Introducing the Introduction

The research is sketchy, but the tea-leaves are telling us that more than half the readers of a business book do not read the Introduction. Can you blame them? Hell, the introductions I’ve read are a legit substitute for a bedtime snack of Ambien and a swig of water. I have no clue what a great introduction should be, but it sure occurs to me that the person who figures it out can probably lay claim to a pretty decent living writing compelling intros at, say, 10 bucks a word.

Don’t hop, skip, or jump past my Introduction. I made damn-sure it wasn’t going to be a snooze-fest, and, after all, the question I’m asked a dozen times a day: What then is the best business book ever written? is revealed in the intro along with a lot more.

In my Introduction I discuss the Via Egnatia, the road that led in and out of ancient Athens, Edmund McCarthy, a professor at Michigan State University who invented the 5Ps, a little bit about the book, musical, and movie, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and, of course, some initial thoughts and insights about Socrates, his ace student, Plato, Plato’s gifted student, Aristotle, and their muse, Aspasia.

But what do I know? Maybe it’s not an Introduction at all; perhaps it’s a three-ring circus, but this I’m certain of, it might not be the Greatest Show on Earth, but it sure beats the business book intros I’ve been reading.