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Smart People Should Build Things: How to Restore Our Culture of Achievement, Build a Path for Entrepreneurs, and Create New Jobs in America

Andrew Yang (Goodreads Author)

3.87 · Rating details · 997 ratings · 130 reviews

Andrew Yang, the founder of Venture for America, offers a unique solution to our country’s economic and social problems—our smart people should be building things. Smart People Should Build Things offers a stark picture of the current culture and a revolutionary model that will redirect a generation of ambitious young people to the critical job of innovating and building n ...more

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Hardcover, 272 pages

Published February 4th 2014 by Harper Business

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Sep 13, 2019 Debbie Zapata rated it it was ok

Shelves: dar

I had ordered this along with Yang's newer book, The War On Normal People. This one is from 2004 and is more about Yang's life in business and how he created the Venture For America program.

This book is naturally heavy on economics, and since he goes over a lot of the same points in his newest title, I tended to skim quite a bit.

This was interesting to a degree, but it is really geared more for the university student who might be looking for a meaningful way to make a gazillion dollars and do s ...more

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Mar 27, 2014 Trey rated it liked it

Basic message: high-achievers don't have to go to grad school and proceed to work as investment bankers. They can, and "should," take a risk and build a business instead.

The paradigm shift Andrew Yang seeks is a good one. College students are presented with too few options, and have been told to get the best grades in order to find the highest salary. Furthermore, they have been told that this is a secure path, and security and high compensation are the only things that really matter.

I appreciat ...more

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Jan 18, 2014 James La Vela rated it it was amazing

This should be mandatory reading for all college freshman - and graduates. We need more builders!

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Aug 04, 2014 Sam rated it liked it

Yang, by the time he was 30, had successively obtained an Ivy League law degree, worked as a high-end corporate attorney, launched a failing-dot.com enterprise, Stargiving, and then started an educational testing company that went big time—Manhattan GMAT—that made him a millionaire. Along the way, he got to party with NBA stars, and even appeared on Oprah before Stargiving failed, basically, because too few people visited its website—an eventuality that Yang hadn't foreseen, even after he had sp Yang, by the time he was 30, had successively obtained an Ivy League law degree, worked as a high-end corporate attorney, launched a failing-dot.com enterprise, Stargiving, and then started an educational testing company that went big time—Manhattan GMAT—that made him a millionaire. Along the way, he got to party with NBA stars, and even appeared on Oprah before Stargiving failed, basically, because too few people visited its website—an eventuality that Yang hadn't foreseen, even after he had spent hundreds of thousands of his backers' money. More recently, he has gone on to launch Venture for America, an organization for college grads looking for more than just a 'traditional' career path into upwardly-mobile job security. His issue is that too many Ivy League grads take the path that he first did immediately after graduating, to join investment companies, and too few do the hard work of inventing the products and services that will truly drive the 21st-century economy.

He challenges graduates to take a 'less-secure' route than up the tried and true corporate ladder, and instead, to try venture capitalism—launching new companies, and especially, in economically challenged cities of the country, including Detroit and Philadelphia.

My objection is that his advice to grads isn’t ‘practical’ for most of them in any meaningful sense. A quick visit to the Venture for America website shows what an exclusive program it is: of their thousands of applications, they award only 150 or so fellowships each year—hardly enough, I would doubt, to churn out enough entrepreneurs (even if some of them become enormously successful)—to steer the economy as a whole. Not enough, in any case, to reinvent the post-industrial American economic landscape. My aging, cynical self, notes that Venture for America, as a startup founded by Mr. Yang, is conveniently placed at the top of a pyramid of all kinds of other startups. In this sense, at least, he pretty much goes with the status quo in American entrepreneurship.
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Oct 08, 2014 Nathan rated it really liked it

