Never Bet The Farm Beats The Odds
Never Bet The Farm, a guide for entrepreneurs written by Babson Vice Provost for Entrepreneurship and Global Management Stephen Spinelli, Jr. and Anthony Iaquinto has been named a “Best Business Book of 2006” by Soundview Executive Book Summaries. Twenty-three books were selected by Soundview editors from over 1200 business books published this year. Never Bet the Farm: How Entrepreneurs Take Risks, Make Decisions and How You Can, Too (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2006), teaches a tough-love approach to entrepreneurship as a career. According to Spinelli, the belief that “failure is not an option” is asking for disappointment. Their book instructs entrepreneurs to prepare for adversity – to be proactive about facing the difficulties of starting a business before it’s off the ground – it’s the most intelligent way to achieve success. Soundview’s summary of the book: Entrepreneur: Be prepared. Never Bet the Farm celebrates entrepreneurship in its entirety, presenting a framework that can help entrepreneurs reduce risks and simplify decision-making. It is at once both encouraging and cautionary, but neither a textbook how-to nor an inspirational tome lacking substance. “We’re living in a world with unimaginable adversity and invisible threats,” writes Iaquinto. “Why should entrepreneurs be any different from a sailor who stows a well-stocked emergency pack or a mill worker who puts a little bit aside each month for a rainy day or a Boy Scout following his motto, ‘Be prepared’?”
Hear Vice Provost Spinelli discuss the book on this podcast.
