Opportunity Knocking : Lessons from Business Leaders by Lori Ann Larocco and Dick Armey Overview: Known as the producer with the trillion-dollar Rolodex, Lori Ann LaRocco knows how to get business leaders and entrepreneurs to talk. Join us and read this month’s Book-of-the-Month selection.
Many of the world’s most well-known executives are so trusting of LaRocco, senior talent producer at CNBC, that she consistently gets scoops on billion-dollar deals before anyone else. In her newest book, “Opportunity Knocking, ” LaRocco uses her close relationships with these organizational leaders to tell their stories–many of which have never been previously revealed, but offer brilliant insights into their minds.
In “Opportunity Knocking, ” readers will learn the full stories and secrets of success from some of the world’s smartest, most innovative leaders, such as Ford CEO Alan Mulally’s strategy for creating a culture of promise that revitalized the American auto industry. This book provides real-world examples from leaders like Mulally and turns them into actionable, proven strategies for identifying and acting on opportunities.
What makes “Opportunity Knocking” stand apart is the diversity of individuals who offer real-world strategies and advice instead of just one person’s opinion or vision. From the assembly line to the C-suite, “Opportunity Knocking” will provide both inspiration and a blueprint for achieving success by recognizing the right low investment business opportunity — and seizing it.
REVIEW: In her latest book, LaRocco (Dynasties of the Sea: The Shipowners and Financiers Who Expanded the Era of Free Trade) targets a wide audience — company owners, employees, and entrepreneurs — looking for inspiration and guidance in furthering their careers, but falls short in delivering enough specific information to get readers off the starting blocks. On the one hand, she provides a slew of engaging profiles of business leaders, including oilman Harold Hamm, Ford CEO Alan Mulalley, and AOL co-founder Steve Case. But when it comes to extracting lessons from these success stories, LaRocco tends to falls flat, relying on worn insights that already overwhelm the subject area: “Pay attention to people and culture in order to execute your plans effectively.” Had LaRocco simply published a collection of successful business leaders, detailing their successful maneuvering around obstacles and career roadblocks and setbacks, this would have been a much stronger book. Instead, feeble admonitions like “love what you do” or know “what sets you apart” do little to inspire readers. (Mar.)
by Lori Ann LaRocco and Rudolph W. Giuliani and H. Wayne Huizenga
Overview: Survive and thrive in today’s economy These are make-or-break times for business leaders. In today’s defining moment, the “New Economy,” CEOs and other leaders in a wide variety of industries must face unprecedented conditions. “Thriving in the New Economy” gives you a unique look into some of today’s best economic and business minds. A series of close profiles, the book offers inspirational personal stories, useful advice, and actionable strategies you can use immediately to skirt financial peril, seize opportunities, and flourish in the New Economy. – Profiles include financial publisher Steve Forbes, The Vanguard Group founder Jack Bogle, Former National Economic Council Director and Former Special Assistant to the President on Economic Policy Lawrence Lindsey, former FDIC chair Donald Powell, Saks CEO Steve Sadove, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. President Jim Lentz, legendary vulture investor Wilbur Ross and more – Looks at how leaders in economics, banking, automobiles, real estate, and retail are not just avoiding the unraveling economy, but actively evolving and growing their businesses – Foreword by H. Wayne Huizenga; Afterword by Rudy Giuliani If you’re looking for the way forward through today’s business wilderness, “Thriving in the New Economy” lets you in on how some leaders use challenges not just to survive but thrive.
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