Rating: 4 stars
Having been a corporate robot for years, I've read hundreds of business books and all of them pretty much say the same thing. Michael Franzese gives the same advice, but with a much different approach. As they say, it's not what you teach, but how you teach.
Franzese was very successful in business, both legit and otherwise, and getting tips from successful people who weren't handed everything first is always welcome; especially those who make a cool mill or so a week. The addition of stories and examples from Franzese’s time as a made man in the Colombo family help illustrate his points and provide brief glimpses into the mob life.
The mafia has always been a source of interest to many non-FBI individuals. The lifestyle, the money, the violence, glamorized by movies like The Godfather, Casino, Goodfellasand of course The Sopranos. However, I'll Make You An Offer mentions an interesting and previously unknown fact: when a mobster goes to jail he is assigned to read the works of Machiavelli, on whose philosophy the mafia base their principles. According to Franzese, The Prince reads like the “La Cosa Nostra Handbook". Throughout the book, quotes by both King Solomon and Machiavelli, which Franzese simplifies for us slow kids, provide examples to current day business situations. Solomon’s view provides a more rational alternative to Machiavelli's "take no prisoner, win at all costs" approach.
Even Franzese admits that all business books tell you pretty much the same things, but that the key is to utilizing the information correctly. For instance, Franzese's suggests that those boring, time-sucking corporate meetings should be replaced with "sit-downs," which would ensure a much more focused and productive use of time. This is a great idea; imagine how much more profitable corporations would be if the possibility existed for division heads to be whacked for not making their quota.
One of the important messages that Franzese gets across, which most books don’t discuss, is failure will happen and that’s how we learn and you just have to keep trying. Franzese notes that despite his successes he has had many failures. After getting out of prison it took him several years to pull things back together. The point is, sometimes failure is necessary to get us on the path to success and often times it’s a totally different path than where we started. Another point the author mentions, is not everybody is qualified or capable of running a business. People read these books thinking it will work magic on them. Either you have it or you don’t. Some people are just meant to be employees. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
When I first saw this book, I expected it to be written in a rather shallow and obvious style, and found it was anything but. Franzese did a great job of giving the usual advice with a whole new spin and adding a few of his own touches; which is why I gave it four stars.
You got a problem with that?
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Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (March 31, 2009)
ISBN-13: 978-1595551634