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The Self-made Billionaire Effect Deluxe: How Extreme Producers Create Massive Value
Imagine what Atari might have achieved if Steve Jobs had stayed there to develop the first massmarket personal computer. Or what Steve Case might have done for PepsiCo if he hadn’t left for a gaming start-up that eventually became AOL. What if Salomon Brothers had kept Michael Bloomberg, or Bear Stearns had exploited the inventive ideas of Stephen Ross?
Scores of top-tier entrepreneurs worked for established corporations before they struck out on their own and became self-made billionaires. People like Mark Cuban, John Paul DeJoria, Sara Blakely, and T. Boone Pickens all built businesses—in some cases, multiple businesses—that are among today’s most iconic brands. This fact raises two profound questions: Why couldn’t their former employers hang on to to these extraordinarily talented people? And why are most big companies unable to create as much new value as the world’s roughly 800 self-made billionaires?
John Sviokla and Mitch Cohen decided to look more closely at self-made billionaires because creating $1 billion or more in value is an incredible feat. Drawing on extensive research and interviews, the authors concluded that many of the myths perpetuated about billionaires are simply not true. These billionaires aren’t necessarily smarter, harder working, or luckier than their peers. They aren’t all prodigies, crossing the billionaire finish line in their twenties. Nor, most of the time, do they create something brand-new: More than 80 percent of the billionaires in the research sample earned their billions in highly competitive industries.
The key difference is what the authors call the “Producer” mind-set, in contrast with the far more pervasive “Performer” mind-set. Performers strive to excel in well-defined areas, and are important. But Producers are critical to any company looking to create massive value because they redefine what’s possible, rather than simply meeting preexisting goals and standards. Combining sound judgment with imaginative vision, Producers think up entirely new products, services, strategies, and business models.
Big companies tend to reward Performers and discourage the unconventional ways of Producers. But it’s the latter who integrate multiple ideas, perspectives, and actions, and who trust their insights enough to make game-changing bets.
This book breaks down the five critical habits of mind of massive value-creators, so you can learn how to identify, encourage, and retain such individuals—and maybe even become one yourself. The Self-made Billionaire Effect will forever change the way you think about talent and business value.
Scores of top-tier entrepreneurs worked for established corporations before they struck out on their own and became self-made billionaires. People like Mark Cuban, John Paul DeJoria, Sara Blakely, and T. Boone Pickens all built businesses—in some cases, multiple businesses—that are among today’s most iconic brands. This fact raises two profound questions: Why couldn’t their former employers hang on to to these extraordinarily talented people? And why are most big companies unable to create as much new value as the world’s roughly 800 self-made billionaires?
John Sviokla and Mitch Cohen decided to look more closely at self-made billionaires because creating $1 billion or more in value is an incredible feat. Drawing on extensive research and interviews, the authors concluded that many of the myths perpetuated about billionaires are simply not true. These billionaires aren’t necessarily smarter, harder working, or luckier than their peers. They aren’t all prodigies, crossing the billionaire finish line in their twenties. Nor, most of the time, do they create something brand-new: More than 80 percent of the billionaires in the research sample earned their billions in highly competitive industries.
The key difference is what the authors call the “Producer” mind-set, in contrast with the far more pervasive “Performer” mind-set. Performers strive to excel in well-defined areas, and are important. But Producers are critical to any company looking to create massive value because they redefine what’s possible, rather than simply meeting preexisting goals and standards. Combining sound judgment with imaginative vision, Producers think up entirely new products, services, strategies, and business models.
Big companies tend to reward Performers and discourage the unconventional ways of Producers. But it’s the latter who integrate multiple ideas, perspectives, and actions, and who trust their insights enough to make game-changing bets.
This book breaks down the five critical habits of mind of massive value-creators, so you can learn how to identify, encourage, and retain such individuals—and maybe even become one yourself. The Self-made Billionaire Effect will forever change the way you think about talent and business value.
258 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 30, 2014
103 people are currently reading
1927 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
August 3, 2017
• For 70% of the billionaires the idea that lead to the billions came after age 30
• More than 80% earned their billions in red oceans - highly competitive, mature industries
• More than 90% have launched multiple successful businesses
• More than 50% had a first job before age 18 and almost 75% launched their first entrepreneurial venture before age 30
• Producers and performers: a producer can be like Steve Jobs and a performer like Wozniak.
