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The Monk and the Riddle: The Art of Creating a Life While Making a Life: The Art of Creating a Life While Making a Living [Paperback]

Randy Komisar (Author), Kent L Lineback (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
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Book Description

Publication Date: 1 Aug 2001 | ISBN-10: 1578516447 | ISBN-13: 978-1578516445 | Edition: New edition
What would you be willing to do for the rest of your life . . . ?

It's a question most of us consider only hypothetically-opting instead to "do what we have to do" to earn a living. But in the critically acclaimed bestseller The Monk and the Riddle, entrepreneurial sage Randy Komisar asks us to answer it for real. The book's timeless advice-to make work pay not just in cash, but in experience, satisfaction, and joy-will be embraced by anyone who wants success to come not just from what they do, but from who they are. At once a fictional tale of Komisar's encounters with a would-be entrepreneur and a personal account of how Komisar found meaning not in work's rewards but in work itself, the book illustrates what's wrong with the mainstream thinking that we should sacrifice our lives to make a living. Described by Fortune.com as "part personal essay, part fictional narrative and part meditation on the nature of work and life," The Monk and the Riddle is essential reading on the art of creating a life while making a living.

"Belongs in a category by itself . . . The best thing I've read all year."
-San Francisco Examiner

"A timely book."
-USA Today

"A self-help manual and business fable rolled into one."
-The Times, London

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Product details

  • Paperback: 208 pages
  • Publisher: Harvard Business School Press; New edition edition (1 Aug 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1578516447
  • ISBN-13: 978-1578516445
  • Product Dimensions: 14.2 x 1.5 x 20.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 159,495 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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  • See Complete Table of Contents

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Amazon Review

Prospective entrepreneurs may think they know everything there is to know about starting a business in Silicon Valley. They can draw up business plans, have meetings with venture capitalists, maybe even get funded and actually launch a start-up. However, in The Monk and the Riddle, Randy Komisar, a Silicon Valley sage, reasons that this is only half the equation for success. And it may not be the important half. Komisar has worked with a number of companies--Apple, LucasArts Entertainment (the gaming division of George Lucas's empire) and WebTV among them--and has come to a rather startling conclusion: If you can't see yourself doing this business for the rest of your life, don't start it. In other words, he wants to see passion and purpose in business, not just spreadsheets and a by-the-numbers business model.

To illustrate, Komisar takes the reader through a hypothetical Silicon Valley start-up, with an eager entrepreneur named Lenny trying to get funding for an online casket-selling business. As Komisar helps Lenny find the real purpose of the business, the passion behind the revenue projections, he reflects back on his life as an entrepreneur. Komisar emerges as a master storyteller, the kind of guy you would feel honoured to share a bottle of wine with. And you believe his conclusion: "When all is said and done, the journey is the reward". It's great if you have made billions on the journey, but the important thing is that you do something you can truly throw yourself into. --Lou Schuler, Amazon.com --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Randy Komisar is a Virtual CEO who has worked with companies such as WebTV and TiVo. He was CEO of LucasArts Entertainment and Crystal Dynamics, CFO of GO, and one of the founders of Claris Corporation.
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WE'RE GOING to put the fun back into funerals. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
9 reviews
4.7 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Must-read for anyone interested in the VC world 14 May 2000
By Alexander French
Format:Hardcover
This is the best business book I've read in a long time. Randy Komisar has an excellent pedigree as a Valley businessman and a VC, and he shares a lot of experience in this book. Don't expect Tom Peters-style "how to succeed" fare -- Randy places as much emphasis on being happy with your lifestyle as on making piles of money.

Throught the book, Komisar makes use of light-hearted anecdotes to make his points, some of them fairly subtle and many of them relevant to business in general, not just the VC world. He punctuates the story with anecdotes about his experiences in Apple, Claris, WebTV, etc.

If you're interested in the Valley VC world, buy this book now!

