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Beat the System: Eleven Secrets to Building an Entrepreneurial Culture in a Bureaucratic World
by Robert W. MacDonald

Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2008

Does bureaucratic inertia have your business locked in a losing status quo? Are you being held back by gray suits who won't allow innovation and creativity at work? Do you want to build a business that isn't slowed down by the concrete shoes of bureaucratic indecision or stifled by unimaginative groupthink? If so, maybe it's time to beat the system!

In this insurgent guide to business success, Robert MacDonald shows professionals, business leaders, and entrepreneurs how to smash the bureaucracy that smothers the innovative, entrepreneurial spirit essential to long-term business success. Whether you own a small business, run a large corporation, or work for someone else, Beat the System provides proven, real-world advice for building an entrepreneurial culture in your entire organization, your department, or even in your individual position.

When MacDonald founded LifeUSA, people thought he was a madman for trying to compete against giant, entrenched competition in the stagnant life insurance industry. But with a willingness to challenge the status quo and question the rules of the system, he grew LifeUSA into a hugely successful player in an industry that was actually shrinking at the time. Now, he shares the eleven entrepreneurial secrets he used to defeat bigger and stronger competitors.

We live in a bureaucratic world, but fighting the status quo is a business strategy that works. Beat the System outlines a proven plan for creating a business culture that creates, innovates, and moves fast enough to overtake even the most entrenched competition. Whether you're starting a new business or simply trying to advance your career, you really can succeed wildly if you have the right weapons to storm the battlements of bureaucracy.

Nobody said it would be easy; fighting the forces of darkness never is. But with these smart, entrepreneurial strategies, total unconditional victory will be yours -- but only if you play by your own rules. Beat the System is a practical, worldly guide to developing your own entrepreneurial, revolutionary spirit and building that spirit into every brick of your organization.

It's time to take a stand and call out the agents of oppression: "Mr. Bureaucrat, tear down this wall!"

Robert W. MacDonald is a true visionary and business contrarian who rose from a door-to-door insurance salesman to the very pinnacle of the corporate world. He was the founder, CEO, and chairman of LifeUSA, a life insurance company which was formed in 1987 and sold to Allianz SE for $500 million. He retired as chairman and CEO of Allianz North America. He is also the author of Cheat to Win: The Honest Way to Break All the Dishonest Rules in Business.

 

 
   
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