A thought provoking read regarding the need for entrepreneurship amongst America's college graduates. Told by the former head of Manhattan GMAT and founder of Venture for America, Andrew Yang makes a compelling argument of how America's talented youth need to be creators in this society. Yang states that an increasing number of graduates go on to law school, banking, or consulting, particularly in one of 5 major metro areas, creating a void in startups and long-term job creation throughout the U ...more

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Aug 24, 2019 Marian rated it really liked it

Shelves: current-events, fourth-industrial-revolution

Read this to get an insight on Yang the candidate, came away with really valuable perspective on career path, the definition of success on a national level, and what our economy needs. This book was published the year I graduated college - I only wish I had heard of it and read it at the time. Now as a twenty-something with "quarter life crisis," I find a lot of food for thought here and a new way to look at the career choices I'm making. ...more

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Jan 26, 2015 Dave Applegate rated it liked it

Shelves: business-and-self-help

Very thought provoking read I strongly agree with. Our brightest post-college minds are focusing too much on highly lucrative, predictable and minimal value creation jobs instead of working for start-ups. I felt Yang focused to heavily on the Venture for America cause with the likely intention of getting potential press, donations and recruits, instead of giving already start-up minded individuals actionable insights or thought provoking concepts.

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Jan 15, 2020 Alex Devero rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: business, startups, entrepreneurship

Great title and maybe be very good intention. However, the book could do a much better job providing some hands-on advice, guidance or lessons learned on entrepreneurship. It is more like a pledge to get people into building things, than a manual on how to actually do it. There is a lot of talk, some lessons learned and a lot of "nice" ideas on what builders can do.

This book might be a good read for people interested in entrepreneurship, who has nothing else to do and no better books to read. Ot ...more

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Sep 04, 2020 Kylie rated it liked it

As a non-ivy dumb dumb, parts of this book were pretty hard to relate to. I’d love to see a follow up of some sort on how “normal people” can make a difference through startups as well.

That said, I totally agree that funneling our best and brightest into the same 5 cities in the same 5 professions is counterproductive and unsustainable.

The War on Normal People was a more enjoyable read for me, but, as always, Yang presents his points well and it’s a pretty fun read! I feel like I learned a lot ...more

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Mar 24, 2020 Robert Bowlin rated it liked it

It accomplishes it’s goal, but really could have been condensed to an excellent essay. Once you’ve gone through the first few chapters you’ve read the meat of it. A few interesting points in the appendix as well.

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Jan 06, 2020 Stuart Marsh rated it it was amazing

Wow! Good read. Andrew Yang is very astute in his understanding of entrepreneurship's role in economic growth and the steps we can take to champion said growth. Lots to take in. Can he just be our president now? ...more

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Mar 10, 2014 Eric rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Entrepreneurs, College Students, Policy Makers, Venture Capitalists, Philanthropists

This book is a well-researched rallying call to reverse the downward-trending career impact of millions of Americans.

I perform career coaching for over 500 successful young professionals in New York City every year (who excel at impressive firms such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, McKinsey & Co, Deloitte, and Google). And so very many of these high performers state that they are unhappy with their "prestigious" jobs, express the desperation to create something of their own and make a differ ...more

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Feb 06, 2020 David rated it it was amazing

This book will oversimplify matters by focusing on people like Shilpi who get identified as “smart” or “talented” via our national educational system. It’s clear that there are different forms of intelligence (analytical, creative, linguistic, artistic, interpersonal, athletic/kinesthetic, and so on), and that not all brilliant and talented people go to college or even graduate from high school.

By “building things,” we mean forming and helping companies and organizations that are innovating and This book will oversimplify matters by focusing on people like Shilpi who get identified as “smart” or “talented” via our national educational system. It’s clear that there are different forms of intelligence (analytical, creative, linguistic, artistic, interpersonal, athletic/kinesthetic, and so on), and that not all brilliant and talented people go to college or even graduate from high school.

By “building things,” we mean forming and helping companies and organizations that are innovating and creating value. People and companies around the country are solving real problems right now.

Rating: 5/5

We’ve got a problem: our smart people are doing the wrong things. If we can get them to do the right things, it will transform the country.