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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Passionate Entrepreneurship: Live Your Dreams Today! 20 May 2004
By Donald Mitchell HALL OF FAME TOP 500 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover
Mr. Komisar has a simple message: It's the journey . . . not the destination . . . that counts, stupid! What that means is that you should focus on getting the most out of the moment, in creating a synthesis between what you value and what you spend your time on and do. The book opens with a brief story of Mr. Komisar giving a monk a ride on his motorcycle. After a long afternoon of riding, he delivers the monk where he wants to go. A few minutes later, he learns that the monk wants now to return to where they started. Finally, it sinks in. The monk just likes riding on motorcycles. He doesn't really have a destination in mind. Mr. Komisar connects that anecdote to his life as a young lawyer where he was so focused on goals, that he didn't see the conflict between his ambition for the future and the selling out of his values. Through a number of job changes and experiences, he emerges as someone who understands that the journey is all that counts, and takes on the role of virtual CEO for start-ups. This role means that he tries to help management accomplish what it wants, rather than representing the investors as venture capitalists do. It's a shift in direction that makes all the difference. My hat's off to Harvard Business School Press for publishing this heart-warming, inspiring book.

Most of the book is a fable about a stiff would-be entrepreneur named Lenny who seeks Mr. Komisar's advice. To get some idea of this fable, Lenny starts his pitch by saying that his business concept is to put the fun in funerals. Through the course of the book, Lenny learns (with a lot of prodding from Mr. Komisar and Lenny's co-founder) to connect to his original passion, to provide a place on the Web where geographically-dispersed families can connect to grieve when a loved one dies. They can also get advice on how to handle the grief and the funeral. Mr. Komisar interspaces his own experiences with the fable to provide context for his observations.

The fable is so far-fetched that it works well, because it allows you to see the differences more easily between serving an empowering vision that excites you, investors, potential employees, and customers and just trying to make a bundle.

For those who want to know a little more about fund-raising for start-ups, the fable is filled with worthwhile advice. If you want to know more, read Confessions of a Venture Capitalist (which I also reviewed).

At another level, the book makes the point that the reason to be an entrepreneur is to avoid the stultification of companies without a soul, operating only to meet the numbers. But you will have learned bad habits of forgetting about your soul-felt needs in mainstream corporate America, so you've got to regear as you enter entrepreneurship.

The book is very well written, and you'll get through it very quickly.

A good related book is Who Am I? which will give you tools to help you identify what you really want to get out of life.

You should also use this book as an opportunity to reexamine your beliefs about life and relationships. You may have lots of stalled thinking outside of your working life, as well.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Don't forget what it's all about. 23 July 2000
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
The world of venture capital and business is sometimes treated as a cold, barren landscape defined by numbers. This book is a refreshing reminder of how untrue that is. Randy talks about business being a process not an end in itself. He describes how the creation of a company is a form of self-expression and when applied correctly can be very personally fulfilling. He talks of the differences between passion and drive. He talks about business and start-ups with a refreshing twist reminiscent of the eastern values of acceptance, respect and mindfullness.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars What would you be willing to do for the rest of your life....?
I came across the book some years back but dismissed it quickly. The reason I bought the book recently was because of some insightful remarks in an article I read not too long ago. Read more
Published on 19 Dec 2010 by Ravi Butalia
5.0 out of 5 stars The VC and the growth of a company from start-up to establishment
What all technology Start-up people should read and keep in mind as they grow. Good examples of the interaction and what a VC is looking for in the Start-up management.
Published on 23 Aug 2010 by Mr. Eric Sutherland
4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining view on Entrepreneurship and Motivation
Found the 'Monk and the Riddle' an entertaining read. Gave a high level insight into the human side of the startup process, not least the motivation of different stakeholders.
Published on 22 July 2009 by N. Jensen
5.0 out of 5 stars Confidence Booster
I am not a habitant of Silicon Valley, nor does my business require huge venture capitalist funding. Read more
Published on 12 Dec 2008 by Mr. T. Siddiqui
3.0 out of 5 stars A good rather than exceptional book
The book is interesting and well written and can be red in a couple of days. The author offers good insights into his professional career. Read more
Published on 27 July 2008 by L. Scelsi
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding!
Utterly engrossing book! One of the best, and most meaningful, I've ever read...and entertaining to boot. I couldn't put it down from the moment it arrived! Read more
Published on 14 Mar 2008 by Gsp
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