What I Learned From Harvey Mackay About Hiring, Firing, Motivating, Selling and Growth

As I was reading The 100 best business books of all time by Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten, I went down a number of rabbit holes as is the case when I get recommendations to read other books. This was one of those rabbit holes that I’m glad I went down as Harvey Mackay is someone that I think is very much like Zig Ziglar. He’s a salesman, entrepreneur and he has a lot to share about selling, motivating employees, success, and more as he grew his business selling envelopes in the $100 million revenue range.

The 100 best business books of all time talked about Swim with the sharks without being eaten alive, and there was one single piece of advice that made me read Harvey’s book, which is:

If you are interviewing someone and are not sure about whether you want to hire them or not, think about if they worked for your competitor.

Wow, some very good advice!

Here are the other takeaways from Harvey Mackay’s book Swim with the sharks without being eaten alive that I enjoyed:

When employees make a mistake, do this with them

Harvey has a really interesting technique for when employees make a mistake. Instead of reprimanding them on the spot or…