Double Your Profits : In Six Months or Less

Rating:
Summary: Short, quick read, filled with hard-hitting, useful ideas
Review: Fifer does an outstanding job of providing a brief overview of the general ideas relating to maximizing profit by reducing unnecessary overhead and increasing the income side of things. The bulk of this quick read is aimed at specific suggestions which you can put into effect immediately. I highly recommend this book to any small business owner or corporate type who is responsible for actually making the money that the employees spend.

Rating:
Summary: Profits over people
Review: Mr. Fifer does what he says he will do, as noted in some of the other reviews on this site. Basically, he shows us what is wrong with the profit-making system: people get brushed aside. The fact that communism is dead does not mean that capitalism is yet the best system. If we actually follow what Mr. Fifer proposes, we probably will increase profits, but at what cost? Are we only robots to be programmed for the good of the capitalistic ethos, for the good of the corporation? Yes, Mr. Fifer does confess that he reserves his special time for his family by not traveling on weekends. He also decries workaholism. He is capable of drawing the line, but is everyone else in his special position? I doubt it. Many people are going to swallow his philosophy and ruin themselves, "for the good of society," or "for the bottom line." But let's assume that Mr. Fifer's basic philosophy is correct, that is, that maximizing profit is the best goal because it is in accord with the evolution of the human species, etc. In that case, we are really subservient to the economic system, and nothing more than that. If that's the case, then we embark (again?) into a "Big Brother" type of world where "fear and loathing" are the watchwords, because we really don't count for anything more than what we can contribute to the precious bottom line. Gone is any Higher Power, the Bottom Line is the Higher Power. If this is the case, and who's to say it's not (maybe those who believe in a Higher Power other than the Bottom Line?), then all I can say is some of us really are deluded. And maybe that's Mr. Fifer's point after all: sweep out all of this delusion and these deluded people and concentrate on the Bottom Line (but save your weekends for your family, so your kids won't go on drugs, because they also have to play their role as Bottom Line Robots, when their time comes, and drug-users are distinctly disabled in the Bottom Line culture, unless of course they reserve their drinking and drug use for the weekends or after working hours). Diximus.

Rating:
Summary: Profits over people
Review: Mr. Fifer does what he says he will do, as noted in some of the other reviews on this site. Basically, he shows us what is wrong with the profit-making system: people get brushed aside. The fact that communism is dead does not mean that capitalism is yet the best system. If we actually follow what Mr. Fifer proposes, we probably will increase profits, but at what cost? Are we only robots to be programmed for the good of the capitalistic ethos, for the good of the corporation? Yes, Mr. Fifer does confess that he reserves his special time for his family by not traveling on weekends. He also decries workaholism. He is capable of drawing the line, but is everyone else in his special position? I doubt it. Many people are going to swallow his philosophy and ruin themselves, "for the good of society," or "for the bottom line." But let's assume that Mr. Fifer's basic philosophy is correct, that is, that maximizing profit is the best goal because it is in accord with the evolution of the human species, etc. In that case, we are really subservient to the economic system, and nothing more than that. If that's the case, then we embark (again?) into a "Big Brother" type of world where "fear and loathing" are the watchwords, because we really don't count for anything more than what we can contribute to the precious bottom line. Gone is any Higher Power, the Bottom Line is the Higher Power. If this is the case, and who's to say it's not (maybe those who believe in a Higher Power other than the Bottom Line?), then all I can say is some of us really are deluded. And maybe that's Mr. Fifer's point after all: sweep out all of this delusion and these deluded people and concentrate on the Bottom Line (but save your weekends for your family, so your kids won't go on drugs, because they also have to play their role as Bottom Line Robots, when their time comes, and drug-users are distinctly disabled in the Bottom Line culture, unless of course they reserve their drinking and drug use for the weekends or after working hours). Diximus.

Rating:
Summary: A must-read, for your company's and your own survival.
Review: This is a real book, an important one, about real cost-cutting, in a real world. It has been used by many corporate leaders as a "bible" for increasing profits by cutting costs...all company costs that do not actually create a direct profit. That means cutting most of middle management, some senior management, and most employees who do not have direct responsibility for adding daily value to the bottom line. It preaches renegotiating or eliminating vendor contracts on a regular basis. It teaches questioning the value of any consultant or outside service. It is a roadmap for rapid, perhaps severe, cost-cutting to achieve immediate profitability.

