This book held my attention. I read it in two sittings.


Good basic stuff on how to succeed. The most interesting part is that he started earning money when he was 10 years old. He was buying, restoring, and selling cars at age 15.

Chapter 1, page 13
"Here's what happened. ((on his first job that caused him to rethink his path in life.)) There was a guy who'd been with the company for 30 years - senior management, one of the top brass. I knew him only by reputation. He'd worked his way to the top, and he still hadn't eased up on the gas. He was the first one there in the morning and the last one to leave in the evening, that’s how focused and on top of things he was. Busted his ass for that company, and then woke up the next morning and busted it again. One day he reported early for work, business as usual, and he was met in his office by one of his superiors and a colleague. The two men had been sent to fire him, and they ended up escorting him from his office directly to the parking lot. This was a dedicated company guy, a thirty-year veteran, loyal as his career had been long, and they didn't even let him finish out the day."
"That was tough enough, but the reason for his dismissal was even more confounding: His salary, which naturally had increased over the years, was too much for the company to handle."

LESSONS LEARNED
CH 1: On Goals
- Start where you want to finish
- Break the journey into smaller, achievable milestones
- Keep your balance
- bet the long shot
- Know the answer before you as the question
- Celebrate your achievements
Chapter 2: On Value
- Don't sell yourself as someone you're not
- Accept fortune with good cheer
- Know thyself
- Nurture lifelong friendships
- Ask for help
- Keep a little something for yourself
- Be a good sport
- Say what you mean and mean what you say
- Build relationships
Chapter 3: On Strategy
- Be the Bee (fly when not expected to)
- Break from the Pack
- Separate your expectations from your shortcomings
- Go above and beyond
Make each day count-twice
- Under promise and over deliver
- Stay quick on your feet
- Take pride in your work
- Get a good night's sleep
Chapter 4: On Leadership
(He was a self-made man who owed his lack of success to nobody. - Joseph Heller)
- Plan at least a couple of moves ahead
- Read
- Know what you're worth
- Conquer the fear factor
- Anticipate change
- Reload (the average American will change jobs six to eight times during his or her working lifetime)
- Pursue your passion
- Generate electricity
- Get out of the way (The best leaders provide direction support, encouragement, and incentive ...)
- Know the situation
- Track your progress
- Hire the racehorse
- Encourage strength by exhibiting strength
- Listen (staff customers, competitors, inventors, industry analysts, keep both ears to the ground)
- Learn to fish with the other guy's bait (Take every opportunity that comes your way, even if it's one you hadn't counted on or created. David Neeleman, CEO of Jet Blue... works the line once a week, and ... makes it a point to fly the competition - coach.)
- There's no place like home
Chapter 5: On Vision
- Build a like-minded team
- Accept blame
- Inspire
- Set the standard
- Maintain authority by delegating authority
- Put your money where your mouth is
- Develop a contrarian view
- Reject conventional wisdom
- Do not turn one blunder into another (figure out what went wrong)
- Minimize the drama in your life (your ability to focus)
- Look back to look ahead
- Do what you can
- Own initiative
- Seal the deal
- Count on family
- Take even the worst of things in stride
- Do your thinking and analysis away from the office
- See to it that things end well (part on good terms)
- Think like a big fish in a small pond
- Maintain focus
- Strive
- Be reasonable
- Give back to move forward
- Walk that certain road (Work the odds in your favor)
- Speak your mind
- Rally your troops
Chapter 6: On Execution
- Make a decision
- Just do it (Practical execution)
- Take on the difficult assignments
- Style counts
- Sweat the details, but don't sweat the outcome
- Strike first
- Think outside the box
- Think like an astronaut (Failure is not an option.)
- Meet your deadlines (Nothing succeeds like a schedule. And more to that point, nothing succeeds like a schedule kept.)
- Be strong
- Give the customer what he wants
- It's just business
- Be true to your values
- Draw from a bottomless reservoir of goodwill
- Hate to lose
- Keep fluid
- Keep it real
- Be humble (Don't take your success for granted, but do take it in stride. Nobody likes a braggart...)
- Talk a good game (Think on the fly. Claim the hot seat as if it were the most comfortable seat in the room. Respond with poise and confidence to every challenge.)
Chapter 7: On Success
- Think things through
- Take inventory (of assets... self-starter? strong motivator? relentless salesperson? ... [The top performer has a can-do attitude.])
- Fit yourself in
- Understand your core purpose
- Draw a personal building plan
- Balance "(Again)"
- Give something back
( )

Not a bad book - lots of smart business anecdotes from the guy - but let's be real, all we wanted was a book about Omarosa. Also, is it bad if I only know him from E! News? ( )

Much more interesting to read than Trumps "Get rich" and most of Trumps other books. I enjoyed Rancics book very much. ( )