The First Billion | The First Billion Is the Hardest: Reflections on a Life of Comebacks and America's...

Don't Bet Against T. Boone Pickens | The First Billion Is the Hardest: Reflections on a Life of Comebacks and America's Energy Future | T. Boone Pickens

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	• The First Billion Is the Hardest: Reflections on a Life of Comebacks and America's Energy Future T. Boone Pickens Crown Business, 2008 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 11 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

T. Boone Pickens: An American Hero

While I have worked for big business as a mere advertising salesperson for The Wall Street Journal, and I have read The Journal's take on various business moguls, none of them compare to the risk taking, and as he puts it in his own words, the "blood, guts and feathers" of T. Boone Pickens. His no-nonsense attitude about risk, business, and oil and use of our resources for future energy products makes him a hero in my books as he has discerned alternative uses of energy for fuel to save our country's wealth from being transferred to nations across the world. The cost to America's future without a divine plan for energy use and our ever increasing dependency on foreign oil makes our country more vulnerable now and in the future. I loved his commericals for the use of wind power across our prairies on cable tv, and I enjoyed reading about his plans for use of water and wind for the future. Mr. Pickens is an humble man who made a fortune and lost a fortune, and made it back again. He has the salt that each of us as Americans need to reclaim for ourselves to live in the personal power of our freedom to leave this place a better world for our posterity and to make it better for ourselves. His philanthropy is touching. The ways he used his money to perpetuate the helping others is brilliant. I am proud to have had the opportunity for these few hours of sitting and reading over his shoulder, his own reflections of his own career pats and his view of Americans' energy in the future. Thank you, Mr. Pickens, for taking the time at 79 year of age to gift us with your plans in writing this book. Judy Laughton Lilley, M.A., LPC, judylaughtonlilley@gmail.com

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The First Billion

The author provides some very important pearls of wisdom on the subject of making big money. First, big deals take time to reach fruition. In addition, decision makers can not get bogged down in "analysis paralysis". At some point, action is required. Leaders need to obtain top people in the critical aspects of business operations.

The book introduces some very important facts about energy. For instance, 75% of oil is in the hands of state-owned industries. Sasol is a good South African prospect for producing liquified fuel from coal. Another good investment is Suncor which is the largest Canadian oil sands company.

Occasionally, oil is unavailable in the Gulf of Mexico due to the tremendous storm activity and the need to repair the oil drilling equipment.

A goal of the author is to replace 36% of gasoline demand with natural gas to reduce our foreign oil bills by 16% per year. There are some interesting stories about corporate takeover attempts like Unocal. Ultimately, the company spent millions to fight a hostile takeover bid. In some situations, a 13D form must be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission when the acquisition involves over 5% of the company stock. i.e. the Vintage Petro example

The book depicts a number of family and professional pictures of T. Boone Pickens . Overall, the volume is a good value for readers interested in corporate deal-making case studies, as well as the intricacies of the oil and alternative energy market.

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Don't Bet Against T. Boone Pickens

Even if one thinks T. Boone Pickens is an egocentric, out-spoken, pompous Billionaire, who thinks that he is the only one with a Plan (and by the way, he would probably agree with your critical thought), it is hard to argue with his message - an Energy Plan for America is critical and needed now. Pickens, who is more competitive than Lombardi, not only hates to lose, but refuses to lose.

His unmatched, nearly 60 years, of experience in the energy business, earns him real credibility. His plan, if closely followed, creates leadership that we are desperately missing.. To make the book more readable he inserts about 30 Texas-influenced `Booneisms' such as #27: "If you want to run with the big dogs, you first must get out from under the porch."

I picked up this book with an interest on Sustainability and a Green Initiatives - and I got much more. This book clarifies what his recent TV ads hinted at. It offers a plan that focuses on all domestic resources: Coal, natural gas, nuclear, wind, solar and even oil. And yes, it reflects an entrepreneurial/business approach.

Overall, there are 11 chapters of his personal insights into Energy and one chapter on `An Energy Plan for America' - by far the most important chapter. Read this book and you will want to co-invest side-by-side with Pickens...not bet against him.

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Learning from a legend

T. Boone Picken's illustrious career of rises and falls makes for fascinating reading. The insights from a man who has seen it all and earned the title "the oracle of oil" turns into results in valuable lessons for anyone who wants to read them, even if you aren't going to manage a hedge fund anytime soon.

Another book I bumped into this week and devoured because it's a fascinating exploration of the skills that lead to business success is The Emotional Intelligence Quick Book

More of the same

I don't get it. Boone Pickens may be a great businessman (or is that bidnessman?). But as a writer (this is his second or third book, I can't remember which), he comes across as self-serving and more than a little greedy. It probably shouldn't be a surprise that there's a rave from Carl Icahn on the back cover; they're fellow greenmailers and corporate raiders. Boone may have some good ideas about energy, but he can't resist burying them in phony-folksy aphorisms and a highly fictionalized version of his life story.

You just get the feeling when you read the book that Pickens is first and foremost interested in Pickens, and any benefit the rest of us may accrue is purely coincidental.

Well, he does give a lot of cash money to Oklahoma State University, so maybe he can get into heaven that way.

But if you want to learn about energy solutions that aren't so closely tied to lining some entrepreneur's pocketbook, look elsewhere.

By the way, has Boone done business (sorry, bidness) with those overfriendly folks at the Dept. of the Interior?

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With a Plan for Reducing U.S. Oil Dependency

It?s never too late to top your personal best.

Now eighty years old, T. Boone Pickens is a legendary figure in the business world. Known as the ?Oracle of Oil? because of his uncanny ability to predict the direction of fuel prices, he built Mesa Petroleum, one of the largest independent oil companies in the United States, from a $2,500 investment. In the 1980s, Pickens became a household name when he executed a series of unsolicited buyout bids for undervalued oil companies, in the process reinventing the notion of shareholders? rights. Even his failures were successful in that they forced risk-averse managers to reconsider the way they did business.

When Pickens left Mesa at age sixty-eight after a spectacular downward spiral in the company?s profits, many counted him out. Indeed, what followed for him was a painful divorce, clinical depression, a temporary inability to predict the movement of energy prices, and the loss of 90 percent of his investing capital. But Pickens was far from out.

From that personal and professional nadir, Pickens staged one of the most impressive comebacks in the industry, turning his investment fund?s remaining $3 million into $8 billion in profit in just a few years. That made him, at age seventy-seven, the world?s second-highest-paid hedge fund manager. But he wasn?t done yet. Today, Pickens is making some of the world?s most colossal energy bets. If he has his way, most of America?s cars will eventually run on natural gas, and vast swaths of the nation?s prairie land will become places where wind can be harnessed for power generation. Currently no less bold than he was decades ago when he single-handedly transformed America?s oil industry, Pickens is staking billions on the conviction that he knows what?s coming. In this book, he spells out that future in detail, not only presenting a comprehensive plan for American energy independence but also providing a fascinating glimpse into key resources such as water?yet another area where he is putting billions on the line.

From a businessman who is extraordinarily humble yet is considered one of the world?s most visionary, The First Billion Is the Hardest is both a riveting account of a life spent pulling off improbable triumphs and a report back from the front of the global energy and natural-resource wars?of vital interest to anyone who has a stake in America?s future.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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