• Producers envision something new, bring together the people and the resources to create it, and sell it to customers.
• Performers are often very good at what they do. But they are celebrated and elevated precisely because they perform so well in one arena.
• Mark Cuban: "The way I define it there's people that if you tell them to do A, B and C, they're going to do ABC. And they have no idea D, E and F even exist. There's people that if you tell them to do A, B and C, they'll tell you there's D, E and F and will take the initiative. And then there's people like me that are bored with the first six letters and go right to G, H and I."
• Dual habit of mind: "self-made billionaires effectively operate in a world of dualities - they seamlessly hold on to multiple ideas, multiple perspectives, and multiple scales."
• Ideas - empathetic imagination: extreme empathy for the customers needs and wants
• Perspective - patient urgency: operate simultaneously at multiple speeds and time frames; fast and slow
• Action - inventive excecution: integrative and inventive mindset
• Attitude - taking a relative view of risk. Worry more about missing a bigger future and operate from relative risk. What is the worst thing that could happen?
• Leading - leadership partnership: producers are not solo - they pair up with performers in 60% of cases. Complementary skills.
• More than 80% earned their billions in red oceans - highly competitive, mature industries
• More than 90% have launched multiple successful businesses
• More than 50% had a first job before age 18 and almost 75% launched their first entrepreneurial venture before age 30
• Producers and performers: a producer can be like Steve Jobs and a performer like Wozniak.
• Producers envision something new, bring together the people and the resources to create it, and sell it to customers.
• Performers are often very good at what they do. But they are celebrated and elevated precisely because they perform so well in one arena.
• Mark Cuban: "The way I define it there's people that if you tell them to do A, B and C, they're going to do ABC. And they have no idea D, E and F even exist. There's people that if you tell them to do A, B and C, they'll tell you there's D, E and F and will take the initiative. And then there's people like me that are bored with the first six letters and go right to G, H and I."
• Dual habit of mind: "self-made billionaires effectively operate in a world of dualities - they seamlessly hold on to multiple ideas, multiple perspectives, and multiple scales."
• Ideas - empathetic imagination: extreme empathy for the customers needs and wants
• Perspective - patient urgency: operate simultaneously at multiple speeds and time frames; fast and slow
• Action - inventive excecution: integrative and inventive mindset
• Attitude - taking a relative view of risk. Worry more about missing a bigger future and operate from relative risk. What is the worst thing that could happen?
• Leading - leadership partnership: producers are not solo - they pair up with performers in 60% of cases. Complementary skills.
July 18, 2015
I loved the premise of this book, but hated the delivery. It is a book written by management consultants for corporate types - about how you nurture potential billionaires within a corporate organization. It would have been better if it was just about the common elements of self-made billionaires, without trying to connect it to a management consulting audience.
January 17, 2022
I thought that we would find insights on this book, but nothing. This book is boring and brings no new viewpoints to the fact that billionaire’s are people with innovative ideas that luckily by the circumstances worked well. You must be luck to be exposed to a diverse environment and multidisciplinary topics to be able to innovate. Just be curious and put chances on your side by living in a place where innovation is a lifestyle, forget about ideas from the past
March 18, 2020
As an avid reader of business literature, this ranks at the bottom for its usefulness and novelty.
The author(s) are up front about being employed at PwC, a well known consulting/auditing firm, and this reads like some of the worthless drab done by those firms on ideas that they can't seem to grasp. I wish this would have been written by a billionaire, as the stories provided are revisiting known ideas and thought models with nothing new to contribute. The author(s) claim to have interviewed 10+ billionaires, but there's no model by which they did it. They literally blew through their "coffee chats" and recant them here for their own posterity.
The writing style is fine and the topic is interesting, and the subject matter has been frequently examined by thought leaders going back to Peter Drucker, Napoleon Hill and others from the 1950s up until the present time. The tomes written by those aforementioned authors is the starting point, and I kept waiting while reading this book for it to go past that point. It didn't.
