Pushing the Envelope: All the Way to the Top [Hardcover]

Harvey Mackay (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 29, 1998

When it comes to business advice that gets results, nobody can touch Harvey Mackay. Founder and CEO of the phenomenally successful Mackay Envelope Corporation and author of the bestselling Swim with the Sharks without Being Eaten Alive, Mackay is the quintessential self-made man who reached the top through brain power, determination, and creativity--literally "pushing the envelope" all the way to the top. Now in this new book, Mackay shares his wit and savvy, his common and not-so common sense, with everyone who wants to succeed . . . at anything.

Humor. Honesty. Fairness. The ability to get others to see your vision. Judgment. Guts. Respect for the bottom line--and all the lines that lead to it. These are the values that have made Harvey Mackay the business and civic leader he is today. A born communicator, Mackay distills the lessons of his forty years in business into pithy, punchy chapters that cut to the heart of everyday problems and situations. In Pushing the Envelope, you'll learn

- The art of negotiating the sweetest deals
- The essential qualities all leaders have in common--and some they don't
- Failsafe ways to get your raise
- The secrets to achievement--business titans share
- How to use laughter as a productivity tool
- The importance of a total balance between work and family
- And much more!

Both practical and entertaining, charged throughout with Harvey Mackay's inimitable style, humor, and off-beat wisdom, Pushing the Envelope puts the fun, the creativity, and the challenge back in business. Whether you're at the top of your company or determined to get there, this is one business book you can't afford to miss.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Inspirational business speaker, popular newspaper columnist, and bestselling author Harvey Mackay has been "moonlighting" for 40 years as president of Mackay Envelope Corporation, an $85 million company that produces more than 17 million envelopes a day. With the help of imagery derived from this industry, he's now dispensing a new batch of lessons on life and business in Pushing the Envelope: All the Way to the Top. Its five sections--cleverly titled "How to Be A #10," "Licking the Competition," "How I Pushed the Envelope," "The Flap on Management," and "Going First Class"--offer practical advice on such topics as hiring, motivating, training, producing, and negotiating. Each short and highly focused chapter deals with one specific idea and concludes with a pithy aphorism dubbed Mackay's Moral, such as "There's much more to winning than finishing first" and "In negotiations, as in poker, a superior hand can be beaten by superior knowledge of your opponents." Interweaving experiences from a diverse lot including Sylvester Stallone, Ulysses S. Grant, Will Rogers, and Star Wars' Yoda with anecdotes drawn from his own career, Mackay presents a litany of solid suggestions that will prove as useful as they are fun to read. --Howard Rothman

From Publishers Weekly

Mackay (Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive) is back, and his motivational material will be familiar and comforting to his fans. Mackay has never claimed to be an intellectual. Using the same approach he has in the past, the author, who is chairman and chief executive of a $75-million envelope company when he's not on the lecture circuit, tells true short stories (usually in approximately four pages with big type and margins), each of which makes a point about the business of life and is capped with a lesson dubbed "Mackay's Moral" ("Be like a postage stamp. Stick to it, until you get there"; "Even the Lone Ranger didn't go it alone"). To his credit, Mackay admits when he is revisiting familiar territory or expanding tales he has told before. This time, he concentrates more heavily on stories intended to inspire?there are countless vignettes of people who worked hard to overcome long odds?and provides more of his thoughts on what it takes to be a leader. As always, his homilies are entertaining, even if they rarely provide any groundbreaking bits of wisdom. Author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; First Edition edition (December 29, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345432959
• ISBN-13: 978-0345432957
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,819,289 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Harvey Mackay is the author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive and Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt, both books are among the top 15 inspirational business books of all time, according to the New York Times. His books have sold more than ten million copies worldwide. His newest book Use Your Head To Get Your Foot In The Door: Job Search Secrets No One Else Will Tell You, was released on February 18, 2010. When Larry King interviewed Harvey in late February 2010, Larry said, "I really believe this is the most important book right now." The book is already in its 4th printing as of March 1, 2010. It immediately climbed the bestseller list at Amazon.com and hit #1 in four categories: Job Hunting, Counseling, Vocational Guidance and Education. It can also be found on the Wall Street Journal Business Bestseller list.

Harvey writes a nationally syndicated newspaper column and is one of America's most popular and entertaining business speakers. he is also the founder and chairman of MackayMitchell Envelope Company. He has been married to Carol Ann for forty-nine years. They have three children and nine grandchildren.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mackays best book to date, September 6, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Pushing the Envelope All the Way to the Top (Paperback)

I have been a fan of Harvey Mackay since reading Swim with the Sharks. Pushing the Envelope is even better.If you are in business or want to be, read this book and learn from a master..

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating, insightful, and clever, May 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Pushing the Envelope: All the Way to the Top (Hardcover)

Pushing the Enveople: All the Way to the Top by Harvey McKay was captivating, insightful and clever.

Inspiring, well spoken, easy to follow and entertaining is the most adequate way to describe Harvey McKay's newest book: Pushing the Envelope: All the Way to the Top. Written not only for the business minded, but appealing to just about anyone who happens to come upon it. Sound practical points and advice, Harvey states it simply through a series of humorous and witty analogies throughout the book.

Harvey Mackay is a Minneapolis businessman who successfully built a $75 million dollar company over the past 40 years-Mackay Envelope Corporation. He is also the author of four bestsellers: Swim with the Sharks without Being Eaten Alive; Beware of the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt; Sharkproof; and Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty. Well read, Harvey's work can also be seen in the local newspaper with his own column.

Clever, intelligent, and motivating, Harvey sets the reader at ease instantly during the first chapter. This is done with stories from his own experiences that he shares throughout the book. He leaves you with an understanding of his vision, his character, and his captivating charm.

Quoting movies is where Harvey claims to get the best of his one liners, such as "Hold your friends close and your enemies closer" using the theory that you need to know your customers, but even more so, you need to know your competition. Throughout the book, Harvey sums up the chapter using what he refers to as Mackay's Moral. Amusing synopsis of the point of the story, for example- Mackay's Moral: The reason you always dance with the one who brought you, is `cause when the party's over, you may need a ride home. Another example- Mackay's Moral: Start your New Year today. Remember that anyone can make a resolution. Very few people can keep one.

I actually didn't read this book, I listened to it on audio...over and over and over again-3 times to be exact. It was entertaining, and difficult to put down...or should I say, "turn off".

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Is it me?, August 10, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Pushing the Envelope (Audio Cassette)

Did I read the same book as the rest of these reviews? I like Harvey Mackay and enjoyed Swim With the Sharks, but I thought this book was a fairly simplistic brain dump of cliches and unoriginal thoughts. I do believe Mackay's geniunely decent nature come through and most of the concepts were fairly well presented, but I found very little here I hadn't already heard. I kept thinking to myself that this was Harvey's publisher squeezing out another book under contract. Sorry.