Smart Luck: What are Entrepreneurs Made Of?: Amazon.co.uk: Andrew Davidson: Books

Amazon.co.uk Review

What makes men like Richard Branson and Alan Sugar so successful? More than talent, more than ambition and drive, Andrew Davidson believes, it's Smart Luck--taking a gamble when you know the odds. Through impressively well written and personal interviews with some of the UK's most charismatic and successful business minds, Davidson gives us a glimpse into what turns a man like James Dyson into an entrepreneur.

Dyson says he has always felt different, ever since his father died when he was a child. "Losing a father makes you incrediblydisadvantaged emotionally. There isn't that personal willing you on there to help you. You become horribly self-reliant and you grow up quicker in one sense, and never grow up in another." Certainly, he looks 15 years younger than his age--he's a health and fitness fanatic, running three times a week and watching what he eats. His son, Jacob, calls him Peter Pan and there is a certain childlike quality in his enthusiasms which encourages him to break rules and challenge status quos when others might think it batty to do so.

What makes Smart Luck compelling is its voyeuristic quality--describing how Lastminute.com founder Brent Hoberman leaves theinterview to take a call and forgets to come back, or the varying types of therapy Simon Woodroffe endured while building up the Yo! Sushi chain. It's definitely not a manual for wannabe moguls--most of thetales here were started through coincidence and chance more than design or strategy. Knowing how Autonomy's Mike Lynch's experiences with industrial giant GEC defined his career, or how Pizza Express founderLuke Johnson got his break after a chance reply to a Financial Times ad won't make you a better businessman--but it will give you gems of insight rarely found on the business shelves. --Sally Whittle

Review

'With his notebooks and tape recorder overflowing, [Andrew Davidson] has parlayed a career's worth of probing into what may be the most entertaining book on business published this year.'

'The prose is breathless, the subjects are opinionated and the colour writing is so good it is difficult to remember that this is meant to be a serious book about entrepreneurs. There isn't a dull chapter to be found.'

Sunday Times, Book of the Week

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

Mixed 4 May 2004

By A Customer

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Far from the best business book I've read - very disjointed (no logical progression or conclusion) - the author frequently mentions himself (relevance?). However, it is an interesting insight and background into some of the people featured in the book. And finally �16.99 for a paperback book? a touch steep?

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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful

A Smart Read for every Business Builder 19 Nov 2001

Format:Paperback

A recent Sunday Times Book of the Week, Smart Luck lives up to the Times' reviewer's billing; "May be the most entertaining business book published this year...There isn't a dull chapter to be found."

This book gets personal with entrepreneurship, and really brings alive the elusive qualities that make a great business builder. At the heart of Davidson's book are smart luck and the seven other qualities of great entrepreneurs, which echoes Covey's seven habits approach. In this case though, humourless evangelism is replaced by humour and human insight. So no checklists or models, but a real immersion in entrepreneurial spirit which will leave you with a much better sense of whether you have it or not.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful

Fascinating reading 18 Oct 2001

By adrianrgeorge@yahoo.com

I guess most of us are pretty fascinated by what makes a person a huge business success. This is a most insightful and revealing book - the author has interviewed all the people featured (and it's not just the 'usual suspects' either - a good mix of household names and relative unknowns, despite their success). Their own words show what makes them tick. It's a great read too - very witty, quite wry humour and obviously a writer with a great way with words. Some of his observational stuff was really first rate. I thoroughly enjoyed it.