Mark Hopkins
Greenleaf Book Group, 2013, 224 pp., $21.95
Shortcut to Prosperity is nothing short of an educational resource that galvanizes the most sardonic skeptic to take action. Groups of all natures can find something to initiate change in all aspects of their lives, whether indecisive about their future careers or to propel them to success in their current situation.
—Tammy Reese is a freelance writer with a degree in communications/emphasis in journalism from Northwestern College in Minnesota.
I found this to be a difficult read. The issue was mostly related to style. For more than 13 years, I lead a team of financial planning professionals, and therefore have read plenty of business books of this nature. There are many books about how to get bigger, better, faster, whether the primary topic is financial, business, entrepreneurial or all of them together. In part because there are so many of these kinds of books, how one absorbs the guidance within is largely determined by the style of the writer. Do I connect with how the author is sharing as much as with what is shared? In this case, not so much. The tone the author takes is pushing toward crass and in-your-face, as well as profane and crude. In that respect, it’s strange for an entrepreneurial business book. Other authors such as Steven Covey, Jim Collins and Bob Vanourek had no need for presenting their thoughts and advice in this way.
It is not a book I would recommend for young people. In fact, I’d recommend it only for hard-core business people who already have a library of similar books. Hopkins makes some compelling connections between knowing yourself (drives, curiousity, preferences, learning style, etc.) and identifying mentors who can maximize them, so the end result is the best you have. Perhaps the book is best placed in the hands of those people who have obtained success and prosperity, to be used in their role as mentors to young people.
—Joel Lund, award-winning author, The Ultimate Survival Guide for Youth Ministers, Watson’s Way: Life Lessons We Earned from Our Brilliant Dog; co-creator, Prepare for Rain
