Come Together: The Business Wisdom of the Beatles

by Richard Courtney, George Cassidy

As the greatest rock and roll band of all time, the Beatles rocketed to worldwide fame soon after their 1964 arrival in the United States. Much of their achievement can be attributed to the unique Beatle sound, but it was more than just the music that catapulted them to the summit of success, and kept them there even after the band ceased touring and broke apart. How the Beatles both failed and triumphed as businessmen and the lessons today’s entrepreneurs and business leaders can draw from this unique journey is the subject of Come Together: The Business Wisdom of the Beatles. Authors Richard Courtney and George Cassidy recount the band’s many exploits, from its early struggles in Hamburg to the success of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and beyond, revealing from a business perspective what worked and what didn’t. More than the music, this book explores what it took to pass the audition.

Genres: Music

306 pages, Hardcover

First published March 11, 2011

Reviews

[R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard Courtney and George Cassidy's Come Together: The Business Wisdom of the Beatles recount the band’s exploits, from early struggles in Hamburg to the success of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. The book reveals from a business perspective what worked and what didn’t. How the Beatles both failed and triumphed as businessmen and the lessons today's entrepreneurs and business leaders can draw from this unique journey is the subject of Come Together: The Business Wisdom of the Beatles. The book is easy to read, and articulates standard management practices in a memorable way.

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve often said that I should have been born a few decades earlier since I’ve always had more of affection for the music of the 60s and 70s than the music I grew up with. Throughout much of my childhood, I would listen to the “oldies” radio station in the car with my parents, becoming schooled in the best music ever created. It’s because of my love for the music of my parents’ generation that I was really excited to receive a book about the Beatles.

However, I was a bit disappointed in what I found. While I was expecting a chronological story of the Beatles journey to becoming the biggest and most successful band ever, I was met with a stale textbook that struggled to weave pop culture to explain business tips. The book has 100 chapters, each about 3 pages and touching on such concepts as “Humor” (chapter 19), “Rest and Recovery” (chapter 30) or “Gangster Management” (chapter 71). Trying to get to the real meat of the story and learn a little Beatles history, I began skimming the business themes and focusing on the Beatles history.

While the Beatles are arguably the most successful band ever, and I’m sure they would be flattered to know that Courtney and Cassidy chose their band to explain business concepts, the same themes could be explained using any number of different successful artists – Madonna, Prince, Metallica, Green Day, and so on.

Many lessons and stories told feel forced and contrived. The authors should have picked one of the two – telling the Beatles’ story, or write a book about good business practices – meshing the two just didn’t work here.

The most interesting thing I learned from this book was the clues to the “Paul is dead” legend surrounding the Abbey Road album cover. (Paul is barefoot and ready for burial; John in white as the preacher; Ringo in a suit as a mourner and George in denim as a gravedigger.) But I’m pretty sure I could have learned that elsewhere…


Come Together… was published in 2011 by Turner Publishing Company. This book was sent to me as an Advanced Reader Copy by the publisher.

[Mary BookHounds · Rating 4 out of 5]

The history of the Beatles is intertwined with a fascinating look at current business practicing. I really think that this book would make a great gift for a recent high school or college graduate. It is filled with easy to read and understand business theories in a way that will appeal to young adults in a very entertaining way. The Beatles made such an impact on modern history and this is a wonderful way to combine the two.

Each chapter starts with a snippet of Beatle history and then relates that to a business idea. I really thought the authors did a great job explaining how much practice (Hamburg) and effort (song writing) that the members of the group did in preparation for their world domination. There are touches of Malcom Gladwell that help explain the Beatles phenomenon as well.

[Jim Serger · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Beatles--what more can you say about a group of young men that forged the greatest icon, band, business that we have ever seen. The book is the wisdom we can learn so that we can learn from their mistakes--mistakes, failures are not the end as long as we can grow and learn from past mistakes--we can learn a ton from a business that broke up when the eldest was just 30 years old--the authors did an outstanding job sharing the heart and soul of what it takes to make a business flourish-The Beatles, as huge as the were they leave little crumbs for us to learn and grow from. Pick this up and eat up the wisdom the authors share with us, it will only make you and your establishment, family, community that much stronger. One virtue was the sign of forgiveness, no chip on the shoulder, get rid of it and live a healthier life.

[Booknerds Blog · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a very quick read; however, it was very good in the aspect that it wants you to relate to the Beatles. Ok, you do not have to have a "mop top", play guitar, or sing to have business smarts. But you can model yourself like the Beatles did and then create an "empire".

Read our review here:

http://booknerdsacrossamerica.blogspo...

[Cole Watts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic! There is so much wisdom and best practices in this book that there is no way to read it once, without taking notes, and glean all the information. A great surprise was how much the book dealt with the mistakes of The Beatles and how you can do better in business. Highly recommended

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a light business book but a pleasant read

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well documented, but at times it seems forced.