If you had to chose a way to spend three hours of your life: reading this book or comparing flavors of brand name toothpaste, you'd be better served by picking the latter. Specifically, the Producer/Performer dichotomy discussed throughout this entire book is on shaky ground to begin with: it's attesting to work ethic or style not to a specific business dynamic of adding value.
The list of billionaires is largely made up by hedge fund (and) financial instrument mavericks; the calculus is much smaller for the sampling of innovators who make it to that list. This book dissects the latter portion, without much of a narrative around the bulk of instrument specialists like Carl Icahn, Bill Ackman, Daniel Loeb and others who are self-made billionaires and represent the lionshare of those who affirm this segment (at least in the United States). Reading this book outside of knowing that context, which the author doesn't provide, leads the reader to believe that an innovation, a specialization or a specific tactic is how most move upward from being a millionaire to billionaire in net worth. Statistically, the chances are much better to egress innovation altogether and work within the context of financial laddering in a speciality such as corporate debt, difficult markets, mid-cap funding, etc.
The author(s) are up front about being employed at PwC, a well known consulting/auditing firm, and this reads like some of the worthless drab done by those firms on ideas that they can't seem to grasp. I wish this would have been written by a billionaire, as the stories provided are revisiting known ideas and thought models with nothing new to contribute. The author(s) claim to have interviewed 10+ billionaires, but there's no model by which they did it. They literally blew through their "coffee chats" and recant them here for their own posterity.
The writing style is fine and the topic is interesting, and the subject matter has been frequently examined by thought leaders going back to Peter Drucker, Napoleon Hill and others from the 1950s up until the present time. The tomes written by those aforementioned authors is the starting point, and I kept waiting while reading this book for it to go past that point. It didn't.
If you had to chose a way to spend three hours of your life: reading this book or comparing flavors of brand name toothpaste, you'd be better served by picking the latter. Specifically, the Producer/Performer dichotomy discussed throughout this entire book is on shaky ground to begin with: it's attesting to work ethic or style not to a specific business dynamic of adding value.
The list of billionaires is largely made up by hedge fund (and) financial instrument mavericks; the calculus is much smaller for the sampling of innovators who make it to that list. This book dissects the latter portion, without much of a narrative around the bulk of instrument specialists like Carl Icahn, Bill Ackman, Daniel Loeb and others who are self-made billionaires and represent the lionshare of those who affirm this segment (at least in the United States). Reading this book outside of knowing that context, which the author doesn't provide, leads the reader to believe that an innovation, a specialization or a specific tactic is how most move upward from being a millionaire to billionaire in net worth. Statistically, the chances are much better to egress innovation altogether and work within the context of financial laddering in a speciality such as corporate debt, difficult markets, mid-cap funding, etc.
August 1, 2020
Mostly a collection of interesting anecdotes. Attempts to generalise from cherry picked examples, but offers little more than a contrived dichotomy between two static personality types. The recommendations are vague and general. Interesting premise, but the execution is flawed and the end product is just another vapid business book.
December 16, 2015
What do self-made billionaires (there are about 800 of them in the world) have that most people don't ? This book is the first ever systematic study of a self-made billionaire. The first thing you'll read in this book will instantly destroy all the most common myths you hear about these people. An example would be that they are born into wealth or that they have made their first billion in the tech industry or that they've done so before the age of 30 with some crazy new idea. These people are definitely not who we think they are. 80% of them made their money in highly competitive saturated markets after the age of 30. The authors distilled the mindset of a self-made billionaire into 5 ideas, they call these The Five Habits of Mind:
- Inventive execution
- Epithetic imagination
- A relative view of risk
- Patient urgency
and producer performer pairs.
For example epithetic imagination is a combination of understanding where the market is and at the same time have a rational understanding of what the economic opportunities might be. As the authors say they “revel in bringing clashing elements together,” “they seamlessly hold on to multiple ideas, multiple perspectives, and multiple scales." at the same time. Throughout the book you'll find details on each of the Five Habits of Mind and stories related to them so you can understand better what it's about. This was really an interesting read, I found it to be very engaging and detailed. Highly recommended!
