Engel offers seven ways "to maximize the value of the business you have built." His key point seems to be that, whether or not you plan to "exit" now or within the next 12-18 months, you still need to maximize and quantify the value of your company. He offers a wealth of information and insights which suggest HOW. For owners of privately-held companies, Engel's book will walk them through the process, defining the exit strategies and approaches to them, and then review their implications for funding, income building, personnel, corporate culture, expansion planning, and other matters encountered along the way. Here are the seven strategies:

• Selling to a strategic buyer

• Selling to a financial buyer

• Going public

• Liquidating your assets (that is, milking your business)

• Enforced liquidation

• Managing for life

Engel examines each of these seven strategies (or options) in detail. I am reminded of what Prime Minister Begin said, after formulating the accords with President Sadat at Camp David when asked how their agreement had been reached. "We did what all wise men do. We began at the end." Engel expresses a similar thought in the Conclusion: "The exit strategy, then, should be the first and last piece of the business puzzle every entrepreneur assembles. It ought to be the first decision entrepreneurs make because it has as much impact on their future as anything else -- and it will be their last decision because eventually they must exit." Why wait? Plan the exit strategy now. Engel explains HOW.

I completely agree with the previous reviewer. This book should have been an article. His main point is a good one with the introduction is a strong criticism of consultants, specifically Tom Peters and there are other valuable information scattered throughout the book. However, he then tends to drift off on tangents that he can't seem to reconcile with his main point. An example of this is his criticism of television as an opiate of the masses.

I tend to agree with the main premise of this rather short book. But I don't feel the author adds enough "meat" to make the book the money. The most valuable part is a section on identifying "exceptional individuals" in job interviews. This material could have been put in a good-sized magazine article or essay. I didn't find the bulk of the book terribly useful, and (unlike the previous reviewer) I felt the anecdotes didn't add that much. I give it a "3" because I feel the main idea is valid, and because it does have at least one useful section. I can't go to 4 stars without more value than that, however.

Engel persuasively argues that exceptional people are the true driving force behind excellence in business. He explores the core attributes of the exceptional individual (EI) and gives an approach to identifying such a person, centering on (1) the importance of achievement in their values and (2) the specifics of achievements. Driven toward action and achievement, EI's are creators; they make things happen! Beyond personality traits, there are insights into what it take to allow EI's to develop/emerge and achieve their potential. Engel's also describes the role others (facilitators) in support of the actions of EI's. There is deep passion in this work that clearly emerges when, in the closing pages, the author takes a quantum leap to link the achievements of EI's with the future of human evolution. Finally, Engel makes clear that personal excellence cannot be "neatly summarized," likewise, neither can this book, which is rich in thought, filled with anecdotes and, in its own right, exceptional.