I decided to pick up one of Dan Kennedy’s books when they were put on my radar a few months ago by my friend, Justin Goff, who had read a couple of them and thought that the content and message were good enough to recommend. The book that Justin first referenced was Wealth Attraction for Entreprenuers, but as I looked at the several titles that Dan Kennedy has written, the one that appealed to me most was “How to Succeed in Business By Breaking All the Rules: A Plan for Entrepreneurs
I think the reason this title appealed to me is because it matches some of my beliefs about how business works which is that there are rules and policies that are followed by about 90% of the employees and then there is about 10% who are doing almost whatever they want and running over everyone else as they do it. This was very obvious when I worked at Ameritech/SBC/AT&T as the people that were progressing through the company and being promoted or being given positions of increased responsibility didn’t follow the rules in the same way that everyone else did. They much of what they wanted and manipulated the rules to fit their desired outcome. And usually this worked with great success. So it was a nice validation to read this book and find that many of the beliefs that I have are in line with what Dan Kennedy has written about, but explains and develops these actions in much more detail than I previously had considered.
One of the better parts of the books for me was when he described how Deion Sanders changed the rules for defensive backs in the 90′s so that he could be paid in a way that was similar to quarterbacks. Deion realized that simply being the best defensive back was not going to be enough, so he created a persona that went along with his play that was arrogant and over the top, but caused him to be noticed in a way that was uncommon for defensive backs. Although Deion has on over the top the personality, most would assume that he is the life of the party and that his persona in front of the camera mirrors the rest of his life, but that is not the case. Deion is a homebody that does not drink, but he realized that to attain the level of success that he wanted, he had to break the normal rules and present himself in a different way which was obviously very successful.
Dan’s book is a very good read, but at times he can offend someone that is sensitive to borderline(or over the line) statements. Dan describes himself as “to the right of Rush Limbaugh” which most would deem impossible. Most of his writings reflect this mindset, but he offers very practical advice for success in business.
Dan closes each chapter with a contrarian view to conventional thinking that helps to view things in a different way. Here are a few good quotes from the book that I think apply very well to both business and life in general:
“Stop letting lack of money imprison you. There’s abundant evidence all around you that you can turn your ideas into a successful enterprise without having a lot of capital. Access to plenty of money will not “make” a business. Having to fight its way into existence without money will not kill a really viable business.”
“Avoid seduction by technology. Ask yourself tough questions to determine whether the technology you let into your life is genuinely working for you, to your advantage, or against you, to your disadvantage. Have the courage not to use the trendy, popular technology if it is not right for you.”
“You cannot afford to be humble. If you wait to be discovered and rewarded based on merit alone, you had better bring a lunch and several good books because you’re going to be waiting a long, long time. The bigger your ambitions, the more likely you are to offend people while achieving those ambitions. And your opportunity to have meaningful impact will be in direct proportion to your willingness to offend. What others perceive as arrogance may very well be the level of confidence, self-promotion, and pushiness necessary. Also, arrogance magnetically attracts more than it repels because many people prefer association with an individual who is absolutely certain of himself and his convictions.”
Dan’s book
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