- Inventive execution
- Epithetic imagination
- A relative view of risk
- Patient urgency
and producer performer pairs.
For example epithetic imagination is a combination of understanding where the market is and at the same time have a rational understanding of what the economic opportunities might be. As the authors say they “revel in bringing clashing elements together,” “they seamlessly hold on to multiple ideas, multiple perspectives, and multiple scales." at the same time. Throughout the book you'll find details on each of the Five Habits of Mind and stories related to them so you can understand better what it's about. This was really an interesting read, I found it to be very engaging and detailed. Highly recommended!
July 23, 2015
Heard the author on the radio and as it turns out the interview was better than the book. Wanted to see what allowed these to leverage their influence and how that might translate to other areas of life. Did glean some helpful insight but could have done it from a lot shorter book.
October 20, 2024
Interesting an thought-provoking.
April 27, 2018
The book seeks to answer an interesting yet inherently complex question: How did bona fide self-made billionaires become who they are today? The book's advice on how corporate leaders can groom more "producers" is overall sensible and probably valid. With that being said, we should perhaps take those advice with a healthy grain of salt as well.
First, the fact that they sampled their list of billionaires solely from the Forbes list "The World's Billionaires" skewed their name list by leaving out those that had operated quietly under the media radar. For security and several other reasons, not every super rich person in the world revels in the extra public attention brought by media exposure. In fact, some billionaires have chosen to opt out of the Forbes list or kept their wealth as secretly as possible. Second, dissecting other people's successes is always a tricky business fraught with biases; the authors' analysis relied partially on many previous feature profiles and magazine articles, which sometimes tend to glamourize top-performers' achievements and personal traits, rather than getting down to the real but often intertwine network of factors that led to the outstanding results. Personal interviews based on the interviewees' self reflection and recall can suffer from hindsight biases as well, as research have shown how bad we are at objectively analyzing the true causes of our own successes. When explaining events after the fact, people are prone to, consciously or unconsciously, make up feel-good narratives that overestimate their own importance while omitting genuinely critical external factors. And perhaps even more perilous (and potentially problematic) is trying to generalize across several dozens of success stories of dissimilar industries and natures just to identify some common factors.
First, the fact that they sampled their list of billionaires solely from the Forbes list "The World's Billionaires" skewed their name list by leaving out those that had operated quietly under the media radar. For security and several other reasons, not every super rich person in the world revels in the extra public attention brought by media exposure. In fact, some billionaires have chosen to opt out of the Forbes list or kept their wealth as secretly as possible. Second, dissecting other people's successes is always a tricky business fraught with biases; the authors' analysis relied partially on many previous feature profiles and magazine articles, which sometimes tend to glamourize top-performers' achievements and personal traits, rather than getting down to the real but often intertwine network of factors that led to the outstanding results. Personal interviews based on the interviewees' self reflection and recall can suffer from hindsight biases as well, as research have shown how bad we are at objectively analyzing the true causes of our own successes. When explaining events after the fact, people are prone to, consciously or unconsciously, make up feel-good narratives that overestimate their own importance while omitting genuinely critical external factors. And perhaps even more perilous (and potentially problematic) is trying to generalize across several dozens of success stories of dissimilar industries and natures just to identify some common factors.
August 7, 2015
The authors make the distinction between Performers (execute well-defined tasks very well), and Producers (think outside the box, create new products/markets), and show how many well-known billionaires are Producers - but they got there with the help of some key Performers. Through this distinction, the authors dispel the myth that most billionaires are lone wolves who singlehandedly ran with an idea and made a fortune. In many cases, they had a key partner who complimented them as a Performer. The authors lament that large companies don't do enough to keep Producers, as they tend not to fit in to a traditional corporate structure. Another dispelled myth is that billionaires are massive risk-takers. Rather, they take a relative view of risk and manage it carefully, often viewing missing out on market opportunities as far riskier than simply pursuing them. Personally, it view it as a positive that many Producers have left big firms to start their own companies - it's because of this phenomenon that we have many of the great young companies whose products we all enjoy. And the Producers themselves are likely much happier - and certainly much richer - for it.
