“Readers interested in global business concepts will want to read The Rival: Play the Game, Own the Hustle, Power in Competition, Longevity in Collaboration. It’s a business book with a basic message: that small-time entrepreneurs can play on the same field as the ‘big boys’, especially if they understand the nature of global competition and its rules.

In probing the nature and outcome of global business success, The Rival holds additional and unexpected benefits by presenting a game plan than can apply equally well to personal life.

Take the approach of making business personal, for example. The Rival’s chapter on approaches that meld business with personal relationships is based on the author’s successful techniques and shows how he repeatedly crafted opportunities and settings that made strong impressions and opened doors. This process involves not a light degree of psychological as well as business savvy: there’s a fine line between intimidation and aggression, for example. Knowing this definition (and when to wield the proper amount of force tempered with respect) is one of the many keys to becoming a successful entrepreneur.

As chapters wind through the mechanics of everything from business relationships and their care and feeding to knowing one’s product and competition, they provide a set of powerful, personal connections between business environments and how to inject a compelling personality and creativity into the mix.

The result is a primer that doesn’t just outline strategy, but reaches to the heart of why a particular strategy is a good or a bad idea. In this, The Rival succeeds where other business books fail.

By outlining a mix of common sense and ‘insider’ business savvy and cementing the entire process with personal experience, The Rival holds the potential to reach beyond its intended business readers with successful methods of handling life. Psychology and business students alike will find The Rival direct, lively, and packed with concrete information.” – MidwesternBookReview.com