Midas Managers

Some businesspeople intuitively know how to create wealth. They are constantly increasing the value of their business holdings, regardless of industry conditions or economic cycles. It s more than good luck, since the same people strike gold again and again. These wealth-creators just seem to have the Midas touch. I call them Midas Managers. Most managers can surely use the help. Business has never been more competitive than in the 21st century. As we hear over and over, we now live in an always-on global economy powered by technology, logistics and the spread of capitalism to all corners of the world. Today, large publicly held corporations are faring well because they buy and sell in global markets and have for years, but the same cannot be said for most private companies. They might buy globally, but they sell domestically. At best, America s privately owned businesses are getting only half the benefits of globalization. So what? you might be asking yourself. Well, if our private companies aren t globally competitive, then they re in trouble. And if they re in trouble, we re all in trouble. Privately owned businesses generate more than 50 percent of America s gross domestic product and account for 80 percent of new jobs. On their own, U.S. private capital markets would rank as perhaps the world s largest economy. But we should be alarmed: Currently about 75% of owners of private businesses are not increasing the value of their firms. I ll say it again: If the private business sector fails, America fails. This book contains 18.5 stories of how Midas Managers develop and implement innovative strategies to create value for their companies and wealth for themselves. Each of their stories is followed by a Blueprint, which provides step-by-step instructions for readers who want to employ these strategies in their own businesses. And this is the key insight. It takes a Midas Manager to create a Midas strategy, but nearly anyone can exploit the strategy to create wealth for their own account.