Thursday 29 July 2010

No.357 Of James Caan The Man

I've just finished James Caan's book "The Real Deal." I like this book and I like this man too. Everyone should read it : recruitment experts, managers, workplace psychologists, entrepreneurs and anyone wanting a really good yarn.

The book's full of really insightful learning and he shares generously his thoughts on himself, his career and his purpose in the world.

The book is full of great stories. He tells us about James Buckley who at just nine years of appeared in The Den as part of a Children in Need Special programme. He said he wanted £5,000 to print posters and badges for schools to distribute that encouraged kids to include less popular kids in their games. Two Dragons offered him the money : Duncan Banatyne and James Caan. The boy chose James. When Duncan asked him after the show why he choose James he replied "James is new and I didn't want him to be lonely".

A good part of the latter half of the book is devoted to Caan's charity work either building a school in Pakistan or responding to the disastrous earthquake in Kashmir. Caan concludes that in a situation like the earthquake in Kashmir entrepeneurs are probably the best type of people to get involved and help. He argues that by their nature they're great decision takers, they're resourceful and great at overcoming obstacles. When you learn how quickly he managed to get relief shelter into Kashmir and save many lives it's very diifcult to disagree with him.

His last chapter talks about how fame affected his life and he tells the story of how a lunch time meeting with him was auctioned for £5,800. He was staggered at the amount.

£5,800 is that all?

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