Every Street Is Paved with Gold: The Road to Real Success FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
In an optimistic life guide reminiscent of the philosophies of Dale Carnegie and Norman Vincent Peale, the founder and CEO of Seoul-based Daewoo, the world's 45th-largest industrial empire, relates how he rose from newsboy to leader of a business with international sales of $22 billion in 1991. Kim dispenses advice in short takes and aphorisms--all of which suggest that intense study, hard work, self-confidence, persistence and fair dealing beget ``accomplishment, fulfillment, personal development and contribution to society.'' Hortatory examples include ``If you are just holding your own, others are passing you by''; ``Make easy decisions first, it gets them out of the way''; and ``In true competition, there is no end that can justify unfair means.'' According to Kraar, a member of Fortune 's editorial board, ``Kim personifies the drive and imagination that make East Asia a dynamic center of economic growth.'' (Oct.)
Library Journal
Kim is the founder and chairman of the Daewood Group, a Korean company that is ranked as the 45th largest corporation in the world. His book, a best seller in Korea, was originally written, according to the forword, for the youth of that nation. It combines autobiography with positive thinking to inspire readers to achieve their maximum potential. Laced throughout it are such pithy sayings as ``If you have the capacity to be a great musician, don't sit around and whine that you will never be a great painter'' and ``If a boat has too many rowers, it winds up on a mountain. Too few, and it doesn't move.'' While offering nothing new or profound, this book will appeal to readers who like simple bromides for achieving success. Recommended only for large public libraries.-- Robert Logsdon, Indiana State Univ. Lib., Indianapolis
BookList - David Rouse
The messages are familiar. Hard work, perseverance, and sacrifice pay off. Complacency, greed, and self-pride lead to downfall. Adversity begets opportunity. This time it is the standard-bearer that is noteworthy. Kim is founder and chairman of the Korean industrial giant Daewoo, which makes components, equipment, and parts for the Pontiac LeMans, Caterpillar's forklifts, Northern Telecom, Boeing, Daimler-Benz, etc., and is ranked by "Fortune" as the world's forty-fifth largest corporation, outpacing Sony and Xerox in sales. Chairman Kim's book has already sold well over a million copies in Korea and could become the capitalist 1990s version of another chairman's earlier, popular little red book of motivational maxims. Recommended for larger entrepreneurial and self-help collections.
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