeed at least on that level. Personally after watching Donny's show and reading most of his offering I find this author to be self-absorbed, narcissistic and more then just slightly vain. Which makes him perfect for television! Its one thing to be self-confident and astute but Donny Duetsch's personality comes across as a little too arrogant and self-congratulatory for this reader/viewer. Well, as for me with the recent glut of celebrity businessmen trying to cash in on their success' in the business world I guess we could do a lot worse then Donny " I never met a mirror I didn't like " Duetsch. I mean... it might have been Wayne Allen Root!!

I felt this book was very intriguing, donny definately has a gift for creating rich visionaries of what his life was like as a teenager and through to his young adult years. There is a nice transition into business talk and his advice is directed at you in a comfortable and humurous way. I can easily see how someone would think donny has an ego to some degree, however, i feel the man is just being honest. He's not glorifying his accomplishments, he's just informing the reader of them. Heck, he sold his company for 300 million dollars, maybe he has a thing or two to say and it wouldnt hurt to listen. Great book. But it just didnt have enough bite for a perfect score.

I bought this after seeing this guys show and wondering who the heck he is and why he has a show on TV other than cable has openings. I find his show okay sometimes ... that is his book. Started strong I was real interested and about a third of the way through it was borrrring. Maybe its just me but it is advice thats, well, it started strong I'll say that ...

I loved this book, I also got the audio cd for my brother as he has a very long commute. He loved it too. Outstanding read/listen. Donny has such a great beat on business. He has great suggestions and is inspiring for those of us reinventing ourselves.

This is one of the most boring, predictable and narcissist book I have ever read. What portrays to be a business book is nothing more than an non-objective autobiography of Donny whose anecdotes are not even interesting.

If you're in advertising, then I definitely recommended this book. Donny is so down to earth. It's like he's right there talking to you. Lots of profanity, so if you don't care for that...this book is NOT for you. Just a great book. Lots of great advice from a street guy who started on the bottom and worked his way up!

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