I believe there’s a basic solution to our country’s economic and social problems. We need to get our smart people building things (again). They’re not really doing it right now. They’d like to. But they’re being led down certain paths during and after college and told not to worry, they can figure it out later.

If you graduate from a national university, there’s a very good chance that you’re going to become a banker, lawyer, consultant, or doctor, and the odds are high that you’re going to pursue one of these professions in New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, or Washington, DC, regardless of where you originally grew up.
Why is that?
It’s because achievers want to achieve, and that’s what achievement now looks like.

...professional services socialize individuals in ways that are not conducive to their ability to contribute in other ways. All of us, and particularly young people, have a tendency to view ourselves and our natures as static: you’ll choose to do something for a few years, and you’ll still be the same you. This isn’t the case. Spending your twenties traveling four days a week, interviewing employees, and writing detailed reports on how to cut costs will change you, as will spending years editing contracts and arguing about events that will never come to pass, or years producing Excel spreadsheets and moving deals along. After a while, regardless of your initial motivations, your lifestyle and personality will change to fit your role. You will become a better dispenser of well-presented recommendations, or editor of contracts, or generator of financial projections. And you will in all likelihood become less good at other things. You will not be the same person you were when you started.

Sure, there are self-parodying, economically delusional, psychotherapy-needing, despicable people on Wall Street . . . but there are also a lot of people who went there because it was easy and stayed because they decided they couldn’t afford not to and talked themselves into it.

Their problem isn’t just theirs—it affects all of us. We’re breeding large battalions of indifferent professionals in a handful of cities when what we need is something very different. We need committed builders.

A successful startup or growth company will begin channeling talent, money, know-how, resources, and culture into its environment. People who have done it will do it again.

Entrepreneurship is about creativity. Entrepreneurs can move mountains individually. Entrepreneurs are born different.
None of these is correct.
There is a common and persistent belief out there that entrepreneurship is about creativity, that it’s about having a great idea. But it’s not, really. Entrepreneurship isn’t about creativity. It’s about organization building—which, in turn, is about people.

People focus way too much on the inspiration, but, like conception, having a good idea isn’t much of an accomplishment. You need the action and follow-through, which involves the right people, know-how, money, resources, and years of hard work.

So, yes, the bar is high when you want to start a company. You’ll have the chance to work on something you own and care about from day to day. You’ll be 100 percent engaged and motivated, and doing something you believe in. You can lead an integrated life, as opposed to a compartmentalized one in which you play a role in an office and then try to forget about it when you get home. You can define an organization, not the other way around.

“Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.”

When building a team, a common saying in the startup world is, “Slow to hire, fast to fire.” Good organizations work very hard at recruiting and retaining the right people for every task—for production, sales and marketing, operations, customer service, finance, administration, and so on. Getting high-caliber people in place can mean the difference between a company failing or going on to hire thousands of employees. To paraphrase Margaret Mead, don’t doubt what a small group of smart, committed people can accomplish—because that’s the way everything starts.

Leadership matters. We have to show our young people what is possible and support their training and development in those directions. Why would we make it so easy to become what we don’t need while making it so hard to become that which we need most? We have to make it as easy and obvious to be an entrepreneur or team member at an early-stage growth company as it presently is to become a lawyer, banker, doctor, or consultant. We should invest in giving rise to a set of builders who will address the needs of our age.

The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, wisely responded, “Man, because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”
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Jul 03, 2017 Maggie Sun rated it liked it

Shelves: business

The message points in the right direction but I found the first person narration somewhat condescending. The book also seems to focus exclusively on success scenarios while ignoring the possibility of failure, or the fact that VFA might not be the right fit for everyone.

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May 17, 2014 Simon Gravel rated it it was ok

I agree completely with the premise, but this book contains more self-promotion than new ideas - half the book is 4 stars, the rest is filling material.