May 13, 2015
In their book Sviokla and Cohen provide extensive research drawn from interviews with some of the most successful billionaires in order to debunk the perceptions people have of high producing entrepreneurs. The goal of the book is to teach you habits designed to improve your business value, how to start thinking like a billionaire, and how to be highly valuable to your employees.
For your convenience, we had John Sviokla on our podcast, The Entrepreneurs Library, to give a deep dive on The Self-Made Billionaire Effect. With John’s experience he gives amazing insight on how successful billionaires create massive value. If you would like to get a more in-depth look from the author himself check out episode 219 on the EL website or you can find the show on iTunes.
For your convenience, we had John Sviokla on our podcast, The Entrepreneurs Library, to give a deep dive on The Self-Made Billionaire Effect. With John’s experience he gives amazing insight on how successful billionaires create massive value. If you would like to get a more in-depth look from the author himself check out episode 219 on the EL website or you can find the show on iTunes.
July 20, 2015
This book ranks now on my top #10 list
The authors start with solid research of 120 self made billionaires. Then they take the time to interview most of them and assess their similarities to share what makes up the unique profile of what they term "Producers."
They had me from the start with the powerful statement that the corporate world especially should start to recognize the Producer who will be the new leader in this interconnected world. Then in partnership with Performers organizations can really the big gains they seek and need to thrive.
I can't wait to see how the authors take their findings and, working strategically with major corporate early adopters, create powerful unprecedented growth curves .
The authors start with solid research of 120 self made billionaires. Then they take the time to interview most of them and assess their similarities to share what makes up the unique profile of what they term "Producers."
They had me from the start with the powerful statement that the corporate world especially should start to recognize the Producer who will be the new leader in this interconnected world. Then in partnership with Performers organizations can really the big gains they seek and need to thrive.
I can't wait to see how the authors take their findings and, working strategically with major corporate early adopters, create powerful unprecedented growth curves .
November 7, 2015
There are many books out there about wealthy people, this is the first study on billionaires and what sets them apart.
Most billionaires start by working for a large corporation, they gain experience and many come up with great ideas their bosses did not buy into, hence they go off on their own and make billions.
Big emphasis on producers. These people generate ideas through a mode of creativity known as divergent thinking. Divergent thinking involves the free flow of different ideas and associations for the purposes of identifying solutions to a problem.
To make billions you also need a performer, one that put the producers idea into action that makes money.
This book covers a few practical examples and offers a practical framework/pattern to follow.
A truly inspiring read!
Most billionaires start by working for a large corporation, they gain experience and many come up with great ideas their bosses did not buy into, hence they go off on their own and make billions.
Big emphasis on producers. These people generate ideas through a mode of creativity known as divergent thinking. Divergent thinking involves the free flow of different ideas and associations for the purposes of identifying solutions to a problem.
To make billions you also need a performer, one that put the producers idea into action that makes money.
This book covers a few practical examples and offers a practical framework/pattern to follow.
A truly inspiring read!
January 28, 2015
The book's core concept of studying a random sample of self-made billionaires is a fantastic one, and the authors did a great job communicating their findings.
The authors, being from PwC, offered a perspective tailored for large institutions trying to foster and encourage billionaire-quality producers within their own ranks.
That point of view was somewhat distracting from what I was personally aiming to gain from the book. Ultimately though, I'm glad I've now also considered the large corporate leadership perspective. Plus, reading this book still offers valuable insights for an entrepreneurial producer.
Overall, it was an informative and inspiring read.
The authors, being from PwC, offered a perspective tailored for large institutions trying to foster and encourage billionaire-quality producers within their own ranks.
That point of view was somewhat distracting from what I was personally aiming to gain from the book. Ultimately though, I'm glad I've now also considered the large corporate leadership perspective. Plus, reading this book still offers valuable insights for an entrepreneurial producer.
Overall, it was an informative and inspiring read.
September 4, 2017
Este libro es para todo trabajador. Peón o directivo, funcionario o empleado en el sector privado.
Tras una pormenorizada investigación, sus autores han identificado un puñado de características esenciales que marcan la diferencia entre un Ejecutor (performer) y un Disruptor (Producer): el primero es un buen gestor de tareas y encargos específicos; el segundo mira más allá y acaba creando algo que no existía hasta la fecha, desafía el status quo, las creencias, las dudas de las grandes firmas.
