The full title of this book by Robert R Updegraff is
“Obvious Adams: The Story of a Successful Businessman“.
In my review posted to Amazon.co.uk, I rated the book at the Fours Stars level. This means I think it is Good.
Here is my book review.
How to achieve success by doing the obvious
This was written in 1916 by and told the story of Oliver B. Adams and his career in advertising.
Even as a young man, Adams was a plain speaker. After hearing a talk at school, he decided he wanted to work in advertising. For him, the obvious thing to do was to go and see the presenter and tell him, so he did. After initial rejection, his plain speaking lit a spark and he was given a job.
Success came quickly – canned peaches, a golden brown cake, a retail store, bond paper amongst many others all benefited from Obvious Adams’ great ability to see and do the obvious.
While his success story is heartening it’s also a little sad.
That a man can stand out from the crowd by doing what is obvious. Why was that so rare then and why is it still rare nearly 100 years later? People take short cuts. They don’t do the analysis or carefully assess the results.
The book is quick to read and while its language is dated, it does throw up the question of why can’t we do more of what’s obvious. It’s definitely a book worth re-reading every few years.
It is available to buy from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.
There are many thousand of business books, you can see the full list of my reviews at Business Books Reviews by Paul Simister. I’ve also narrowed these down to a list of the 12 Best Business Books For Business Owners & Entrepreneurs.
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