Steve Harvey 'Act Like a Success'

When I heard Steve Harvey wrote a success book, my first question was ‘What does he know about success?” (I’ll pause while you shake your head at me).

Obviously, Steve Harvey is proving to be one of the most successful entertainers in the business, but my initial image of Steve was only as a funny guy, not the media mogul he’s fast becoming. 

A few months ago, I happened to catch Steve at 6am one morning giving his daily inspiration talk on his radio show where he revealed his first exposure to success teaching came in his 20s when he became an Amway distributer. He was introduced to books like ‘The Magic of Thinking Big’ and ‘Think and Grow Rich’. He confessed to never making a dime in Amway but the foundation of success teachings stuck with him all his life. I could relate having the exact same experience starting in 1983 when I was 22.

Unless you’ve worked in sales for a large corporation as I did with IBM, no organization requires success training. I’ve read a bunch of those old titles and the lessons they teach are timeless.  Recently, I saw a young guy reading an Og Mandino book and I told him I hadn’t seen it in nearly 30 years. He got it from his dad’s library and was loving it. I turned him on to a great new success book, ‘Start’ by Jon Acuff. He thanks me every time I see him.

After reading ‘Act Like a Success, Think Like a Success’, I have a huge appreciation for these rare new success books. Steve’s rise to success is an inspiring story by itself but he does a remarkable job of framing it around success principles that relate to what’s going on in today’s society like the old classics can’t.

The only problem I have with the book is that it’s too short. I wish he hadn’t rushed through the last few chapters compared to how he brought fine detail in the early part of the book. I was surprised that he injected no comedy in the book. He takes success seriously and presents it the same way.

I encourage everyone to read it. It should be required reading by all high school seniors. The first chapter on ‘No Excuses’ is all most people need to master.

Great job Steve Harvey!