Rating: 
Summary: The Best Book for New Business Person
Review: I just sold my company and, looking back over the ten years it took to build, this book was the BEST resource and touchston I had. I bought a copy for each new employee. And each one loved it. Written in a non-MBA tenor, this book is for everyone. I only wish the accompanying PBS sereis was still around because it was a fantanstic companion to the book.Ten years after starting, I can honestly say, Mr. Hawkin was right. And thankfully, I made my money the RIGHT way. No regrets.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Book for New Business Person
Review: I just sold my company and, looking back over the ten years it took to build, this book was the BEST resource and touchston I had. I bought a copy for each new employee. And each one loved it. Written in a non-MBA tenor, this book is for everyone. I only wish the accompanying PBS sereis was still around because it was a fantanstic companion to the book. Ten years after starting, I can honestly say, Mr. Hawkin was right. And thankfully, I made my money the RIGHT way. No regrets.
Rating:
Summary: Valuable
Review: I read this book and watched the TV series around 1990. I credit Growing a Business, as much as anything I ever read or heard, for the success of my company today. In 1992 a group of first-time entrepreneurs started a company together. Some of the group had a blueprint of how a company is supposed to start. Get capital. Build something. Launch it. Succeed. They had not read the book, or they had but did not believe it spoke to us. Some of the group had a more organic idea, inspired in part by this book. Each company has its pace, its flow, its learning curve. The CEO is the clock, the pacer, the navigator. There is a constant calculator going on each decision, each day, extrapolating payoffs, comparing the costs and benefits. And there is a recognition of what we are going into business for and structuring the business to support those objectives. For example, we wanted a great place for employees. Each employee would share the experience and benefits. The "Startup 101" types of books treat this topic as an add-on after you do all the important things. Hawken makes it primary. It is primary if you want a place for the best people to do their best work. Structure your company around the employee experience and all else falls into place - if that is the kind of company you want. An important lesson from this book is serious initial capital for inexperienced entrepeneurs can be a mistake. Hawken describes this. So important. So easy to overlook. Large amounts of startup capital allows you to outsource parts of a company you may not totally understand yet. It makes some mistakes very expensive. It dulls the creativity at times, the innovation to do more with less. It might encourage one to do things just because you see other companies doing them. It tempts you to make large steps, when it is critical in modern markets to learn to make many smaller steps. And so on. This book may not fit every entrepreneur. It certainly does not provide all the information you need for growing a company. But for some of us it describes a pattern for growing a good company. If you are thinking about starting a company, or are in the early stages of a startup, I recommend this book. It might change how you do things, and you might get more satisfaction from the adventure as a result.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful, inspiring, useful
Review: I started my business in 1988 and no advice I received was a valuable at Paul Hawken's. He helps you to see a business from 10,000 feet as well as from just inches below the surface: in your heart, where ultimately your business must succeed. I recommend this book to everyone, but have ceased lending my copy out-two have disappeared. Today, my business is an enormous success-indeed, a somewhat famous one-and no one deserves more credit than Mr. Hawken, for the advice and inspiration of this lucid and engaging book. To every small business owner: buy it today, read tonight, and see if it doesn't change things immediately.
Rating:
Summary: There is no formula for success!
Review: If I were going to help people start a business, I'd give them one good piece of advice, just do it!. Paul Hawken doesn't really give you any of that advice. He rambles on and on about how this or that was important and how it worked here and then how it worked there. And this is imporant but not always. I just got tired of it. I did outline several things I found important however so it's not completely without value. It just took me too long to find those things.
Rating:
Summary: Entreprenuerialism 101
Review: If you are starting a small business, buy this book. Hawken writes eloquently about the heart and soul of business in a way that most people reserve for discussions on spirituality. Indeed, one gets the welcome impression that to Hawken, business is spirituality.
Rating:
Summary: A critical book for the bootstrapping entrepreneur
Review: This book has marvelous insights made all the better because its author is the owner of a well-known business, Smith & Hawken. He uses numerous examples to make his points, and talks about the practical as well as the philisophical.
Rating:
Summary: A fresh perspective on starting a business.
Review: This book was refreshing to read in light of many of the other small business books I've read. You can read a myriad of books seemingly written by stingy, greedy, boastful, financially successful persons. Or you can read Hawken's book and gain greater insight into finding personal, organization, associate, as well as financial success. I vote for Hawkens.
Rating:
Summary: This book helped me succeed in starting my own business
Review: This book was written by someone who really built a business from the ground up. Mr. Hawken gives some great advice and makes it seem like anyone can succeed in business if they treat people right. This book was one of the first business books I read eight years ago while planning my business and I still consider it one of the best. Mr. Hawken - if you read this, Thank You for a great book!
Rating:
Summary: Capitalism With A Human Face
Review: This perfect book was written by someone who really built a business - Smith & Hawken - from the ground up. As we all know, everyone crows on the failure of communism, but no one crows about the real failure of capitalism. It is a more slow dying weed than the communism, but it is a dying weed as well. Every business is different, the same way we are. By focusing on the inner business, Mr. Hawken helps anybody create an enterprise that is ideally suited to its owner. It is smart capitalism with a human face. He uses numerous examples to make his points, and talks about the practical as well as the philosophic. It is a must read for anyone who wants to go into business or desires to grow a business.
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