Winning the Rat Race by Kevin Leman

People like to compare life on the fast track as a "rat race". OK, since it's a rat race, what are you going to do about it? Dr Kevin Leman thinks he has some of the answers. Perhaps he is right. Read and find out.




EVERYBODY aspires to be a successful entrepreneur from the word `go'. If
only things were that easy. But help is around - look to the proliferation
of how-to-do-it manuals; `How I Did It' by the millionaires and the
countless volumes by genuine as well as bogus management gurus that has
reached an epidemic level in recent years.
In his book Winning The Rat Race, Dr Kevin Leman has come up with a
psychological formula for achieving victory in business. It is his opinion
that in order to conquer a client, we need to know his `birth order'.
Birth order by definition simply means whether the customer concerned is
the first born, middle or last born in his family. Leman has worked out a
simple method of gauging an individual's status in his family.
Leman is author of the bestseller entitled The Birth Order Book. It is
his rule of the thumb that once you, the budding entrepreneur, have
accurately classified your client in his birth order, you can actually
move in harmony with his thoughts and thereby achieve a close rapport.
This relationship or acute understanding of a person's character will
enable you to score nine out of 10 times the bull's eye. It is suspected
that Leman may have studied Sun Tzu's Art of War in detail too.
Leman's psychological strategy of winning in business is built upon the
foundation of a profound understanding of the mannerisms and
characteristics of first borns, middle children and last borns (or what
Leman calls `the baby of the family'). A typical first born is one who is
usually well-groomed, time conscious and a bit of an irritating
perfectionist. The middle child comes across as a good listener, takes
pride in being loyal to friends and is usually a team player. The last
born or the `baby' is normally easy-going, fun-loving, not inclined to be
meticulous and a tad untidy in his ways.
There are of course many more giveaway signs with regard to the birth
order formula but revealing them here would be spoiling the fun of
personally digesting the book. At first glance, the theory put forth by
Leman seems rather simplistic but on closer examination, it stands up
courageously to a fierce onslaught of a clinical study.
T Boone Pickens, one of America's richest tycoons, testifies on behalf
of Leman's earlier book. Pickens says, `You know, this makes sense. Big
business and industry would be smart to pay attention to everyone's birth
order, I would think, especially when assigning certain jobs within an
organisation.'
From a book of this nature, one often fears that the advice forthcoming
will be akin to text from a medical book. Fortunately, Leman's keen
insight into human nature has compelled him to make this book quite
humorous in many chapters. There are 12 chapters in all and a set of
`Leman's Laws' numbering one to 30. The first law says, `There has to be
more to making money than making money'. And Leman's Law No 30 states,
`God first, spouse second, children third and business fourth'. You may
want to debate on Law No 30 but it is important to give Leman a fair
hearing first.
Winning The Rat Race is filled to the brim with true life stories of
people who have made it to the pinnacle without sacrificing their families
in the process of reaching the top. The win-win approach adopted by the
author is actually a study of the most vital aspect of any business -
human nature. Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill, Harvey Mackay and Stephen
Covey are some of the notables that come to mind in applying the strategy
of human psychology in business.
Leman is not much different from the above mentioned experts except that
he has narrowed his strategy to a very specialised area - birth order. The
author, being the last born himself, personifies the typical baby of the
family because he loves a good laugh and wants to have a good time while
he is on the way to getting the goodies.
If there is ever a three-word sentence to describe Leman's book, it
would be `easy-to-read'. There are no big, obscure management words to
frighten the novice. There are no Nasa space centre-type charts to boggle
your mind. Actually, it comes as a bit of a disappointment not to stumble
upon any organisational, graphical charts that are part and parcel of many
such tomes.
In teaching others not to be a rat while climbing the ladder of
entrepreneurial success, Leman stands tall as a great story teller of
corporate proportions. The stories he pulls out of his bag are heart-
warming, inspiring and very down-to-earth.
My favourite story in the book is the tale about a little bird who felt
quite tired after years of flying north for summers and south for winters.
One day, this little bird decided to stay put for winter. But as the cold
winds began to chill his feathers, he started to have second thoughts. He
took flight. Shortly afterwards, the severe cold took a toll on the
fragile frame and he sought refuge in a farmer's barn. There he came
across a cow that took one sniff at him and walked away but not before
dropping a residue that engulfed him.
The almost frozen bird, which had earlier thought it was going to die in
the cold, began to feel warm in his new `surrounding'. He decided he
wasn't going to die after all. Life is good, he thought. In the midst of
entertaining such thoughts, a big cat came along drawn by the little
bird's happy chirping. The feline dug into the cow's flop, uncovered the
feathered creature and lunch was served.
The moral of this story is; first, everybody who dumps on you isn't
necessarily your enemy, second, anybody who alleviates your burden isn't
necessarily your friend and third, when somebody dumps on you, keep your
mouth shut. You may live longer!
On that note, you may want to read this book. Even if you finally decide
you have not learnt anything significant, it is guaranteed that you will
have a good laugh at some of the stories told.