Deal Junkie


Book Description

If it were your job to bring a company to the bargaining table so it could merge, sell or divest, you had better have the stamina and guts as well as an intricate knowledge of how the human mind operates. Negotiating these kinds of deals is not for the faint of heart. But for over fifty years, one merchandising giant after another—Marshalls, TJ Maxx, Home Depot, Nine West, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Sears, CVS, The Limited, Dollar Tree, Eddie Bauer, Interparfums, Jeffrey Stores, and Jos A. Bank, to name a few—have relied on Gilbert Harrison to help them forge just these kinds of deals. Have they all been signed, sealed, and delivered? No, that’s not how the game works, and getting many of these deals negotiated is exactly that—a game. In all deals, nobody knows who to believe or not to believe, and what a company’s objectives are. But whether buying, selling or divesting, it has been Harrison’s job to try and figure out the secret competing interests of a company and to get those deals across the finish line. Deal Junkie is the story of Gilbert Harrison’s rise to becoming one of the true lions in the field of retail, apparel, beauty, footwear and other merchandising and consumer-related companies.




Starbucked


Book Description

Starbucked will be the first book to explore the incredible rise of the Starbucks Corporation and the caffeine-crazy culture that fueled its success. Part Fast Food Nation, part Bobos in Paradise, Starbucked combines investigative heft with witty cultural observation in telling the story of how the coffeehouse movement changed our everyday lives, from our evolving neighborhoods and workplaces to the ways we shop, socialize, and self-medicate. In Starbucked, Taylor Clark provides an objective, meticulously reported look at the volatile issues like gentrification and fair trade that distress activists and coffee zealots alike. Through a cast of characters that includes coffee-wild hippies, business sharks, slackers, Hollywood trendsetters and more, Starbucked explores how America transformed into a nation of coffee gourmets in only a few years, how Starbucks manipulates psyches and social habits to snare loyal customers, and why many of the things we think we know about the coffee commodity chain are false.




Mergers & Acquisitions


Book Description

This book was designed not only for owners and managers of middle market businesses but as a training text for middle market M&A investment bankers and consultants. It discusses the art and science of middle market M&A as well the all-important psychology and behind-the-scenes negotiations pursued with a particular emphasis on obtaining the absolute highest value when selling a business. Subjects addressed include valuation, taxation, negotiations, M&A conventions, among many others from the buy-side and sell-side perspectives. Subtitled “Tales of A Deal Junkie,” this serious but occasionally irreverent book tells it like it is, including anecdotes to provide a “feel” for what really goes on in middle market transactions. The author, a former practicing CPA and a business valuation expert, is a veteran M&A investment banker with years of real life experience. He also is a widely-acclaimed instructor in the M&A field and a nationally-respected practitioner who has trained thousands of investment bankers. No comparable book on the market today provides this degree of comprehensive and invaluable insight.




The Millwright’s Son


Book Description

It is 1990, Seattle is booming and the AIDS epidemic rages. Avery Willard, a divorced commercial real estate broker at the peak of his career keeps his awareness of others, and himself, locked down. When the consequences of his adolescent behavior snap the lock he is forced to confront his contradictions and awakening consciousness. This fast moving yet character driven novel centers on relationships among men: personal, professional, and most poignantly, between four generations of fathers and sons. It is also about men and women, power and sex, and money. As Avery struggles with his demons the mood is dark, but humor and insight never fail to illuminate this story about men’s humanity, and the empathy and compassion they cloak from others, and themselves.




Leading Professionals


Book Description

This book reveals the power dynamics and interpersonal politics that lie at the heart of professional organizations. Drawing on the latest academic theory, and based on interviews with over 500 senior professionals, it analyses how professionals come together to create 'leadership'. It explains how change happens and why leaders so often fail.




Go Do Deals


Book Description

Go Do Deals provides entrepreneurs with a practical method to source and buy companies without having capital and without borrowing lots of money. For those who are ready to take the next step on the entrepreneurial ladder and make the shift from customer to shareholder value creation, Go Do Deals shows them how to: Bypass the brokers and find businesses that are NOT for sale Find, approach, and have positive conversations with potential sellers Structure deals so that they do not need to contribute cash upfront Choose the right deals and avoid buying themselves a job Know the best time to exit or sell their business Buying a company can double one’s business in an afternoon, free them from the treadmill of staff and customers, and avoid the blood, sweat, and years of start-up pain. It’s time to Go Do Deals.




