Business Dad: How Good Businessmen Can Make Great Fathers (and Vice Versa)

This smart, straight-shooting work could very well be required reading in all graduate schools of business and is a welcome addition to the small but growing number of books on parenting aimed primarily at fathers (such as Kevin Nelson's The Daddy Guide and Aaron Hass's The Gift of Fatherhood). Hirschfeld, a venture capitalist and a former v-p at Salomon Brothers, writes in a terse style that mimics corporate bestsellers (e.g., The Pursuit of Wow! by Tom Peters), but the content is remarkably free of the self-centered, clich -ridden tips found in most books on business. Instead, Hirschfeld aims for five goals and expertly hits each one: ""Help good businessmen use their skills to be great fathers, and vice versa. Use language that businessmen can relate to, not psychobabble. Rely on common sense and experience. Address the special issues that businessmen face in trying to be dads. Make it fun."" At first, it seems the book will not rise above analogies (""Make the investment that real fathering requires and you will find yourself reaping ample rewards--both present and future""). But chapters on effective cooperation between husbands and wives (""Joint-Venture Partners""), successfully listening to and understanding children (""Knowledge Is Power"") and the tools and techniques of exerting responsible yet empathic authority and discipline should make even the most unregenerate workaholic dad understand Hirschfeld's basic message: ""Fatherhood, more than business, is almost always what shapes a man's personal legacy. Simply stated, it is the most important job we'll ever undertake."" (June)