After more than fifty years as a CEO, board member, and one of the country’s most prolific angel investors, Dave Berkus has a lot of stories, and a lot of lessons. The Leader’s Toolkit gathers 63 of them: tools, strategies, and tactics they never teach in business school, each tied to a real story from a career spent watching entrepreneurs succeed wildly or fail miserably.
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Q&A with Dave Berkus
Q: What is The Leader’s Toolkit, and what makes it different?
A: It’s my 15th book for entrepreneurs and leaders. With over 50 years as a CEO and board member (for more than 40 companies), I have hundreds of stories to tell about entrepreneurs who’ve succeeded wildly or failed miserably, and the lessons I teach as a result.
Q: How far back does your writing go?
A: First book in 1994. A series of three books, Berkonomics, created a brand worldwide. My method of valuing pre-revenue businesses has been used by over one million entrepreneurs and investors over the last 30 years. See my bio or Wikipedia for awards and more.
Q: What is the shape of the book?
A: This book addresses 63 insights, none of which even a graduate business student encounters in school, and it connects most of them to personal stories that illustrate the insight.
Q: What do you most hope readers gain from it?
A: Avoiding pitfalls, speeding products to market, better leading the team, and better results for investors, all goals of these collective insights.
Q: What experience are these lessons drawn from?
A: Thirty years as a CEO in two companies successfully sold, and thirty-five years as an investor and board member in over 210 early-stage companies, with 40 sold or taken public. I helped raise billions and created wealth for investors of billions as well. Lessons learned!
Q: What questions do you hope the book gets readers asking?
A: Is leadership a trait or a skill? How do great leaders create experiences and value? And how do you deal with employee conflict, or bullies on the team?
Q: What made the writing personal rather than academic?
A: Since these insights come from over 60 years of successful leadership, telling these stories is personal. It is not an exercise in research, but making the teachings come to life through challenging authorship.
Q: What is next, after fifteen books?
A: Fifteen books! And you’re asking what’s next?
Author Bio
Dave Berkus is recognized as a worldwide resource and public speaker on issues from entrepreneur and early-stage investor success to corporate governance and the future of jobs. He is one of the nation’s most prolific angel investors, with over 214 early-stage technology investments, and has been board member or chairman of over forty of them, both private and public.
He is the author of fifteen books on early-stage business-building and an in-demand speaker at national and international events. His “Berkus Method” of valuing pre-revenue businesses has been used by over 1,000,000 entrepreneurs and early-stage investors and is recognized as an industry standard. He is the creator of BERKONOMICS, weekly insights delivered to over 200,000 readers each month.
In 1998, Inc. Magazine called Dave Berkus a “Super Angel,” the first known use of the term. His TEDx talk, “Smiling at Success; Laughing at Failure,” his “Startup Masterclass” channel on YouTube, and his Wikipedia profile are all available at berkus.com and berkonomics.com.
Buy the book here: Amazon · Author website: berkus.com
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