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Gerald Ratner: The Rise and Fall... and Rise Again | 
 enlarge | Author: Gerald Ratner
Publisher: Capstone
Category: Book
List Price: £18.99
Buy New: £6.91
You Save: £12.08 (64%)
New (39) Used (11) from £5.98
Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 69736
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 268
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.1 x 1
ISBN: 1841127868
Dewey Decimal Number: 338.4773927092
EAN: 9781841127866
ASIN: 1841127868
Publication Date: October 19, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: THIS ITEM IS UNUSED AND IN GOOD CONDITION. IT MAY HAVE SLIGHT SHELFWEAR BUT OTHERWISE IT IS FINE.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 thoroughly enjoyable... March 31, 2008
I read this and couldnt put it down... Reading the transcript of the speech is eye opening...
Ill probably even use his new online service now - its true what they say, people buy from people...
Every would-be entrepreneur should read this January 5, 2008
This book is a great antidote to all those books out there telling you how great British business is and how great the City is. The guy made a mistake and boy did he pay for it.
Sobering and enlightening at the same time. A great read and a morality tale of our time.
Refreshing business biography December 31, 2007
In an often boring genre dominated by US titles like How to Get Rich and Stay Rich it is refreshing to see an honestly written business autobiography that acknowledges that dynasties, luck (good and bad), contacts and the age one operates in play as much as a part as business acumen. It's a great story because it covers ups and downs: failed business 'stars' rarely come out from under their stones.
My only niggle was Gerald's mis-spelling of some of the prominent business names of the era. He or a proof reader has done the book a disservice as Sir Hector Laing becomes Sir Hector Lang, Roger Seelig (who figures frequently)is now Roger Selig, Paine Webber is Payne Webber and Bejam were apparently Beejam.
 A fascinating book and a pleasure to read December 29, 2007
I read the extracts of this book in the Sunday Times. When I acquired the book I read it in twenty four hours. It is a gripping read.
I wrote a letter to the Sunday Times which they did not publish as follows It is difficult to have sympathy for Gerald Ratner as in the recent extract from his book ( Oct 21 Review)his worst day was when he received a pay out of 350,000 which he claimed barely covered his negative equity and the coming year's school fees.
From being a very fat cat on 650,000 a year he had his chauffeur taken away and did not know where to the put the petrol in his car. Unemployed and penniless and down to his last 350,000. He was the architect of his own downfall
As suffering goes it was on the light side.
You start out by not wanting to like him because you assume that as he inherited the family firm he had a privileged upbringing and that when he took it over he went for world domination and failed.
He had a tougher time than you think. He relatives did not not get on in business and his sister committed suicide over religious prejudice within this own family.
He learned the trade and took over from his family to preside over a massive takeover of most of their rivals to become the biggest jewellery retailer in the world. It is easy to criticise him now but it was the order of the day. He would have been encouraged to get bigger and bigger to make more and more profits.It is the nature of the eighties and also public companies. The city and the financiers urge them to grow and grow and then it goes wrong they get criticised.
He became a victim of his own success. If there is one thing you learn in this life there are very few friends who will help you out when you are down. They are happy to know you when you are successful but they are scarce when there is no money in it.
Quite a few times in the book he expresses disappointment that people who he had helped and made a lot of money for turned against him when things went bad.He was no exception.
Also once the press decide they have it in for you then you become a target and they can and will bring you down. We have seen it in recent months with Northern Rock. In the last few years it was feted as a great success but once there were problems the same people who feted it claimed the model was faulty.
His successful years were fascinating as he seemed to be able to raise very large sums of money and then take over companies that had been around for a long time and who had been much larger than his company. The first mistake he made was to think that somehow a public company was his company.
Also he believed people when they called him a genius for making so much money.
His fall has been well documented but it may have happened because of the recession. He helped it on its way by repeating a joke .
It took him a while to regain his life.He did not go bankrupt and to most people he was still well off in deed.
The same people who had loved him would not touch him with a barge pole because of his name. After a period of no success he eventually created a health club and sold it on then became Geraldonline.
There was not that much about his rise and it was interesting that he did not seem to bethat bitter but has became a public speaker because of it.
Over the years I have heard people claim that they could easily get a job if they lost their present job because they have so many mates.You will find those mates will disappear as soon as you are out of work. They only want you if you have a job.
I now admire him for being so frank about his rise and fall and rise. He was a victim of the time and it could all easily happen again.He did not spend too much time bemoaning his lot. Hie picked himself up and got on with this life. Anyone can fail but how many can come back again?
It is pathetic to blame your life on some failure and not do something about it. Whilst you are still breathing you can come back.
If you make a decision you have to take the results be they good or bad. People now want to blame anyone but themselves. If they succeed it is because they worked hard and they are super intelligent. It they fail it is everyone else's fault. You have to take the results on the chin whatever the outcome and come out fighting.
If you follow recent history it has a habit of repeating itself. We never learn. My view is that if you have not made every mistake in the book hopefully only once then you have not done enough.
I have had people boast or intimidate to me that they do not make mistakes.They need to get out more and do more work then mistakes will come their way. They are protecting themselves by doing as little as possible in the hopes of not making a mistake. I have had some very clever bosses who have made some great mistakes with no sympathy from me as they have claimed they were so bright.
A fascinating book and a pleasure to read
Some of the best quotes are when his accountant decided Ratners needed some university graduates. He hired six of them and none of them lasted because none them had a work ethic and subsequently they just didn't get respect from the staff.
He said he was not a great innovator but he could see where other jewellers were succeeding and where Ratners was failing
He had people in the industry come up to him and say you have completely ruined your fathers business " I just smiled and said must be why sales are up 50 per cent"
In 1986 he became the retailer of the year and accepting the award was one of the highlights of his career and it added to the sensation that he could walk on the water . Someone told him to be careful they told him that that those who are feted are eventually brought down. He thought they were talking absolute nonsense
When he was trying to rehabilitate himself he said people missed meetings and did not return his calls. He had to get used to people treating him as though he was invisible.
Welcome to the real world.
Factual, Inspirational, and Entertaining December 14, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Essential reading for any ex-employees ( of which I am one, and proud ), and anyone requiring an interesting and motivational read. Extremely well written with complete frankness and honesty. Highly reccomended !
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