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Jul 04, 2014 Onewifeonly rated it it was amazing

While not likely to happen, the argument is quite convincing.

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Jun 14, 2020 Chris Branch rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

Andrew Yang didn't run for president because he wanted a position of power - he ran because he truly wants to make the world a better place. This book from 2014 presents more evidence of that, as well as for the fact that he's an intelligent, rational, and understanding person - and he's also a pretty good writer.

While he was campaigning, we heard a lot from Yang about his broad, sweeping proposals for the improvement of society, starting, of course, with his top priority, UBI. For anyone not fa Andrew Yang didn't run for president because he wanted a position of power - he ran because he truly wants to make the world a better place. This book from 2014 presents more evidence of that, as well as for the fact that he's an intelligent, rational, and understanding person - and he's also a pretty good writer.

While he was campaigning, we heard a lot from Yang about his broad, sweeping proposals for the improvement of society, starting, of course, with his top priority, UBI. For anyone not familiar with Yang and his ideas, I would highly recommend his later book, The War on Normal People to see his updated thinking and impressive vision for the country and the world.

This book, on the other hand, targets a narrower issue: that of the highest performing college students being funneled into high paying jobs after graduation that don't contribute meaningfully to society. It seems to me that he's right on target with his criticism of the system - his (always data-backed) eloquence in describing the current situation and the issues with it is absolutely convincing. Yang's solution for the problem was Venture For America, his non-profit organization designed to appeal to that fraction of those elite grads who long to do something more meaningful with their lives. Yang comes across as a like-minded person, and describes himself the same way: he's ultra-ambitious, which perhaps makes sense given his presidential run, and he's all-in on the entrepreneurial mindset of building high-performing teams, reducing inefficiency, and finding marketable solutions to complex problems. We owe it to ourselves as a society to give people like this the opportunity and the incentive to contribute in the best way they can, since we all stand to benefit from the results.

As far as it goes, this is exactly the right approach. But the focus on a decidedly minor slice of US society strikes me as aiming lower than I'd expect from him, and in fact Yang also repeated many times on the campaign trail his realization that his plan amounted to "pouring water into a bathtub that has a giant hole ripped in the bottom." Yang's presidential platform, of course, went far beyond this approach, out of necessity - addressing the looming issue of automation will require a much larger scale operation than this. He also correctly recognized that non-profit organizations and commercial businesses will not be enough - it will take significant participation and coordination from the highest levels of government.

The ideas behind Venture For America are absolutely still valuable, and it's fascinating and inspiring to read about the process that let Yang to that point. If even a few of the brilliant young people who were attracted away from the financial sector end up in a career that produces world-changing technology, then the effort was justified. So I'd certainly recommend this book to anyone interested in this problem and the potential solutions, as well as to anyone who is, or who knows one of these ambitious and idealistic young people looking for ways to make meaningful contributions to society. ...more

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Oct 29, 2019 Lindsay Hickman rated it really liked it

This is a very insightful read, whether you want Yang to win the Democratic Nomination or not, it would be beneficial for other candidates to read this to get some solid ideas regarding a large part of the population in the United States.
I think this should be an assigned book for every incoming college freshmen because of two things: this book will help young people realize there are countless ways to make money, no matter their major, and it will be the first time they are told the truth abou This is a very insightful read, whether you want Yang to win the Democratic Nomination or not, it would be beneficial for other candidates to read this to get some solid ideas regarding a large part of the population in the United States.
I think this should be an assigned book for every incoming college freshmen because of two things: this book will help young people realize there are countless ways to make money, no matter their major, and it will be the first time they are told the truth about certain job prospects. Did you know that universities are producing more lawyers, doctors, and Wall Street Ready accountants and traders than are retiring or quitting the profession every year? So going into one of these 'job ready' majors doesn't promise you a job?
Yang isn't someone that thinks college is not necessary, in fact he is a product of it, a businessman, lawyer, and proud Brown alum, he thinks college is great--but he is young enough to remember that the only reason he chose his major was because everyone else was choosing the same one. He has some great ideas, that I believe no matter who is president, should strongly consider, his first idea is to copy Israel with kids when they graduate high school. Make it mandatory to 'serve' the country for two years, this doesn't mean military service, it could be teaching, Peace Corps, working at a Post Office, or other government or civil service jobs. The reason for this two year gap is to give young people the chance to understand the real world of business, jobs, and job security before choosing their career. Yang makes a great point that when people graduate from college they are going into a completely foreign environment, they've spent the last 17 years in a school atmosphere and now they are thrown into a world of business, dress codes, salaries, benefits, hourly rates, and bills.
His other good idea is to start encouraging job creators, instead of job fillers. This means instead of only looking at doctors and lawyers as the 'best jobs' start helping students be creators, whether in Start-Ups or in their own businesses. His point with this is that becoming a lawyer fills one job, opening your own business, or helping run a new business could provide dozens of jobs to regions of the country that greatly need them. ...more

