Soar!: Build Your Vision from the Ground Up

Megachurch pastor and serial entrepreneur Jakes (Instinct), known for his inspirational approach to Christian leadership, here tailors his practical advice for entrepreneurs. He uses examples from his life, his father’s life, and moments in history to show how business owners succeed, fail, or fall into patterns of “I have to do t all” attitudes. The desire to overwork, he writes, can hinder creativity and eventually prevent businesses from soaring. Jakes blames this mindset for his father’s death from kidney failure, making his appeal for change personal. Jakes’s business advice focuses primarily on using new media to grow businesses, developing a distinct voice before entering the marketplace and using the business version of the Golden Rule (treat customers as you would treat yourself) to design one’s website by improving on the sites of competitors. Although there are ways to make one’s business more competitive, Jakes stresses that business owners have to rely on faith and put in the work. “You can’t just play a role and dress the part,” Jakes urges. “You have to earn that right!” The book is filled with many similar encouragements that will be useful to those looking to expand their own prospects. But faith elements are light and readers are assumed to be as devout as Jakes himself. Christian readers looking for financial and spiritual structure will find it here.[em] (Oct.) [/em]