The Art of Being Unreasonable: Lessons in Unconventional Thinking
Eli Broad
Language: English
Pages: 208
ISBN: 111817321X
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Unorthodox success principles from a billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist
Eli Broad's embrace of "unreasonable thinking" has helped him build two Fortune 500 companies, amass personal billions, and use his wealth to create a new approach to philanthropy. He has helped to fund scientific research institutes, K-12 education reform, and some of the world's greatest contemporary art museums. By contrast, "reasonable" people come up with all the reasons something new and different can't be done, because, after all, no one else has done it that way. This book shares the "unreasonable" principles—from negotiating to risk-taking, from investing to hiring—that have made Eli Broad such a success.
- Broad helped to create the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Broad Contemporary Art Museum at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and The Broad, a new museum being built in downtown Los Angeles
- His investing approach to philanthropy has led to the creation of scientific and medical research centers in the fields of genomic medicine and stem cell research
- At his alma mater, Michigan State University, he endowed a full-time M.B.A. program, and he and his wife have funded a new contemporary art museum on campus to serve the broader region
- Eli Broad is the founder of two Fortune 500 companies: KB Home and SunAmerica
If you're stuck doing what reasonable people do—and not getting anywhere—let Eli Broad show you how to be unreasonable, and see how far your next endeavor can go.
Williams, in turn, refused to be acquired by Facebook and Google. Focusing on a big sale isn’t what creates success. If we had wanted to sell Sun Life, we could have, much earlier and for far less. But our only goal was to build a great business. In the end, it sold at a great price—for me, our shareholders, and our employees. You Can’t Do It All Yourself, So Ask Questions and Delegate Sometimes you have to do your research on the run and learn while you’re doing. When my friend Alan
Williams, in turn, refused to be acquired by Facebook and Google. Focusing on a big sale isn’t what creates success. If we had wanted to sell Sun Life, we could have, much earlier and for far less. But our only goal was to build a great business. In the end, it sold at a great price—for me, our shareholders, and our employees. You Can’t Do It All Yourself, So Ask Questions and Delegate Sometimes you have to do your research on the run and learn while you’re doing. When my friend Alan
focusing on how important the hall was to Los Angeles. They didn’t have to care about the symphony or architecture—they just had to care about their city. When it was time to pick my allies, I knew who to call. I enlisted my former MOCA colleague Andrea Van de Kamp again. She has a natural charm and an ability to get anyone on the phone. I also knew that a pitch based on the good of the city needed a particular kind of credibility, so I brought on Dick Riordan, then the city’s mayor. Right
Selling a Cause Requires More Than Conviction Anytime someone is selling a cause, they often sit back and think they can sell on the merits alone. When I was raising money for the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Walt Disney Concert Hall, for instance, everyone thought that donors would simply see the value in having a museum and a new concert hall. But that wasn’t enough. To sell a cause, you have to rely on the same tactics as you would to sell a product—and the most important of these is
involve a trip to court, which would trigger more ridicule when the other kids found out I had done something so drastic just to avoid teasing. So, I thought, why not alter just the pronunciation? “Broad, rhymes with road,” I started telling people, from teachers on down to my classmates. I told my parents about the switch one evening at dinner. They just smiled and shook their heads. They knew even then that there wasn’t a lot they could do to change my mind—and I learned the advantage of