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Oct 05, 2019 Neeraj Kumar rated it liked it

Shelves: entrepreneurship

Andrew Yang discusses entrepreneurship at a high level - why does it mean to the nation and also discusses it at a low level - what does it mean to the individual. It offers valuable insights in to the subject. What does it mean if smartest people are not building business? "Best minds are not working on the toughest problems of our time" - this is the quote from the book which i liked the most.
In this book, he discusses current American job market. He wishes America gets back to the culture of Andrew Yang discusses entrepreneurship at a high level - why does it mean to the nation and also discusses it at a low level - what does it mean to the individual. It offers valuable insights in to the subject. What does it mean if smartest people are not building business? "Best minds are not working on the toughest problems of our time" - this is the quote from the book which i liked the most.
In this book, he discusses current American job market. He wishes America gets back to the culture of building things again. America which once created large business are now focused on finance, consulting and law. He argues these, and especially the established firms, do not necessarily create value, have a assured revenue model. But these are attracting the top most talent in the country while the startups struggle to find worthy people. And we have a problem.
Andrew discusses in detail what it means to work at a large corporate and what can it mean to work at a small startup building things. He offers various anecdotes from his own life and from people around him. This is a good learning from this book. It makes us think about our own experience in professional life and challenges its meaning. Whatever maybe the answer, you come out with a better perspective of your own work after reading this.
His own experience at Manhattan Prep is discussed which is interesting. His initiative Venture For America is also discussed in detail. He tells about experience of various people in detail. At some point, you may feel that you are reading about too many people and too little about the ideas you wanted to read about.
If you are interested in entrepreneurship and want to know some of the stories of struggle, this is a worthy read. Entrepreneurship is a very vast and difficult subject with many dimensions. Here we get know, few things about it. But if you have already read few books about the subject or know good deal about it, you may find this one trivial. For anyone who is starting on the subject, it is a good read. ...more

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Mar 25, 2020 Vanessa rated it really liked it

Mr. Yang narrates his own experiences of being part of the academic elite and becoming a lawyer for 5 months before leaving to start a business.

He explains how graduates of top tier US universities tend to follow the same paths after graduation- finance, consulting, medicine, law, and grad school. These countries’ top minds tend to flock to 5 cities- New York City, Los Angeles, Boston, Washington DC, and maybe Chicago. Using data, Yang outlines that in recent years fewer businesses are being cr Mr. Yang narrates his own experiences of being part of the academic elite and becoming a lawyer for 5 months before leaving to start a business.

He explains how graduates of top tier US universities tend to follow the same paths after graduation- finance, consulting, medicine, law, and grad school. These countries’ top minds tend to flock to 5 cities- New York City, Los Angeles, Boston, Washington DC, and maybe Chicago. Using data, Yang outlines that in recent years fewer businesses are being created, and much of the wealth is now generated through financial analyses. Young people from such elite institutions are saddled with college debt and are faced with the financial and peer pressures to pursue a stable, well-paying, and prestigious career.

