Book Review: I’ll Make You An Offer You Can’t Refuse: Insider Business Tips From a Former Mob Boss

Book Review: I’ll Make You An Offer You Can’t Refuse: Insider Business Tips from a Former Mob Boss
By: Michael Franzese

Who can resist a book on business advice written by a former mob boss? I couldn’t. I picked it up and was pleasantly surprised. The wiseguy’s got voice. He weaves interesting and fitting anecdotes from ‘the life’. He also references Machiavelli’s The Prince which he then backhands out of court with counter (ethical) advice from King Solomon.

Most non-fiction books ramble on for pages and pages, the writer often repeating themselves and throwing half-interesting anecdote after anecdote in order to fill their 300 pages. Franzese’s approach is refreshing. He takes on 152 pages to lay down what he wants you to know and goes for it. Franzese uses anecdotes liberally, however they are so ‘unusual’ and entertaining (often life or death scenarios) the reader gleefully gobbles them up without realizing they are in fact, learning. Because it is entertaining, his tips have a much better chance of being remembered and therefore utilized. The man demonstrates one of his biggest lessons in the way he writes his book. The biggest lesson (at least for me) regards the ‘sit down’: be prepared, don’t talk more than necessary, get in, get out, be efficient. That’s what’s he’s doing. He’s got the reader in a sit down and he’s working it to the reader’s benefit.

While the title claims ‘insider business tips’, I think this is misleading. There aren’t any tips that are particularly ‘insider’. I would argue that they are tips focused on how to run your business (or life) with integrity, perseverance and wit. So, if you are looking for a way to follow in Martha Stewart’s footsteps, good luck. You aren’t going to find those kinds of insider tips here.

This book was a pleasant surprise, easy to read, short, and left me wanting to pick up his other books–it was that much fun to read. (A business book that is fun and easy to read…hmmm…isn’t that an oxymoron?)

Don’t want to be swimming with the fishes? Pick up a copy:
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P.S. This book is part of Nelsonfree, a new program from Thomas Nelson. What does that mean? It means, buy the book and you can download a FREE audio version of this book and a FREE ebook. Now they’re thinking.