06/22/2015
The best training for a lifetime of successful entrepreneurship is a stint in the U.S. military, claims Kiyosaki, a former Marine and the powerhouse behind the wildly popular Rich Dad Poor Dad franchise. Loosely structured as eight leadership lessons, like "the power of respect" and "leadership is one big sales job," the book draws on Kiyosaki's experiences in the Marine Corps, including service in the Vietnam War, to which he credits his success. His thesis is that entrepreneurship is an inherently higher state than being an employee, and that what holds people back from pursuing the former is fear; military training focuses on helping people to act in spite of fear. In order to succeed as an entrepreneur, Kiyosaki asserts, one needs the self-discipline and strength of character that military service can provide, and the related mindset of regularly "doing the impossible" rather than just "showing up for a job." Despite the opening statement—"I am writing this book to turn America around"—and later musings on the decline of the U.S. through the evils of consumer debt and the middle-class slide into poverty, this largely consists of material familiar from Kiyosaki's other books, reframed through a military lens, but fans of his bestselling brand are unlikely to mind. This is a likely choice for veterans turned entrepreneurs. (May)