But what if there was an alternative path? What if entrepreneurially-minded individuals were able to create a business and effect a positive change within their local communities? Instead of having the brightest, young minds being funneled into a number of soul-sucking so-called prestigious companies, one could start her own business that generates something of value.

This is the premise that Yang’s organization, Venture for America, was built upon. VFA selects high-achieving college grads and places them in 2nd tier cities for 2 years, testing out and building their business. VFA fellows are given seed money, mentor ship, and a network to help build their business.
They are able to learn, develop, and utilize skills that would not have been possible at a large established company.

Overall, I enjoyed this book as it gave me some insight on what types of jobs and career opportunities are out there. The writing is detailed and substantive. But there was a bit of an elitist undertone to the whole book. The “smart people” are narrowly defined as those who graduate from top tier universities. I’m sure this is just a reflection of the author’s own experiences and the lives of those who occupy his hyper competitive circle. There are many smart and hardworking people that were not afforded the opportunities to attend top-tier colleges and gain access to the people and lifestyles associated with the elite.
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Sep 08, 2020 Chase Peterson rated it liked it

Shelves: 2020

It's difficult to review this book, since it was written 6 years ago, several years before Andrew Yang's presidential campaign. Both the book and campaign were focused around a central theory of how to fix our broken economy... but they're not the same message. Yang's campaign was centered on Universal Basic Income as a solution to job loss caused by automation. Yang's book is centered on entrepreneurship as a solution to job loss caused by a decline in startups created by "smart people". These It's difficult to review this book, since it was written 6 years ago, several years before Andrew Yang's presidential campaign. Both the book and campaign were focused around a central theory of how to fix our broken economy... but they're not the same message. Yang's campaign was centered on Universal Basic Income as a solution to job loss caused by automation. Yang's book is centered on entrepreneurship as a solution to job loss caused by a decline in startups created by "smart people". These two messages aren't incompatible, but Yang presented both as holistic solutions to a failing economy. Clearly, he no longer believes the approach outlined in his book is enough to solve the country's problems. At the same time, I thought this was a worthwhile read, keeping in mind the context of the campaign that he ran.

Smart People Should Build Things is written for two primary groups: Smart and young people looking forward to a future career, and people looking for solutions to a failing economy (or more broadly people interested in economic policy).

For the first group, this book is effective. The book first outlines what he sees as the cause of America's economic struggles (lack of entrepreneurship), and then walks through Yang's personal journey of entrepreneurship, eventually focusing on his nonprofit Venture for America. It's compelling, and as a recent high school graduate, I felt it equipped me well to avoid falling into certain traps in my college years. At the same time, this isn't a how-to book. Yang founded Venture for America in order to increase levels of entrepreneurship in smart people, and he wrote this book for the same reason. He's trying to persuade you to become an entrepreneur, and he does it well.

For the second group, it may have been effective when it was written, but in the context of Yang's presidential campaign, it simply doesn't hold up. I haven't read The War on Normal People, but it seems to be Yang's take on economic policy following his time in Venture for America. His thesis has changed. Luckily, he doesn't focus much on economic policy, choosing to focus most of his efforts on inspiring young people to create businesses. Because of that, the book holds up. If you're a part of the second group (likely who followed his campaign and wants to hear more of his ideas), read his second book, not this one. I'm sure Yang still believes that entrepreneurship is good for the economy, and I don't think he would take back much of what he wrote in the book, but his overall view has shifted, and it's important.

Yes, I liked this book. It felt inspirational and informative, and I got a lot of value out of Yang's personal story. But out of context, I don't feel it's very representative of Yang's views on the economy. Make sure you know what you're looking for going in, or you might come out disappointed. ...more

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Apr 15, 2020 Nithin Vejendla rated it liked it

Yang's successfully diagnoses what's wrong with the way we allocate human capital from top universities in this country ("smart people"). Because of their impressively large recruitment budgets, relative stability, and prestige, the finance and consulting industry are able to capture a sizable share of elite university graduates (more than 60% of Harvard's graduating class, for example).

