Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought this book on a friend's recommendation. It sets out what I would agree are some effective strategies for success. I particularly like the author's emphasis on the roles consistency and persistence in the little things play in achieving great things. He writes that neglecting a simple process or procedure necessary for achieving success may for a short time have little discernible adverse impact on achievement; but accumulated neglect of seemingly inconsequential factors always leads to failure in reaching important objectives. Olson, like so many other writers in the self-improvement genre, focuses on the accumulation of material wealth as THE measure of success. Early in the book, he relates an encounter he had with an airport shoeshine lady. She had shared with him her disappointment in not having enough money to buy her daughter a new uniform and an airline ticket to participate with her cheerleading squad in a competition being held in another city. As he departs her company, he reflects on what choices she might make in her life that would increase her monetary wealth. He wonders what would be different for her if she acted on the premise that one's income approximates the average income of their five best friends. He speculates that, had she cultivated friendships with wealthy and influential people instead of with her coworkers, she would herself be wealthier. I found this revelation of one of the author's core values to be so offensive that my take on the entire book is perhaps more negative than the work deserves. The first problem I have with this passage is that the author fails to establish a logical basis for his implicit assertion that cultivating friendships with the wealthy leads to greater wealth for one's self. It seems far more likely to me that similar income levels may lead to friendships, not the other way around. However, his more egregious offense is his unconscionable advocacy of cultivating and exploiting friendships for material gain "instead of" [his words, not mine] pursuing friendships based on more substantial interpersonal compatibility, as often exists among coworkers. Such an approach to personal relationships is in my opinion, shameless social climbing--an unethical and culturally proscribed practice. In my experience, persons who adopt this "kiss up and kick down" practice in their pursuit of material wealth quickly become pariahs to those they seek to exploit; and most often, they ultimately find themselves consigned to the social scrap heap. In the end, I think Olson's overarching philosophy is way off the mark; and much of his advice is a disservice to readers who pay their good money for his book, expecting to gain useful insights from it. Addendum 1/14/13: I've recently learned that Olson has started his own Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) company. If his company trains his "Brand Partners" to operate as do too many other MLMs, he's at least consistent in his advocacy of exploiting personal relationships for profit.