Tiene mucho que enseñar.
Tras una pormenorizada investigación, sus autores han identificado un puñado de características esenciales que marcan la diferencia entre un Ejecutor (performer) y un Disruptor (Producer): el primero es un buen gestor de tareas y encargos específicos; el segundo mira más allá y acaba creando algo que no existía hasta la fecha, desafía el status quo, las creencias, las dudas de las grandes firmas.
Tiene mucho que enseñar.
September 4, 2017
En este ensayo, uno descubre por qué fue Google y no un fabricante de coches de toda la vida el que inventó el sistema de conducción autónoma, o por qué a menudo en las multinacionales se obstaculiza, más que promoverse, el pensamiento fuera de los esquemas. Todo esto, en la patria de la innovación, Estados Unidos.
Me encanta porque es otra confirmación de cómo la locura con método puede ser una receta para el éxito.
Me encanta porque es otra confirmación de cómo la locura con método puede ser una receta para el éxito.
August 15, 2016
More like 3.5 stars.
The book has a great compilation of patterns of the mentioned billionaires.
It is however written with the normal corporation and executive in mind and not really the entrepreneur.
The book has a great compilation of patterns of the mentioned billionaires.
It is however written with the normal corporation and executive in mind and not really the entrepreneur.
November 23, 2016
This book was eye opening. But unfortunately this book is for business owners and I'm still in school. Regardless this book teaches you about the mindset of many different successful billionaires and makes you think about your life and how you can improve it.
May 16, 2017
This book leaves me thinking, and perhaps I need to give it another run through.
The distinction drawn between top producers vs. top performers is interesting and deserving of more thought on my part.
The distinction drawn between top producers vs. top performers is interesting and deserving of more thought on my part.
November 26, 2017
If you're interested in what self-made billionaires have in common, then check out this book. It takes an in depth look at what things they have in common. Here's my video review and some takeaways to the book: https://youtu.be/mU5OV-YEIkI
March 12, 2015
Interesting research on billionaire habits and mindset
April 13, 2016
Useful book for understanding the differences between producers and performers in a business, a lot of value in this book.
April 23, 2016
Insightful and cheesy (sometimes at the same time). It makes you think. And at the end of the day, what more could you ask from a book?
July 24, 2017
В книжці розповідається, як "селф"-мільярдери використовуючи емпатичну уяву разом з наполегливістю креативно реалізовували свої ідеї у мільярдні бізниси. Цікава книжка, багато цікавої інформації
August 8, 2017
A good book on business and those who excell at it. I would give it five stars, but I haven't become a billionaire yet.
May 25, 2018
Very interesting.
March 16, 2021
To be fair, I've read a lot of books about business and development. I'm kind of picky with books in this category because I'm hungry to learn something new. This book didn't deliver on that for me, but if the genre is new to you, you'll likely have a different experience with it.
The authors claim to be the first to study self-made billionaires. They posit 5 key ingredients toward this extreme outcome:
1) Empathetic imagination - Many, perhaps even most, self-made billionaires developed their idea around something that they needed or saw something someone else needed. Their ability to empathize with their customers gives them key insight into exactly what their customer wants and needs.
2) Patient urgency - These people have an uncanny ability to time things properly. They enter the market at the ideal time - in what many would call a blue-sky market. They create and launch their product at the perfect time - when the market needs and wants it the most. They don't jump the gun and enter the market too early, and they don't wait until it's too late and they're playing "catch up."
3) Inventive execution - These self-made billionaires are creative. They think differently and see ways to solve problems that are innovative and new. They approach an existing problem or product in an entirely fresh way, and then execute their vision effectively.
4) Reversing the risk equation - They found that these people tend to avoid risks that many take, and take risks that many avoid. They are willing to take a big risk when the rewards are big enough. They don't take risks for little rewards, because it runs entirely contrary to their big thinking. So, in some ways they look scared to take risks because they avoid risks many people take. In other ways, they look crazy because they'll take a huge risk on something that has a massive reward - like moving to a new country where they don't speak the language because they see the market there is ripe for their product.
