John Sviolda, Mitch Cohen – The Self-made Billionaire Effect: How Extreme Producers Create Massive Value

One of Business Insider’s “15 of the Best Business Books Coming Out in 2015”

“The first billion is the hardest. I know from experience. If you are interested in giving it a shot, The Self-made Billionaire Effect is a good starting point. Great research. Great stories. Great opportunity.”

—T. BOONE PICKENS, Chairman, BP Capital Management

“A fabulous profile of value creation that all organizations need to ponder as they build talent for the future.”

—THOMAS COLLIGAN, former Vice Dean and Director, Aresty Institute of Executive Education, The Wharton School

“Fresh, provocative and insightful, The Self-made Billionaire Effect will challenge your thinking about how entrepreneurs succeed in creating mega-hit businesses. This is a racy read, where storytelling and personalities carry some important lessons to be considered and applied even for those working in stable and slower-growth businesses.”

—DONALD J. GOGEL, Chairman and CEO, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Inc.

“This well-researched, fun-to-read book provides top management with a set of insights vital for finding and keeping the talent needed to design and deliver breakthrough value.”

—LINDA A. HILL, Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and coauthor of Collective Genius

“John Sviokla and Mitch Cohen have mined a rich vein—self–made billionaires—in an attempt to find common patterns. What I particularly admire is their nuanced insights: these men and women are not solitary, risk seeking, creative, overnight successes. They work in teams; they manage risks and rewards; they are as good at execution as they are at ideation; and they have been on roller coasters, not rocket ships. Their wisdom is invaluable for entrepreneurs and managers. I recommend it highly.”
—WILLIAM A. SAHLMAN, Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School and coauthor of New Business Ventures and the Entrepreneur

“Massive success does require luck. But it also requires unusual ways of approaching problems. This is one of the most thoughtful books I’ve seen on what the outliers do to make it more likely their attempts will change the world.”

—ASTRO TELLER, Captain of Moonshots, Google[x]