Holger

Suspicions and grievances instead of arguments

Revisado: 03-09-23

"Cloud Money" tells people with fears of overreach and powerlessness: You're not alone. The author has identified "cash" as worthy of preservation, threatened by an ominous _them_. _They_ never bodes well for journalism.

_They_ encompass credit card companies, banks, central banks, big tech. Rather than opposing a new standard being adopted for profit reasons and accepted for convenience, the book goes to great lengths to imply darker motives, such as disdain for the poor up and outright racism founded in colonial roots.

The arguments are one-sided and veer into personal preferences and anecdotes. See this typical quote, criticizing all financial inclusion initiatives without questioning why they'd support digital payments - arguments replaced by an unrelated grievance and insinuating it's the norm:

"Almost all financial inclusion initiatives present digital technology as a great leap forward, that will enable unbanned to get banked. Not mentioned, however, is that the economic risk-return equation is only half of a bigger equation: while banks may not like poor people unless they can dealing with them profitable, poor people had no practical reason to like banks either. One part of the reason is practical: Historically, the average size of their transaction was so small as to make writing a cheque or requesting bank transfers an unnecessary or even embarrassing process, especially in situations where they might only buy essential goods within a small radius from where they live. Another part is political: I was a boy at the tail end of the apartheid regime in South Africa, notorious for its discrimination. At this time, my parents opened a special children's account for me at the "Standard Bank", one of the country's most prominent financial institutions. I remember the branches full of white people, while the black people stood outside. Gradually, as South Africa moved into its post-Apartheid phase, the number of black customers increased. But those who were illiterate were treated with condescension. For an elderly Zulu man, who had spent his formative years as a laborer for a South African mining corporation, there was no reason to feel trusting towards financial institutions. This same pattern is found the world over."

One star for good explanations - Scott is a gifted user of metaphors. Unfortunately, he uses them neither objectively nor constructively.

By glazing over why the less fortunate and unbanked _choose_ digital payment systems (or declaring that they are being hoodwinked by "the system"), the book ultimately loses all justification.

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An exact copy of "Traction" (or vice-versa?)

Revisado: 04-10-14

What disappointed you about Mastering the Rockefeller Habits?

I have previously read Gino Wickman's "Traction" and loved it. I was surprised that the "Rockefeller habits" are almost an exact copy of that book, even the sub-titles are related. That said, the book had zero additional value. "Traction" is even more hands-on - chose that one.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Something about growing an IT company.

Which scene was your favorite?

There is an expanded section on getting bank financing - while the book does not go into when you should seek financing and when not, it is the only part where this book exceeds the contents of "Traction".

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Déja-vu

Any additional comments?

I still don't know what this book has to do with Rockefeller. In the beginning, the author makes some painfully artificial references to him, there are the usual "five points of this", not to mention "the seven factors of that", and then he drops the ball and writes the book he intended to before the publisher insisted on a catchy theme.

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Very week content, extremely annoying narrator

Revisado: 04-05-13

What would have made Built to Sell better?

More content. The content is very superficial, there isn't actually much advice in it. Read "E-Myth" instead.

Has Built to Sell turned you off from other books in this genre?

No.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Erik Synnestvedt?

Anybody else. This guy has a pronunciation that is very hard to get used to. He lingers on consonants and seems to split sentences as he pleases. Very annoying and extremely distracting.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It was nice to indulge in the fantasy of what it will be like to sell a business. But the book will skip how to get there. The story is very naive and simplistic.

Any additional comments?

The narrator should be avoided! Listen to a sample first.

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