9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cookbook for Entrepreneurs in the 21st Century, January 19, 2010
This review is from: Stone Soup: The Secret Recipe for Making Something from Nothing (Paperback)
A funny thing happened when I started my first company. After 6 months of hard work, we asked each other why we joined the venture. It was a particularly relevant question in 1999 because talent was extremely scarce and this team was top-notch. The answer seemed obvious to me: we all joined to build something great and change the world.
But that wasn't the answer most provided. The primary reason people joined the venture was my enthusiasm.
If had Stone Soup in my hands a decade ago I would have understood exactly why. Our company was a boiling pot of water in the center of the village and I had added the first two ingredients for Stone Soup, the recipe for innovation:
One generous portion of belief
One or more enthusiastic catalysts
Like an aroma that drifts through a village from a boiling cauldron, these first two ingredients were enough to attract them.
And, with the benefit of a decade of reflection, I also understand why my own shortcomings, and the world at large ultimately lead to the venture's downfall: we were missing a few other critical ingredients like "A triple dose of reality", and "One well defined context, communicated well."
Stone Soup isn't for the "quick buck" entrepreneurs or investors who view innovation as numbers in a spreadsheet. It is for people who are committed, through ups and downs, to figuring out the recipe from making something from nothing. It is for those of us who are trying to understand how innovation, entrepreneurship, and creativity fit into our lives and relationships.
In the book we experience the life of Ruby who - not unlike Bill Liao - is a true renaissance person with the skills and passion to change the world. At each new challenge, victory, and tragedy of Ruby's life the author slowly builds the ingredients of Stone Soup. In the process he also relates his own experiences of a lifetime of innovation. At the book's conclusion, he ties the story together and provides specific advice for anyone trying to build something new. It is simple without being simplistic.
At times while reading Stone Soup I felt like I was sitting with Bill drinking a cup of tea, getting advice about my life and ambitions. I could almost picture Bill asking me questions, listening intently without judgement to my answers and letting me come to my own conclusions about what I need to do to achieve my goals.
I hope that Bill Liao continues to write because Stone Soup left me hungry for me more advice on setting goals, listening, or the other necessary skills discussed in the book.
Stone Soup is feast best savored for moments when you have time to reflect about your life and what you want to do to change the world. So grab a copy for you next airplane flight or quiet Saturday morning and join the rest of us who are planning on following Bill's lead of driving innovation in this century.
Bon appetite!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A thoughtful tale, December 30, 2009
This review is from: Stone Soup: The Secret Recipe for Making Something from Nothing (Paperback)
Stone Soup is a smorgasbord of mythical storytelling, practical business tips and insightful business perspectives which Bill Liao morphs nicely into a thought provoking and delightful tale. The use of many contemporary authors as a means of establishing the context and validating the impact of the storyline through quotes works well.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Surefire Recipe for Leaving the World Better than You Found It, February 15, 2010
This review is from: Stone Soup: The Secret Recipe for Making Something from Nothing (Paperback)
A good business book makes you want to do a better job; a great business book makes you want to be a better person. Stone Soup IS a great business book!
In a world that is too often limited by transactional myopia (get the deal, do the deal, next deal), Stone Soup is transformational. If you want to transform yourself and your company or your organization from "all about me" to "all about we," buy copies of Stone Soup for your key team members and have a weekly "book club" to discuss how it speaks to everyone on your team and furthermore how its lessons can be applied to make you company or organization more productive and your people more fulfilled. Who could ask for anything more than that?
One of the greatest qualities of this book and of Bill Liao if you ever have the good fortune to meet him, is his sincere ability to not only be compassionate about others, but to be happy for them. That generosity of spirit is a tonic for a "zero sum" world, just in case you could use a sip.
Mark Goulston
"The Resilient Life" at the Huffington Post
author of:
Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone
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