Collection of Biographies of Great Entrepreneurs of the Past – Book Review

Andrew Carnegie has been noted for saying that if you want to be successful in business, you must do what successful people do. And to do that, you have to study how they lived, what they did, and get an idea of ​​their methods of operation. This is good advice that no one can deny. Perhaps this is why business students, professors, and future entrepreneurs study all the great business leaders of the past?

Since this is the case, I would like to recommend you a very good book about great entrepreneurs of the past, it is a collection of their biographies, of course abridged, and it is still on my shelf after all these years. The book is:

“The entrepreneurs: twelve who took risks and succeeded” by Robert L. Shook; Harper and Row Publishers, New York, NY; 1980. ISBN: 0060140259.

There were numerous excellent quotes featured, one of which I liked was by W. Clement Stone; “I don’t care what field you’re in, anyone who really wants to be successful must develop a plan to duplicate his success.”

Another great thing that the reader will take away from this book is that the authors note that if you want to win in business you must have goals; “Write down your goal, give yourself a deadline, set high standards, aim high.”

This book profiled great entrepreneurs of the past such as; John W. Galbreath, W. Clement Stone (insurance), Mary Hudson (oil), Dale W. Lang (media), S. Roger Horshow, William J Richards (agriculture), Mary Kay Ash, Joseph Sugarman, Richard Schultz, William McCowan and John Delorean. And he explained their similarities, attitudes, methods, big business and drive. I know you will love this book as much as I do and I hope that, like me, you will keep it on your shelf for reference, please consider this.