Be Great


Book Description

Peter Thomas has lived a tremendously successful and fulfilling life, despite personal tragedy and occasionally grave financial circumstances. He founded and built Century 21 Real Estate into the largest real estate network in Canada, and profitably spearheaded dozens of large-scale real estate developments all over North America. He has founded several more wildly successful businesses, the not-for-profit organizations LifePilot and the Todd Thomas Institute for Values-Based Leadership, flown a helicopter, dived to 850 feet in a submarine, and raced motorcycles. So why him? Peter Thomas doesn’t believe he is a particularly gifted person or any smarter than the average man or woman in the street, but his achievements in business and philanthropy are world class. So what is the secret to building an exceptional life? The answer is that there are many paths to success, but what they all have in common is being true to the people on them, and you get to – have to – pick your own. Thomas shares his life, experience, and wisdom with you to illustrate his Five Foundations for achieving the life you want: Values: Clarify your personal values and live them. Focus: Understand the power of focus and how to apply it. Visualization: If you can picture your goal, you can work towards it. Inspiration: Celebrate the genius within you. Reflection: Tap into positive forces you control. For Peter Thomas, learning and applying these principles has brought him fame and fortune, aligned with a resolute conviction to help the less fortunate. There is no limit to what we are capable of achieving. Be Great is a manual for unlocking human potential.




Great American Outpost


Book Description

A surreal, lyrical work of narrative nonfiction that portrays how the largest domestic oil discovery in half a century transformed a forgotten corner of the American West into a crucible of breakneck capitalism. As North Dakota became the nation's second-largest oil producer, Maya Rao set out in steel-toe boots to join a wave of drifters, dreamers, entrepreneurs, and criminals. With an eye for the dark, absurd, and humorous, Rao fearlessly immersed herself in their world to chronicle this modern-day gold rush, from its heady beginnings to OPEC's price war against the US oil industry. She rode shotgun with a surfer-turned-truck driver braving toxic fumes and dangerous roads, dined with businessmen disgraced during the financial crisis, and reported on everyone in between -- including an ex-con YouTube celebrity, a trophy wife mired in scandal, and a hard-drinking British Ponzi schemer--in a social scene so rife with intrigue that one investor called the oilfield Peyton Place on steroids. As the boom receded, a culture of greed and recklessness left troubling consequences for investors and longtime residents. Empty trailers and idle oil equipment littered the fields like abandoned farmsteads, leaving the pioneers who built this unlikely civilization to reckon with their legacy. Part Barbara Ehrenreich, part Upton Sinclair, Great American Outpost is a sobering exploration of twenty-first-century America that reads like a frontier novel.




Cincinnati Magazine


Book Description

Cincinnati Magazine taps into the DNA of the city, exploring shopping, dining, living, and culture and giving readers a ringside seat on the issues shaping the region.




Small Stocks, Big Money


Book Description

Small companies come with big risk, but potentially life-changing reward Small Stocks, Big Money provides first-hand perspective and insider information on the fast world of microcap investing. In a series of interviews with the superstars of small stocks, you'll learn how to discover the right companies and develop a solid investment strategy with a potentially big payoff. Each chapter includes a short bio of the investor in question, and provides key insight into the lessons learned from the investments that made them millions—or in some cases, hundreds of millions. You'll learn each investor's top stock picks, and how they originally chose the investments that became their gold mines. Whether you're a professional investor or a novice, this book is a unique and valuable source of information for anyone interested in the volatile world of small stocks and big money. The smaller the company, the bigger the risk—and the bigger the potential payoff. These interviews show you how to avoid or mitigate those risks, and how to choose the stocks with the best potential from the perspective of those who have done it very, very successfully. Learn the nuances of microcap investing Read the stories of the pros who have made millions Gain expert insight from top microcap investors Avoid the potential pitfalls and reap the big rewards Taking a risk on a small company can lead to tremendous gains when they become an industry giant. The trick is in choosing the company that is likely to follow that trajectory, and allocating your investment appropriately to protect yourself in case of disaster. Small Stocks, Big Money gives you a head start by teaching you what the pros wish they knew then.