Part survival guide, part cautionary tale, a volume in which every aspiring entrepreneur should invest.
Accomplished attorney and author Sutton (Start Your Own Corporation, 2012, etc.) presents a second volume on how to build a well-protected business from the ground up.
If it seems like Sutton is leading a tour through every entrepreneur’s worst nightmare, it’s because the path to running a successful corporation is rife with pitfalls. Founder of Sutton Law Center and a Rich Dad’s Advisor series contributor, Sutton knows what can happen when entrepreneurs ignore proper bookkeeping and other corporate formalities. Hefty tax liabilities, expensive lawsuits and criminal investigations can doom a business. Rather than cower from the dangers, Sutton digs in with an us-versus-them attitude and explains how to build a “corporate veil” that will be difficult for outsiders to penetrate, whether they be sue-happy clients or overzealous creditors. Stuffed with legal concepts but remarkably easy to follow, the book traces the evolution of three fictitious businesses over a five-year period—an engineering firm, a beauty salon and a housesitting venture. These “case studies” illustrate the basics of personal asset protection and legal documentation. Topics include choosing a corporate entity, payroll taxes, annual filings, IRS audits and more. Options are laid out with brutal candor because the consequences can be grave. One imaginary entrepreneur loses $15,000 due to trademark infringement, and another is sentenced to prison following a dubious tax investigation. The narratives can be a bit over-the-top, but it’s forgivable because a skilled attorney will anticipate worst-case scenarios. Sutton casts a wide defensive net, even highlighting the risks posed by social media websites. Government agencies like the IRS and OSHA are viewed with suspicion, and entrepreneurs are urged to rise above bureaucracy by following the rules. Sutton makes no apologies for the tactics used by the wealthy; while he insists readers pay their taxes, he shows ways to legally reduce their liabilities. The timeline of the book is ambitious, since many startups are barely profitable after five years, but Sutton’s strategies can be applied regardless of scope.
Part survival guide, part cautionary tale, a volume in which every aspiring entrepreneur should invest.Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2012
ISBN: 978-1937832100
Page Count: 300
Publisher: BZK Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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