5) Producer-Performer duality - of everything in this book, this was the most novel concept for me. They talk about how most of the world rewards performers - individuals that excel mostly in one specific domain. Producers are wired differently - they have a different mindset. They can see the big picture, envision a great idea, and then bring together the people and the resources necessary to create it - plus, they can sell it - a skill of obvious importance to becoming a billionaire. They talk about how it's important for companies to identify people with producer mindsets and to elevate them ASAP - before they leave your company and start their own. As business owners, we have to reward producer mindsets even more than performer mindsets, even though they are likely more difficult to manage.
One of my favorite stories in this book was about Sara Blakely (creator of Spanx) and her father. Every night at dinner, he asked the kids if they had failed today. If they hadn't, he was disappointed! If they hadn't failed, he presumed they hadn't taken enough risks and tried enough new things. He fostered a mindset that wasn't afraid of failure - instead it applauded it! He knew that the road to success was paved with failure, and he instilled this in her at a young age. So, she was able to handle the obstacles on her journey toward becoming a billionaire by knowing that failure was all a part of the process.
As you can see, this book wasn't bad - I certainly don't mean to make it appear that way with my 2 star rating. On Goodreads, 2 stars means you thought the book was "ok" - which is my personal view of it just because I was already familiar with many of these concepts - even the story about Blakely's nightly failure reviews. Hopefully you find the book, and my review, useful!
Check out my live review and summary on Youtube here - https://youtu.be/uSKRq8CJtPY
The authors claim to be the first to study self-made billionaires. They posit 5 key ingredients toward this extreme outcome:
1) Empathetic imagination - Many, perhaps even most, self-made billionaires developed their idea around something that they needed or saw something someone else needed. Their ability to empathize with their customers gives them key insight into exactly what their customer wants and needs.
2) Patient urgency - These people have an uncanny ability to time things properly. They enter the market at the ideal time - in what many would call a blue-sky market. They create and launch their product at the perfect time - when the market needs and wants it the most. They don't jump the gun and enter the market too early, and they don't wait until it's too late and they're playing "catch up."
3) Inventive execution - These self-made billionaires are creative. They think differently and see ways to solve problems that are innovative and new. They approach an existing problem or product in an entirely fresh way, and then execute their vision effectively.
4) Reversing the risk equation - They found that these people tend to avoid risks that many take, and take risks that many avoid. They are willing to take a big risk when the rewards are big enough. They don't take risks for little rewards, because it runs entirely contrary to their big thinking. So, in some ways they look scared to take risks because they avoid risks many people take. In other ways, they look crazy because they'll take a huge risk on something that has a massive reward - like moving to a new country where they don't speak the language because they see the market there is ripe for their product.
5) Producer-Performer duality - of everything in this book, this was the most novel concept for me. They talk about how most of the world rewards performers - individuals that excel mostly in one specific domain. Producers are wired differently - they have a different mindset. They can see the big picture, envision a great idea, and then bring together the people and the resources necessary to create it - plus, they can sell it - a skill of obvious importance to becoming a billionaire. They talk about how it's important for companies to identify people with producer mindsets and to elevate them ASAP - before they leave your company and start their own. As business owners, we have to reward producer mindsets even more than performer mindsets, even though they are likely more difficult to manage.
One of my favorite stories in this book was about Sara Blakely (creator of Spanx) and her father. Every night at dinner, he asked the kids if they had failed today. If they hadn't, he was disappointed! If they hadn't failed, he presumed they hadn't taken enough risks and tried enough new things. He fostered a mindset that wasn't afraid of failure - instead it applauded it! He knew that the road to success was paved with failure, and he instilled this in her at a young age. So, she was able to handle the obstacles on her journey toward becoming a billionaire by knowing that failure was all a part of the process.
As you can see, this book wasn't bad - I certainly don't mean to make it appear that way with my 2 star rating. On Goodreads, 2 stars means you thought the book was "ok" - which is my personal view of it just because I was already familiar with many of these concepts - even the story about Blakely's nightly failure reviews. Hopefully you find the book, and my review, useful!
