Success Made Simple: An Inside Look at Why Amish Businesses Thrive

by Erik Wesner, Donald B. Kraybill Narrated by Nick Sullivan

Overview

Business can be discouraging. A recent statistic showed an annual rate of over half-a-million business closures. According to US Department of Labor figures, only 44 percent of newly opened firms will last four years. That is, unless you're Amishthen there's a 95 percent chance you'll be doing well. And in many cases, remarkably wellas Donald Kraybill writes: "the phrase 'Amish millionaire' is no longer an oxymoron." The Amish business phenomenon began three decades ago and continues strong today, has been described in Kraybill and Steven Nolts Amish Enterprise: From Plows to Profits, as well as in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes magazine and various other publications. Responding to changes in population and land pressures, the Amish are leaving farming in droves and opening successful businesses. Success Made Simple is the first practical book of Amish business success principles for the non-Amish reader. The work provides a platform of transferable principles that are simple and universal enough to be applied in the non-Amish world, in a wide variety of business and management settings. Readers will learn, among other things, how to: Develop productive and profitable enterprises Prosper by playing to their strengths Build fruitful relationships with employees and customers Empower and leverage their number one assetpeople Create an effective marketing story Gain satisfaction by focusing on business as a means to an end, not the end itself Success Made Simple is based on the ideas and words from over 50 interviews of Amish business owners. Amish businesspeople in their own jargon explain how they choose and manage employees, acquire skills and know-how, get and keep customers, develop a competitive edge, and lead their organizations. The book will focus on two overriding themes: the role of relationships in business and the importance of the big picture. Relationships include all of the important ties: with employees, customers, suppliers, other business owners. The big picture has a wide scope, including long-term goals, the welfare of others, and personal integrity. A basic overview of Amish beliefs and businesses opens the work, followed by seven chapters. Each one examines a main idea for practical application to non-Amish business and management situations. Ten-point summaries at the end of each chapter review the most important take-away ideas. Additionally, fourteen sidebars, two per chapter, cover poignant topics related to Amish business and culture.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"I loved Wesner's comment that the Amish ‘don't need an M.B.A. to run an effective business....There's life in commerce for those more dedicated to the Golden Rule than the Golden calf.’ Nonprofit managers and employees would do well to take the lessons of personal responsibility, hard work, and a cheerful attitude to heart. After all, they really do engage in work that matters."

—About.com, April 11, 2010

"Erik Wesner's new book, "Success Made Simple: An Inside Look at Why Amish Businesses Thrive," might have been titled "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Being Amish." This fascinating and engagingly written book spells out the principles that guide Amish business owners, based on interviews with 60 Amish CEOs employing about 400 people in various enterprises."

—LancasterOnline.com, April 10, 2010

"How can a people whose preferred mode of transportation is a horse and buggy do so well in the modern marketplace? That question intrigued Erik Wesner, a former sales manager. His exploration of the Amish approach to business can be found in his fascinating book Success Made Simple: An Inside Look at Why Amish Businesses Thrive. Despite the group's insular nature, Wesner was able to live and work among its members for three years. ‘We're not going to become Amish,’ he says, ‘but I think some of the cultural values that the Amish display consistently are things that non-Amish people can adopt and incorporate.’"
—Time magazine, April 8, 2010

Articles, excerpts, slideshows, and mentions with the author also from:
—MSNBC Live with David Shuster, April 2, 2010
—Slideshow, FastCompany.com, April 1, 2010
—Michael Dresser, Business Talk Radio, March 23, 2010
—Q&A, The New York Post, March 22, 2010

Product Details

BN ID:	2940177669830
Publisher:	Ascent Audio
Publication date:	07/20/2020
Edition description:	Unabridged

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