Hannah Suarez

I finished reading these three last week. I actually started Richard Pratt’s bio in the middle of reading Branson’s – took me about a day as it wasn’t a huge book such as Branson’s.

Richard Branson: Losing My Virginity

There were so many things that I have learned about Branson in this book – I didn’t realise that he was so involved with the music business via Virgin Music, that he started out so young, the perils of hot air ballooning (around the world) and more.  Branson has definitely offered a far more intimate glimpse at his life to the readers moreso than the other books (Michael Hill will probably go second) because of his ability to weave personal and work aspects of himself and the Virgin Brand.

Definitely an inspiring story.  I recommend anyone and everyone to read it.

Will I fly Virgin after I read this book?  Possibly, but I will always consider rates and times first

Richard Pratt

I didn’t realise what the most recent news about Pratt was (the law suit and the death in April), I decided to buy this book on eBay because I recognised his name and also the Visy brand.  The Brisbane Powerhouse were involved with Visy until most recently so I would like read about Visy and gain a bit more insights of what corporate philanthropy is about.

This book is a very small book – it is probably not even 1/4 the size of the average bios that I have – and so I don’t expect a lot of deep insights into Pratt’s life.  What I found most interesting were Visy’s involvement with the 3 C’s (creative, cultural, community) and how that ties in with their company and objectives.

Michael Hill: Toughen Up – What I’ve Learned About Surviving Tough Times

I have never bought jewellry from Michael Hill Jewellers but what compelled me to buy this was that I want to read about such a competitive creative industry and insights from people of his generation, especially from a generation who has previously gone through a recession.

A lot of the recolletions that I obtain regarding previous downturns were from the survivors of the dot-com bust (it took me about a few year to truly ‘get it’ in which my moment of ‘getting it’ was Lars from Google Maps pointint it out in a diagram at a lecture).

Back to this book, I feel that the first part of this book will let potential readers down – it is basically a copy of the back and it felt like a dry start.  I was a bit critical about how this is going to turn out regarding insights but later on in the book, Michael Hill reveals more about himself (both work and personal).  [Random thought: difference between someone revealing themselves in a bio and someone revealing themselves in a tweet? Perhaps oriented to sales as books need to sell, but what about ebooks due to low costs and barriers?].

The layout is also different from all the other books in that Michael Hill includes staff stories as well, including the story of his own daughter within the company.

This book was published this year so the title is deliberate.  For anyone interested in something uplifting and recent and want to stay away from the Wall Street bios, this is the book to read.