He rightly diagnoses the fact that our economy would be better if those graduates joined startups and growth Yang's successfully diagnoses what's wrong with the way we allocate human capital from top universities in this country ("smart people"). Because of their impressively large recruitment budgets, relative stability, and prestige, the finance and consulting industry are able to capture a sizable share of elite university graduates (more than 60% of Harvard's graduating class, for example).

He rightly diagnoses the fact that our economy would be better if those graduates joined startups and growth companies that are focused on value creation, rather than professional service companies focused on rent seeking. He takes cues from the success of Teach for America, and forms Venture for America to route some of those graduates into startups in emerging ecosystems. VFA provides the network, prestige, training and apprenticeship needed to convince these graduates to forgo Wall Street, while training them to be the next generation of American entrepreneurs.

My rating is because Yang implicitly assumes the reason that these cities - including Detroit, New Orleans, Providence - are struggling is because of a lack of dynamic companies. He thinks that training more entrepreneurs (many of whom aren't from the community) is the way to revitalize a city like Detroit. There's almost no mention of the systemic issues plaguing these cities (redlining, deindustrialization, globalization, gutting of social services). The failure to understand the root cause of economic decline in some of these cities leads me to question the validity of the solution he proposes.

That's not to say VFA or its fellows can't be a source for positive change in the communities they join. Many VFA Fellows have gotten involved in their community in various ways, improving them for the better. VFA's new CEO, Amy Nelson, has moved the organization away from its "conservative peace corps" roots, and towards an organization that understands the holistic and inclusive nature of equitable economic revitalization. That's a good step, but I wish Yang had articulated that vision from the beginning. ...more

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May 31, 2020 Michelle rated it it was amazing

Shelves: business

Transitioning from McKinsey to my first corporate job ever was strange, even more strange was the fact that I joined a brand new team where for the first 3 months all the office cubes around me were empty, and it was just me, my boss who worked out of home in a different city, and a coworker who sat 26 floors above me. The team then grew to over 100 people globally in 3 years, and I did everything from building out an analytics product, to creating playbooks, to personally recruiting all of our ...more

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Aug 31, 2019 Fiona rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, us-politics, business

There are a lot of candidates for the 2020 Democratic Presidential candidates. Who are they all? I have decided to read books written by them. This is one of them.

Who is Andrew Yang? He is not a politician but he is rnning for the presidency. He is an Ivy League educated lawyer who used to work on Wall Street but wanted more in a career. Since Wall Street he has formed his own business, failed in his own business, worked for a small company, and now works for a non profit that he created, Ventu ...more

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Jan 04, 2020 Wendy rated it liked it

Andrew Yang's book has an interesting message that would be useful for undergraduate students to read. Essentially, Yang argues that smart students from the most elite schools are being funneled into 6 defined career paths (medical school, law school, graduate school, Teach for America, finance, and consulting). These predetermined blueprints often make them another cog in the machine rather than a budding entrepreneur. Yang states that he would rather students take the riskier path and build so ...more

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Aug 13, 2020 Josh Tarre rated it liked it

Andrew Yang's concentration in this part memoir, part diagnosis and solution to a systemic problem is about the wayward direction of America's top young talent, who chase prescribed academic and career paths to riches and success over risk-taking, passion, character development, and societal value creation.

He depicts an elite group of students being mined into financial services and wealth management career tracks. Or heading off on paths, (lawyers, doctors, academics) without a real sense of wh ...more

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May 16, 2017 Jason Carter rated it really liked it

Shelves: business

Yang makes the case in the first part of this book that our talent development system is biased towards sending our nation's best and brightest to the Ivy League schools, and then straight in to several high-paying career fields: law, medicine, consulting, finance, etc.

