Have you ever thought, why some of the people are rich while some remains poor? Why some nations are rich and powerful while some remains poor and weak? I have thought over this fact, and I had come to the conclusion that you need money to earn money. But Tulsi Tawari, the CEO and Chief Strategist - Alternate Approaches, Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, has looked into these questions and has come to a different conclusion, and that is portrayed throughout his book, Creation of Wealth vs Transfer of Wealth (CoW VS ToW).
Before giving a summary of this book, I would like to quote the author to let you know why he wrote this book and what he needed the reader to get from his book.
The book is comprised of 296 pages, which are divided into 21 chapters. These chapters are categorized into 5 sections. Section 1 is about personal identity in the globalized world in terms of creating wealth. It discusses how your identity should be and how it affects the prosperity of the society. Section 2 is about the sanctity of money. Invention of money was the key to the expansion of commerce from the era of bargaining to the current globalized economy. But its earning should contribute to the growth of the society, rather than letting only a few to have prosperous lives. Otherwise, the sanctity of money will be lost, and the nations will not go towards prosperity but poverty. Section 3 mainly discusses two topics. First one is how state level corruption drags a nation towards poverty. Secondly, it discusses how knowledge becomes wealth and the requirement of the nations to invest on increasing knowledge and searching for new knowledge to create wealth. Section 4 shows us how to think like an entrepreneur. If you can think likely and do likely, you will be an earner as well as a job creator. Section 5, the final section, gives the wisdom on applying all the discussed facts for the betterment of the future.It was the year 1979. I had come to Chicago from Bombay for higher studies. The stark differences that were so obvious between India (the land of emotions) and USA (the land of prosperity) perennially kept me thinking. I was looking for answers to barrage of questions like:
`If a young nation like USA can be so rich with abundant money and prosperity why India with rich heritage was battling for survival?'
`Why in US the family relationships are so unstable despite prosperity while Indians stay bonded to family despite poverty?'
`Can't we have the best of both these countries?'
The quest for answers to such numerous questions led to an even larger question:
"Can't there exist a harmony between economics and emotions?"
This book is the outcome of my extensive search for answers to those questions, possible causes to the pathetic state of affairs in the poor nations and a definitive road map for future.
So, this book is all about growing together as a nation by creating wealth, while keeping the moral values and emotional bonds that make us human. No one has to loose wealth for another to gain wealth. No need to depend on sharing wealth. You can create wealth, and that will lead you and your whole nation to prosperity. The era that depended on limited material now belongs to history. Now is the era of knowledge. Knowledge is wealth and it is sustainable. The needed type of individuals for such prosperity are those who emotionally coexist with others or dependent on others, and economically independent, because wealth is not only money, but the non-measurable wealth such as love, freedom, etc. Both are needed for the prosperity of a nation, and this book shows the pathway towards it.
I have to be sincere that this was not an easy read for me. It was quite lengthy for a non-fiction and the economical facts were bit hard to digest. Though the abbreviations were listed at the very beginning of the book, I had to turn the pages back and forth to refer them, because they were numerous and were hard to grasp at one go. The case studies and examples are mostly based on the USA and India, since the author’s background is mainly based on these two countries. It would have been better if he could elaborate on case studies done in other countries as well, since it will give a bigger and a better picture. But you will see that these cons are negligible after the pros that I am going to list below.
The book was organized nicely. There was no repetition of the same thing, and everything was arranged in a logical order. Presenting of the facts starts keeping the individual as the centre and then it is shown how it applies to the big picture, the nation. So it is easy for anyone to understand how he/she should be transformed and how it will affect the nation. Unlikely most of this kind of books, the facts are presented clearly, using bullets and separate sentences where necessary.
The reality is that there exist two kinds of forces in markets and economies at all times:
• one, where individuals grow along with society as whole
• two, where individuals grow at the cost of society
In addition to that, the author has used charts and tables for the better understanding. Important facts are restated to emphasise them. Lengthy details are summarized and separately mentioned occasionally. The author wants to give his message very clearly, and in my opinion he has succeeded in it. All the facts are validated by mentioning the references. And there is an index at the end of the book, so this can be easily used as a material for reference purposes.
Each and every chapter starts with a quote from a celebrity in the business world. It gives away part of the wisdom of those who have succeeded in the business world and also gives an insight of what to be expected from the chapter. The author has used several methods to break the monotonous flow such as, including personal experiences, historical facts, questions to the reader, etc. The book is exceptionally well edited and there were no errors to be found. There is absolutely no profanity and no offense to any religious belief.
Though this review gets lengthier, I am compelled to quote a few nice sentences that I came through while reading.
For anyone to succeed, no one has to fail; for prosperity breeds prosperity!!
We exist, because we coexist!
Considering all the above facts, I would like to rate Creation of Wealth vs Transfer of Wealth (CoW VS ToW) by Tulsi Tawari with 4 out of 4 stars. I would like to recommend this book to all the emerging entrepreneurs, and also for the political leaders of any nation, since this will be a great support to either correct or boost their paths to success.Money is precious, but all wealth is not mere money!
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Creation of Wealth vs Transfer of Wealth (CoW VS ToW)
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