Midas Touch

August 22, 2011
Magnate Trump and Kiyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor Dad) are the gold standard of the entrepreneurial spirit—self-made, resilient, and charismatic. But they might also just be the saviors of the economy, as they argue in this follow-up to 2006’s We Want You to Be Rich. They claim that our educational system is failing people by training them to be employees, not entrepreneurs: students make good grades by making the fewest mistakes, when they should be learning to take chances and bounce back from their failures. Trump and Kiyosaki’s five-point plan to developing the “Midas Touch”—the necessary skills to become a successful entrepreneur—includes strength of character, focus, the power of a brand, =relationships, and the little things. They tell humanizing stories of both their successes—Kiyosaki getting his start on Oprah—and setbacks, as when he discovered he was unknowingly operating a sweatshop. This galvanizing narrative skews a bit toward mantra-like big ideas rather than executable steps, but is nonetheless an impassioned argument for business self-actualization.

January 30, 2012
In alternating chapters, Kiyosaki (Rich Dad Poor Dad) and Trump share experiences as businessmen and advise prospective entrepreneurs—a structure that is reflected in the co-narration of John Dossett, who reads Kiyosaki chapters, and Skipp Sudduth, who handles those of the Donald. Even without Sudduth’s forceful narration—at times he practically shouts—it’s easy to identify Trump’s sections by his prose, which is sprinkled liberally with superlatives, e.g., “fabulous,” as well as insults, e.g., “incompetent professionals.” Dossett’s narration of Kiyosaki’s chapters is naturally less aggressive; he sounds as if he’s telling a story rather than telling listeners what to do. This co-narration creates an interesting dynamic—a necessity as the two authors are so different tonally—but also can be jarring for listeners. A Plata Publishing hardcover.