Praise for Business Brilliant
Kirkus Review says:
An engaging look at ‘realigning our career-development practices with the world we live in today’
Inc. magazine’s Business Owners Council executive director Schiff (The A to Z Money Book from Armchair Millionaire, 2005, etc.) presents research on the differences in outlook between two groups: those with incomes in the range of $1 million to $10 million and those with incomes between $50,000 and $80,000. “The starkness of the gap between the two groups was stunning,” he writes—as was “the conflict” between the ideas of those who have achieved success and those who haven’t. The author presents the research along with case studies and arguments against popularly held misconceptions about how people get rich. Schiff takes issue with experts like Suze Orman who recommend savings and frugality as the path to riches; the author argues that it distracts from the goal of making more money. He examines the origins of the financial success of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, and he is also concerned with establishing the importance of taking ownership and responsibility for financial and life decisions. He emphasizes repeatedly the importance of asking and learning negotiating skills. Most new hires, he writes, do not negotiate salaries and terms with their employers, leaving thousands of dollars on the table because of it. Schiff also discusses how to formulate negotiating strategies and put together financial plans, and he provides a list of “essentials” for becoming business brilliant, including: “Write Down Your Goals,” “Commit to What You Do Best,” “Get a Coach” and “Don’t Procrastinate.
Not necessarily groundbreaking, but a mostly intriguing, different kind of take on the self-help moneymaking genre.
Tariq Farid, Founder and CEO, Edible Arrangements
Having started Edible Arrangements, an international franchise with more than 1,000 stores, I know that the more “business brilliant” my franchise partners are, the more likely they are to build hugely successful stores. I wish I had read this book a decade ago.
Mark Ganem
This is a thoroughly researched book that explains definitively how successful people think and operate.
Barbara Jacobs, Booklist
Don’t pooh-pooh this alternative view of success right off the bat. Entrepreneur and author Schiff (The Armchair Millionaire, 2001; The Middle-Class Millionaire, 2007) builds his narrative on solid evidence, including research data comparing and contrasting the self-made person with the usual middle class. The lessons are drawn not only from “survey says” but also lifted from the lives of well-known, powerful entrepreneurs, such as Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Suze Orman, and others. His seven tenets are simple and supported by both facts and emotions: do what you love, but follow the money; save less, earn more; imitate, don’t innovate; know-how is good, know-who is better; win-win is a loser; spread the work, spread the wealth; and nothing succeeds like failure. Where he falters is in the last chapter, where the LEAP (learn-earn, assistance-persistence) principles and its activities are detailed. Why? It’s the makings of another book, and too dense for maximum impact.
Steve Hindy, Founder and President, Brooklyn Brewery and co-author of Beer School
Whether you are starting a new business or navigating your career, conventional wisdom doesn’t get you very far. Lewis Schiff clearly outlines the true characteristics of success.
Jim Camp, Forbes
Revisiting “Win-Win” Negotiation: It’s Still a Losing Game.
Ekaterina Walter, NY Journal of Books
Is it true that being brilliant at business has little to do with IQ or education? Does that explain why Richard Branson became a billionaire even though he is dyslexic and can’t read a financial spreadsheet? And why a high-school educated circus clown crafted the most impressive show of our time—Cirque du Soleil?
In his book Business Brilliant Lewis Schiff busts the commonly held myths around achieving success in business.
Mr. Schiff offers an interesting look at some of the most notable cases of successes and failures in the business world and backs it up with the extensive research he calls the Business Brilliant survey that was conducted among self-made millionaires.
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This short summary doesn’t do justice to the full spectrum of the arguments and data that the author presents in the book. I highly recommend picking it up and experiencing it for yourself.
