Author: Michael Ellsberg
Publisher: Penguin Portfolio – 258 pages
Book Review by: Sonu Chandiram
This book by Michael Ellsberg, who himself confesses that he is not a millionaire (at least not yet) is based on interviews of numerous millionaires who don’t have college degrees.
In the process of having discussions with them, Ellsberg learned that most if not all of them attribute their success to learning from doing, rather than from schooling.
We’ve often heard that the “school of hard knocks” is the best teacher. To those millionaires, one of the most important lessons they’ve learned, Ellsberg writes, is that a failure, no matter how big, is not the end of a journey but an important learning event on the road to success. The failure toughens you and makes your desire more easily attainable, he shows us in the many true-to-life examples he presents to us.
A college education is normally a ticket to a good job and steady income, but in today’s Great U.S. Recession (which has not ended, contrary to what major U.S. news media will have us believe) you cannot count on it, Ellsberg points out, citing the example of a 37-year-old Harvard MBA who applies for a $10-an-our job with the owner of a company who did not finish college.
What does one learn from reading this book. Besides real-life keys to making money and finding meaning in one’s life – things one does not find in any college business textbook, Ellsberg lays out seven skills one must have or develop that are critical to success.
These essential skills cannot be acquired from reading any book. They are developed only through practical application over and over, he writes. For example, learning by doing what millionaires do, or providing some higher-than-expected value to people, are practical lessons one can learn only by doing, not just by reading.
The two chief values of this book are those seven important “success skills” that Ellsberg has distilled from interacting with millionaires and from reading various books written by notable business owners and executives; and the real-life statements by millionaires interviewed for this book.
Ellsberg discusses in detail the dilemma faced by people who want to do what they love to do, and at the same time make the amount of they have only dreamed of.
These are people who hate what they’re doing and the amount of money they make; are happy with what they’re doing but not making the kind of money they desire; or are satisfied with the amount they’re making but hate their job. He presents a four-part formula for people facing such a dilemma.
Finding meaning in your life, making a difference in the world, formulating and reaching your wealth and income goals, and developing happy relationships with family, colleagues and friends – all ingredients to personal happiness – are what this book helps you do. Ellsberg also tells you of his own struggle, his search and his success.
What are those seven skills that will help you achieve the happiness you desire? And how do you acquire and develop those skills? Get the book and find out. This publication of this book represents the accomplishment of one Ellsberg’s own desires and it has positioned him to reach more significant milestones. Our kudos to him.
