Pushing the Envelope All the Way to the Top
by Harvey MacKay
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Book Summary Information
Author: Harvey MacKayEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-05
ISBN: 0449006697
Number of pages: 348
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of Pushing the Envelope All the Way to the Top
Book Review: self-promotion
Summary: 3 Stars
If it didn't say "Harvey Mackay" on the cover, we wouldn't even mention this book, but ol' Swim with the Sharks Harvey is a brand unto himself. Pushing the Envelope is pure Mackay: breezy style, predictable advice, management insights as deep as a puddle. Still, expect it to sell. Mackay, like Zig Ziglar, can move books on name recognition alone.
This latest tome offers 90 chapters of advice on how to improve yourself, outdo the competition, raise expectations, manage effectively, and do it all with flair. When you pack that much living into one slim volume, you can expect each chapter to have maybe a shade more meaning than a fortune cookie. That's not to say that some of the advice isn't sound. It's just that so much of it is insight into the obvious. Take this pearl, for example: "Always let the other side talk first" in a negotiation. OK, fair enough, but what if both of you have read the book?
If nothing else, Mackay is a master of self-promotion. He tells you that to save time you should listen to books on tape and then gives you the phone number for Nightingale Conant, which he calls "the biggest and best" source of them. Well, he doesn't mention it, but Mackay's taped books are a Nightingale Conant staple. Then again, learning to self-promote, network, and connect at every turn is central to his whole rap. He's merely practicing what he preaches about pursuing every opportunity--indeed, running it into the ground.
Mackay does point readers to some really good titles with the oomph his book doesn't have, suggesting The Real Heroes of Business...and Not a CEO Among Them, by Bill Fromm and Len Schlesinger (Currency/Doubleday, 1994), which chronicles 14 employees across the country who provide exemplary service; and Leadership Without Easy Answers, by Ronald A. Heifetz (Belknap Press, 1994), which is indeed one of the best books on leadership written in many years.
To be fair, Mackay can be a hoot, and sometimes that's all you want one of his books for. He can even laugh at his own breed, as he does in a wonderful send-up in chapter 9. Laid out as a screenplay idea that was rejected by his real-life moviedirector son, the chapter describes a befuddled, aging CEO who spouts management wisdom--when he can remember it--to young whippersnappers seeking advice. "Dig your well before you stub your toe...wait a minute, that's not it...," he fumbles. Hilariously accurate.
Summary of Pushing the Envelope All the Way to the Top
Harvey Mackay is the author of two New York Times #1 bestsellers, Swim with the Sharks without Being Eaten Alive and Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt. Both these books were recently listed by the New York Times among the top fifteen inspirational business books of all time. Harvey's most recent book, Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty was also a New York Times bestseller. His books have sold more than eight million copies worldwide, have been translated into thirty-five languages, and have sold in eighty countries.In addition, Harvey is a nationally syndicated columnist and was named by the 170,000-member Toastmaster International as one of the top five speakers in the world. He is founder and CEO of the $85 million Mackay Envelope Corporation.
Inspirational business speaker, popular newspaper columnist, and bestselling author Harvey Mackay has been "moonlighting" for 40 years as president of Mackay Envelope Corporation, an $85 million company that produces more than 17 million envelopes a day. With the help of imagery derived from this industry, he's now dispensing a new batch of lessons on life and business in Pushing the Envelope: All the Way to the Top. Its five sections--cleverly titled "How to Be A #10," "Licking the Competition," "How I Pushed the Envelope," "The Flap on Management," and "Going First Class"--offer practical advice on such topics as hiring, motivating, training, producing, and negotiating. Each short and highly focused chapter deals with one specific idea and concludes with a pithy aphorism dubbed Mackay's Moral, such as "There's much more to winning than finishing first" and "In negotiations, as in poker, a superior hand can be beaten by superior knowledge of your opponents." Interweaving experiences from a diverse lot including Sylvester Stallone, Ulysses S. Grant, Will Rogers, and Star Wars' Yoda with anecdotes drawn from his own career, Mackay presents a litany of solid suggestions that will prove as useful as they are fun to read. --Howard Rothman
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