Copy This!: Lessons from a Hyperactive Dyslexic Who Turned a Bright Idea into One of America's Best Companies (Random House Large Print) - Hardcover

Orfalea, Paul; Marsh, Ann

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0375728406 ISBN 13: 9780375728402

Publisher: Random House Large Print, 2005

Synopsis

The founder of Kinko's describes how a hyperactive, dyslexic young man transformed a small copy shop into a multi-billion-dollar-a-year company, explaining how he used his learning disabilities as opportunities and created an unconventional, compassionate, partner-driven corporation acclaimed as one of the best places to work in America. (Business)

About this title

Book Description

A charismatic, heart-warming business memoir that’s filled with life lessons on overcoming obstacles, Copy This! is a book for every business owner looking to grow a company, every manager helping his team perform, every visionary trying to launch a new idea—and for every mother and father of a child suffering from dyslexia or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Because Copy This! is the story of how Paul Orfalea opened a small copy shop called Kinko’s in 1970 and turned it into a $1.5 billion-a-year company, while barely being able to read, write, or sit still through a business meeting.

Here is the story of a dyslexic, hyperactive boy who flunked two grades—yet succeeded in using his learning differences as opportunities, molding the compassionate, unconventional, partner-driven culture that allowed Kinko’s to thrive, and made it, according to Fortune, Forbes, and Mother Jones, one of the best places in America to work. In fourteen chapters narrated with the engaging voice of a born storyteller, Orfalea takes as much pleasure in discussing his shortcomings as he does his successes, and imparts the valuable lessons he’s learned along the way: Manage the environment, not the people. Fail forward. Be “on” your business, not “in” your business. Let your soul catch up with your body. Keep a poker face—and a poker mind. And know when—and how—to walk away. Which Orfalea did in 2000, having made millionaires out of dozens of his friends and partners, after an extraordinary 30-year run.

From the Inside Flap

Copy This!, Paul Orfalea's inspiring, personal story of turning lemons into lemonade, may be the most unusual business memoir ever published.

Paul Orfalea struggles mightily to read, to write, and to sit still through a business meeting. So what's the problem? By working with the obstacles life dealt him—he calls his dyslexia and ADHD "learning opportunities"—he grew a 100-square-foot copy shop named Kinko's into a $1.5 billion-a-year company that Fortune named one of the best places in America to work.

This is the story of a boy who flunked out of second grade—a boy who was fired by a gas station for writing illegible receipts. But it's also the story of a boy who learned from the world directly, who was brave enough to fail, who knew he had to rely on other people. A boy who developed empathy, a particular gift of his dyslexia that gave Orfalea the crucial insight into what makes Kinko's work. When Paul Orfalea first looked out on the worried, hopeful faces of his customers, he knew that he was in the problem-solving business—at four cents a page. Kinko's doesn't so much handle paper as it handles dreams.

Paul Orfalea really did do it his way. With humor, wisdom, and compassion, he shares his invaluable experiences and unorthodox business lessons with the millions of those who are just a little bit "different," and who wonder if there's a place for them in the world. There is: at the top.

Edition details

• Publisher: Random House Large Print
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0375728406
• ISBN 13: 9780375728402
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 432