Check out my live review and summary on Youtube here - https://youtu.be/uSKRq8CJtPY
April 4, 2021
Self-made billionaires make up around two thirds of the total billionaires around the world. They create value at a massive scale and can hold their own in a sea of shifting variables – the VUCA world. Through the book, John Sviokla and Mitch Cohen try to convey what makes these people different from the rest, how these producers think and behave and how companies can rely on them to survive the looming challenges and do the next big thing.
Through the stories of 120 billionaires and their unique careers, the authors try to break the myths that surround entrepreneurship. Most of them were not young when they struck gold, they operated across industries, they believed in purple ocean strategies, utilized their talents fully and have worked really hard (and not relied on pure luck).
The book revolves around the concept of Producers and Performers. Producers are those who are able to imagine, integrate ideas and actions and gauge connections between things that are usually exact opposites. They are comfortable with multiple ideas, timelines and perspectives. They are the ones who can bridge the gap between imagination and judgement and work seamlessly in the midst of duality. Performers are those who excel within standard systems. They are single-minded and work towards their goals with laser sharp precision and are the ones who are celebrated in most companies today.
It is important that companies understand the importance of having a blend of Producers and Performers in the workforce so that a balance of talent is achieved and massive returns can be expected.
Through the stories of 120 billionaires and their unique careers, the authors try to break the myths that surround entrepreneurship. Most of them were not young when they struck gold, they operated across industries, they believed in purple ocean strategies, utilized their talents fully and have worked really hard (and not relied on pure luck).
The book revolves around the concept of Producers and Performers. Producers are those who are able to imagine, integrate ideas and actions and gauge connections between things that are usually exact opposites. They are comfortable with multiple ideas, timelines and perspectives. They are the ones who can bridge the gap between imagination and judgement and work seamlessly in the midst of duality. Performers are those who excel within standard systems. They are single-minded and work towards their goals with laser sharp precision and are the ones who are celebrated in most companies today.
It is important that companies understand the importance of having a blend of Producers and Performers in the workforce so that a balance of talent is achieved and massive returns can be expected.
March 5, 2020
I’m a fairly successful Performer with some strong Producer tendencies. I like my Producer side better. That is what I love. But I’m an achiever by nature and Performers get A’s, you know. I need some opportunities and help developing my Producer side so I can reach these self made billionaire ranks... lol. Ambitious much?
This book took a look at the self made billionaires of the world and broke down their thought processes and habits and unique insight into something “we can all cultivate.” It’s not a bad idea but there will def be people who are like hell no.
Four things are the “traits of the Producer”:
Empathetic imagination
Patient urgency
Inventive execution
Reversing the risk equation
Not amazing here, but a unique perspective worth the quick read.
This book took a look at the self made billionaires of the world and broke down their thought processes and habits and unique insight into something “we can all cultivate.” It’s not a bad idea but there will def be people who are like hell no.
Four things are the “traits of the Producer”:
Empathetic imagination
Patient urgency
Inventive execution
Reversing the risk equation
Not amazing here, but a unique perspective worth the quick read.
March 16, 2025
No surpise that stopped reading once started this one. Nothing groundbreaking and quite bland.
Infact takes a lot of time to state the painfully obvious such as hire talent for the particular task. Nurture innovative ideas dont stifle under company culture etc.
Tried to coin new corporate terms which are hollow attempts and don't really hold their weight, like empathetic imagination, inventive execution, patient urgency and there was something else. But its just trying hard to throw something on the wall with hopes will catch on.
Basically, a book by consultants with alot of corporate jargon to say very basic concepts. Not much soul nor emotion nor any new insight wouldn't have come across in any news article on a billionaire.
Infact takes a lot of time to state the painfully obvious such as hire talent for the particular task. Nurture innovative ideas dont stifle under company culture etc.
Tried to coin new corporate terms which are hollow attempts and don't really hold their weight, like empathetic imagination, inventive execution, patient urgency and there was something else. But its just trying hard to throw something on the wall with hopes will catch on.
Basically, a book by consultants with alot of corporate jargon to say very basic concepts. Not much soul nor emotion nor any new insight wouldn't have come across in any news article on a billionaire.
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