And... that these career paths lead to high-paying but often ultimately unfulfilling careers that move money around from firm to firm in direct proportion to the number of PowerPoint slides that are created. He argues--as the titl ...more

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Aug 13, 2018 Juan Rivera rated it really liked it

Shelves: lecturas-2018

Now that I have children starting and finishing a career, I start thinking about how young people want to get out of school and find a place to work and get rich. They live only in cities and neighborhoods, they work only in companies where they can be very successful from the beginning.

Is this the only way? I believe that future generations should have the goal of creating new things, of making new companies, of being creative. This will enrich them much more as human beings.

A good book to thin ...more

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Apr 21, 2020 Blake Williford rated it really liked it

This books reveals some troubling signs about entrepreneurship in America over the past few years that never seem to be talked about by the current "We have the greatest economy ever!" establishment. Enter COVID-19 pandemic and this problem has been exacerbated greatly. I wholeheartedly agree with Yang and believe that entrepreneurship is the true engine of a healthy economy, and as we try to recover from this pandemic we need to double down on getting young, smart, people to build new things ra ...more

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Jul 14, 2020 Karen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Yes. Smart People Can Build Things - that last!

This is a wonderful and deep book about the state of education, job markets, and creativity in the USA. I highly recommend that it be placed in the hands of every freshman before entering high school. Read it. Design a similar idea at that level. Yang comments that 22 - year olds are wired differently from the way they were in 1994. It's nowhere even close to the wiring in 1975. We need younger people learning and taking on responsibilities at every ...more

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About Andrew Yang

Andrew Yang

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I am running for President as a Democrat in 2020 on a platform of Universal Basic Income and evolution to the next stage of capitalism, Human Capitalism.

Visit the campaign website here: www.yang2020.com

___

Author of 'The War on Normal People' about automation, jobs and Universal Basic Income

I am the founder of Venture for America, an organization that recruits and trains top college graduates to st ...more

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The War on Normal People: The Truth About America's Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal Basic Income Is Our Future

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Kerine Wint is a software engineering graduate with more love for books than for computers. As an avid reader, writer, and fan of all things...

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“It wasn’t until I got to the law firm that things started hitting me. First, the people around me seemed pretty unhappy. You can go to any corporate law firm and see dozens of people whose satisfaction with their jobs is below average. The work was entirely uninspiring. We were for the most part grease on a wheel, helping shepherd transactions along; it was detail-intensive and often quite dull. Only years later did I realize what our economic purpose was: if a transaction was large enough, you had to pay a team of people to pore over documents into the wee hours to make sure nothing went wrong. I had zero attachment to my clients—not unusual, given that I was the last rung down on the ladder, and most of the time I only had a faint idea of who my clients were. Someone above me at the firm would give me a task, and I’d do it. I also kind of thought that being a corporate lawyer would help me with the ladies. Not so much, just so you know. It was true that I was getting paid a lot for a twenty-four-year-old with almost no experience. I made more than my father, who has a PhD in physics and had generated dozens of patents for IBM over the years. It seemed kind of ridiculous to me; what the heck had I done to deserve that kind of money? As you can tell, not a whole lot. That didn’t keep my colleagues from pitching a fit if the lawyers across the street were making one dollar more than we were. Most worrisome of all, my brain started to rewire itself after only the first few months. I was adapting. I started spotting issues in offering memoranda. My ten-thousand-yard unblinking document review stare got better and better. Holy cow, I thought—if I don’t leave soon, I’m going to become good at this and wind up doing it for a long time. My experience is a tiny data point in a much bigger problem.” — 4 likes

“I run Venture for America, a nonprofit organization that recruits dozens of our country’s top graduates each year and places them in startups and growth companies in Detroit, New Orleans, Las Vegas, Providence, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and other cities around the country. Our goal is to help create 100,000 new US jobs by 2025. We supply talent to early-stage companies so that they can expand and hire more people. And we train a critical mass of our best and brightest graduates to build enterprises and create new opportunities for themselves and others.” — 3 likes

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