Download Am I Being Too Subtle?: The Adventures of a Business Maverick AudioBook Free
The traits that make Sam Zell one of the world's most successful internet marketers also make him one of the very most unexpected, enigmatic, and amusing mavericks in American business. Self-made billionaire Sam Zell regularly perceives what others don't. From finding market for overpriced Playboy magazines among his junior high classmates, to buying real real estate on the cheap after market crash, to investing in often unglamorous establishments with long-term value, Zell operates boldly on supply and demand trends to grab the first-mover benefit. And he can find opportunity virtually everywhere - from an arcane little bit of legislation to a desert conference in Abu Dhabi. "If everyone is going kept, look right," Zell often says. To him, regular wisdom is nothing but a reference point. Every year, deal after offer, he shuts out the noises of the crowd, gathers the maximum amount of information as is feasible, then trusts his own instincts. He credits much of his independent thinking to his parents, who were Jewish refugees from World Battle II. Speak to any two different people and you can find crazy swings in their descriptions of Zell. A mass media firestorm ensued when the Tribune Company proceeded to go into bankruptcy per year after he decided to steward the venture. At the same time, his razor-sharp instincts are famous on Wall Street, and he has sponsored over twelve IPOs. He's known as the Grave Dancer for his strategy of targeting troubled possessions, yet he's created a large number of jobs. Within his own business, he has an inordinate amount of employees at every level who are fiercely devoted and have did the trick for him for decades. Zell's got a major personality; he's often contrarian, blunt, and irreverent, and always inquisitive and hardworking. This is the guy who began wearing jeans to work in the 1960s, when offices were a sea of gray suits. He's the dude who told The Wall Street Journal in 1985, "If it ain't fun, we don't take action." He trips motorcycles along with his friends, the Zell's Angels, round the world and he maintains ducks on the deck outside his office. As he writes: "I simply don't buy into lots of the made-up guidelines of cultural convention. The bottom line is: If you're really good at what you do, you have independence to be who you really are." Am I Being Too Understated? - a reference to Zell's favorite way to underscore a spot - needs listeners on a trip across his business terrain, sharing with credibility and humor reports of the days he first got it right, when he didn't, and most important, what he discovered along the way. This is an essential guide for another era of disrupters, internet marketers, and investors.
