cover image Business Brilliant: How to Build Wealth, Manage Your Career & Take Risks

Business Brilliant: How to Build Wealth, Manage Your Career & Take Risks

Lewis Schiff. Harper Business, $28.99 (256p) ISBN 978-0-06-225350-7

Schiff (The Middle-Class Millionaire), executive director of Inc. magazine's Business Owners Council, pulls no punches as he challenges the status quo and the wisdom of financial gurus like Suze Orman. At the heart of the book is the question: "What is the difference between middle-class people and millionaires?" Schiff uses a 2009 survey by Russ Prince together with results that Prince achieved with his wealthy clients to supply many of his answers. One group was a sampling of middleclass households, whereas the other groups were self-made millionaires (those who started out middleclass). Though the facts can be dizzying, Schiff offers useful insights such as "people who are the most brilliant at business are also those who fail most often," and urges readers to understand that "failure can be good." Meanwhile, he cautions against "the myth of innovation." Ultimately, the difference between middle-class and millionaire is that "middle-class people protect themselves by becoming more well-rounded and ordinary, while the millionaires enrich themselves by becoming more specialized and extraordinary." It's hard to go wrong with advice like that. (Mar.)