This is not a book for the timid. It is not a feel-good book, except for those who enjoy counting their money. It will make most readers feel uncomfortable, perhaps insecure. These are among the important reasons to read the book.

This book was required reading by Sanford Weill and Bob Lipp for all the senior managers of The Travelers Insurance Companies when they engineered the takeover of the ailing company in 1993. It created shock among many of the senior management of the old, established Travelers, but the book prescribed an exact remedy for turning the corporation into a highly profitable company, now a thriving part of CITICORP...one of the great financial corporations in America.

If the reader is a CEO or senior officer, this book is a guaranteed prescription for increasing profitability. If the reader is an employee, at almost any level, this book should be required reading for one's survival. If the reader is a vendor, a consultant, or from an association that provides a service to corporate America, the book should be required reading, because it imparts the knowledge of a real business culture that drives decision-making...and possibly will drive their future relationship with the company.

The book lacks concern for human resources, for many of the people who make up a company's workforce. They can quickly become a drain on profits. Loyalty, human compassion, sense of community, and many human skills are too easily forgotten or deemed insignificant to the bottom line. This is one of the great faults of the book, of its philosophy, and of its short-term prescription for profits. It is why it only deserves four stars, instead of five. It would deserve five stars or more if the author had enough insight to find value in loyalty, human skills (other than direct sales), and the importance of communities or governments (of people) in the ability of a corporation to provide valid and profitable services. In this area, it is deficient.

The book is very simple and easily read in one sitting. It should be required reading by anyone with a serious interest in business...or anyone who has an interest in an important modern business culture, for better or worse, but certainly for profit.

Rating:
Summary: A must-read, for your company's and your own survival.
Review: This is a real book, an important one, about real cost-cutting, in a real world. It has been used by many corporate leaders as a "bible" for increasing profits by cutting costs...all company costs that do not actually create a direct profit. That means cutting most of middle management, some senior management, and most employees who do not have direct responsibility for adding daily value to the bottom line. It preaches renegotiating or eliminating vendor contracts on a regular basis. It teaches questioning the value of any consultant or outside service. It is a roadmap for rapid, perhaps severe, cost-cutting to achieve immediate profitability.

This is not a book for the timid. It is not a feel-good book, except for those who enjoy counting their money. It will make most readers feel uncomfortable, perhaps insecure. These are among the important reasons to read the book.

This book was required reading by Sanford Weill and Bob Lipp for all the senior managers of The Travelers Insurance Companies when they engineered the takeover of the ailing company in 1993. It created shock among many of the senior management of the old, established Travelers, but the book prescribed an exact remedy for turning the corporation into a highly profitable company, now a thriving part of CITICORP...one of the great financial corporations in America.

If the reader is a CEO or senior officer, this book is a guaranteed prescription for increasing profitability. If the reader is an employee, at almost any level, this book should be required reading for one's survival. If the reader is a vendor, a consultant, or from an association that provides a service to corporate America, the book should be required reading, because it imparts the knowledge of a real business culture that drives decision-making...and possibly will drive their future relationship with the company.

The book lacks concern for human resources, for many of the people who make up a company's workforce. They can quickly become a drain on profits. Loyalty, human compassion, sense of community, and many human skills are too easily forgotten or deemed insignificant to the bottom line. This is one of the great faults of the book, of its philosophy, and of its short-term prescription for profits. It is why it only deserves four stars, instead of five. It would deserve five stars or more if the author had enough insight to find value in loyalty, human skills (other than direct sales), and the importance of communities or governments (of people) in the ability of a corporation to provide valid and profitable services. In this area, it is deficient.

The book is very simple and easily read in one sitting. It should be required reading by anyone with a serious interest in business...or anyone who has an interest in an important modern business culture, for better or worse, but certainly for profit.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent No Non-sense Book
Review: This is an outstanding book with specific suggestions for improving profitability. Even more importantly, it illustrates a mentality that focuses on the bottom line. To those who say that such measures as suggested, "can't be done" - - those who read and adapt the attitude of this book will say "I'm so glad you're my 'competition'".

Rating:
Summary: Be careful what you ask for.
Review: You can use this book to cut your costs and expand your profits...for a time. Then the costs will come back with a vengance. Some of these slash and burn methods are merely a mortgage on your future. You and your people will pay a big price when the loan comes due. This stuff looks great until you examine the long-term implications. Others of his suggestions make sense and are things you should do. That's the good news. The bad news is that it can be difficult to sort out the good ideas from the bad. It would be a much more useful (and safer) book if the author told you how to make safe choices.