By Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles, HarperCollins, £7.99stg
This is one of those books that purports to tell you how to get rich in parable form, a kind of Brer Rabbit goes to Wall Street.
It is a genre beloved of American success writers and can often be dismissed as annoying and trite by readers on this side of the Atlantic.
The latest offering from the personal development/business growth conveyor belt kicks off with Len, the hero, playing poker with Pastor Edwards, Rabbi Silver and Father Murphy.
The three ministers regularly meet to play the game but the relationship doesn't end there. They also share resources, including the skills of their congregations in making money.
The ministers set Len three tests - the test of joy, the test of purpose and the test of creativity. If our hero passes all the tests, he will have learned the secret of making big bucks.
Of course our hero wants to be rich for all the right reasons - to help his family and help others. If not, he probably would be playing poker for his soul with Beelzebub.
Len discovers in his first test that the first secret of capitalism (a la a the ministers) is to have fun while making money, otherwise there is no point to it. Also, you should be creating wealth for others as well as yourself and not depriving others for your profit.
The second secret is that making money is more important than having fun. The object of having fun is to enjoy your work without losing sight of your goal, money. This means honing your skills and maintaining focus without becoming a workaholic.
Instead you become a peak performer able to deliver the goods, but able to shut off when family and social life come knocking.
The third secret, creativity, is that income minus expenses adds up to profit, but it's building sales and not obsessing about cutting costs that turns individuals and companies into big earners.
Written in that gee-whiz style, Big Bucks is annoying. The parable style is too simplistic and the moral element unconvincing.
comidheach@irish-times.ie
