Raising Eyebrows
A Failed Entrepreneur Finally Gets it Right
By: Dal LaMagna
Published: October 19, 2010
Format: Hardcover, 337 pages
ISBN-10: 0470874376
ISBN-13: 978-0470874370
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
"What I am most happy about is that I was able to put into practice something I call responsible capitalism", writes entrepreneur, political activist, small business adviser, and founder of Tweezerman, Dal LaMagna in his inspirational and practical entrepreneurship guide book Raising Eyebrows: A Failed Entrepreneur Finally Gets it Right. The author shares his inspiration, his misfortunes, his mistakes, and his triumphs in building a successful company in the beauty industry.
Dal LaMagna does more than simply chronicle his entrepreneurial achievements. While he does share his company's growth, from a humble one person business to a prominent industry leader that he sold to German interests in 2004, he offers the reader much more. Like many entrepreneurs, Dal LaMagna experienced his share of business failures. As with the successful business creators, the author learned from his mistakes, and used those setbacks to establish a firmed foundation for the company's future. The story of the rise of Tweezerman, as a leading organization in the beauty and personal products industry, is filled with lessons that can be applied to any company in any industry. Instead of writing about just the company, Dal LaMagna has written a book that transcends the individual business itself, and provides useful advice for any entrepreneur.
Dal LaMagna (photo left) offers his readers valuable information, gained through often bitter experience, for starting and running a successful company. The author provides important sections on financing a company, and how to use money more effectively. Timely and critical information is shared about working with partners, and how to help those often difficult arrangements work smoothly. Dal LaMagna shares his thoughts on when and how to use risk, when to avoid it, and how to bounce back should the risk turn into a serious loss. As with all businesses, utilizing debt and the handling revenue are discussed by the author. The book contains do's and don't's that every aspiring or current business person should read and consider. One feature of the book, and one that is seldom written about in company stories, is Dal LaMagna's views on responsible capitalism. The author presents his proven and beneficial concepts on empowering employees, on the value and importance of profit sharing, and on making the business good for everyone who comes into any sort of contact with the company. The principles of responsible capitalism shine through the book, and are a major reason for the success of Tweezerman as a company.
For me, the power of the book is how Dal LaMagna covers several key areas in the book effectively, while tying them together into a holistic idea. The book is partly a description of how Tweezerman formed, grew, and developed as a company. Along with the story of the business expansion and subsequent sale, Dal LaMagna shares his ideas for building and running a successful company. The author provides his hard earned wisdom, forged in the real world of business, to entrepreneurs and corporate leaders as guidance toward building a growing and profitable organization. These two areas of the book would have provided a valuable and effective book for business people. Of course, for Dal LaMagna, that is only part of the story.
Dal LaMagna demonstrates that what he terms responsible capitalism, is not only about doing the right thing, but that it is also good business practice. The author offers insights into how treating employees, customers, suppliers, and every stakeholder in the company well, creates a more engaged atmosphere. Empowered employees, who share in the company's growth and profits, and who are part of the overall decision making process, are much more involved and engaged in the organizational success. Instead of placing blame for problems, the author suggests seeking solutions that work for everyone.
For Dal LaMagna, it's simply not enough to pay lip service to one's values, but they must be lived as well. The author points to his own anti-war activism and political aspirations as one example of walking the talk. Operating a business in a socially responsible manner is another. The author's commitment to responsible capitalism points to another way for business to operate, beyond the greed and rapaciousness that is seen so often today. Instead of greed, the author shows the way to how capitalism can lead to a stronger and better economy.
I highly recommend the insightful and visionary book Raising Eyebrows: A Failed Entrepreneur Finally Gets it Right by Dal LaMagna, to anyone seeking a book that is a combination of practical business advice, and a road map to a more responsible form of capitalism. The author demonstrates that good business is compatible with, and even integral to building a successful company.
Read the engaging and delightful book Raising Eyebrows: A Failed Entrepreneur Finally Gets it Right by Dal LaMagna, and discover how the ideas of a self styled compulsive capitalist and social activist, can dovetail into entrepreneurial success for everyone involved.
