Dream Merchants & HowBoys: Mavericks, Nutters and the One True Road to Business Success

Citation

Lloyd, B. (2002), "Dream Merchants & HowBoys: Mavericks, Nutters and the One True Road to Business Success", Foresight, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 45-46. https://doi.org/10.1108/fs.2002.4.1.45.3

The author is a retired CEO of Burger King and is a Fortune turn‐around champion. In this book (his third – others If You Want to Make God Really Laugh Show Him Your Business Plan and Chronicles from the Planet Business) the reader is taken on a whirlwind, self‐indulgent tour of the careers, lives and “crazy” decisions of 13 “nutters” from Walt Disney and Michael Dell to Luciano Benetton and Anita Roddick. In about ten pages each we are given the potted lives of some of the most famous names in business today. But most of the book is based on the recycling of second‐hand material rather than the author’s own direct experience.

All these individuals made decisions that seemed odd, even “crazy” – but they appeared to work. One thing missing was a general recognition that, while these individuals appeared to succeed with these characteristics, we don’t know how many others failed. All entrepreneurs have to do things differently, even appear “crazy” to the establishment, at least to start with. But the key factor is invariably the motivation of the individuals concerned. What really motivated them and what created those attitudes, beliefs, motivations and the commitment necessary to make things happen in a big way? These are the critical questions, but they are only superficially explored. Instead of perception, we have a “pop” evaluation using “nutter scores”, with two dimensions: “Dreams merchant” and “How person”. A final chapter, “Can it work for you?”, usefully reviews ten key points: Milk your influence; Fuse different elements together; Take a restless pill; Control what you want; Don’t self‐indulge; Pick your challenge; Wrap your riddle in a mystery and then in an enigma; Manage adversity; Create impact; and, finally, Lighten up and have faith in some folk. (Perhaps these points could be re‐defined as a framework that could give us a personal balanced score‐card?)

Generally full of sound, reflective comments. But, overall, while the book is an entertaining read, most of the time, it is also frustrating that many of the really important issues that might help provide us with a deeper understanding of the subjects of the book are sacrificed on the altar of the author’s own ego. Like the burger itself, it is not just a matter of looking good, and sounding good – the ultimate test is what it tastes like. Perhaps the hype overstretched my expectations – the classic Catch 22 marketing dilemma; but, while my appetite was certainly whetted, I ended by finding the key messages hard to digest.