Sometimes you’re fortunate enough to be in a position to “make your own rules”.  I certainly had the opportunity in Latin America – twice!  Working in Mexico from
1996-2002 and in Puerto Rico from 2002-2006 gave me two chances to build cultures
using my own rules – my way of doing things to get people on board.  This book, Make Your Own Rules, brought me back to those assignments.

Imagine opening your door and Trapper John from the long-running television
series M*A*S*H — also known as actor and business
investor Wayne Rogers — is standing there, looking just a bit older than you
remember him from the show. Rogers
says he’d like to ask you a question: If you could build the house of your
dreams, what would it look like?

This may sound like a fanciful scenario, but it happens often, as Rogers explains in his
book Make Your
Own Rules: A Renegade Guide to Unconventional Success. Rogers is still passionate
about acting, but he is equally passionate about entrepreneurship — and this is
what brings him to the doorsteps of surprised homeowners. Rogers believes that businesspeople have to
listen to customers. He is true to his word. Every time Rogers and his business
partners are going to build a new housing development — one of the many
investment activities in which Rogers
is involved — he starts knocking on doors in the neighborhood where he is going
to build to learn what houses people would really want to buy. (Rogers notes that women
make most of the decisions about the houses that families buy, so they are the
ones to consult). After the startled look and the occasional question
(“Aren’t you that actor?”), the homeowners help him discover exactly
what appeals to homebuyers.

Who Needs a Hit TV Show?

Make Your
Own Rules is aptly titled. Opinionated and strong-willed,
Rogers has
clearly lived by his own rules. While filming M*A*S*H
at 20th Century Fox, Rogers met Lew Wolff, who had been hired to run Fox’s real
estate arm. Even though M*A*S*H was in its third
year, Rogers
still did not have a signed contract. He decided to leave the series, and
joined the equally unhappy Wolff in a real estate development partnership. Rogers’ second career as
an investor was launched. He would go on to become involved in banks, a
convenience store chain, a vineyard, Broadway plays, and even the country’s
largest bridal retailer, among many other investments.

Dealing with Regulations and Egos

Rogers’ passion for the deal — and for free market enterprise — is palpable
throughout the book, which presents a litany of business deals in which Rogers
has been involved. Every deal clearly illustrates a lesson. Some of the general
lessons, in addition to asking the customer, include choosing partners
carefully, doing your homework, and casting off conventions — not being afraid
to do something differently from what’s been done in the past. Rogers
also has chapters on the “magic” of creative financing and how to
make the most of the banking system (a founding shareholder in six banks, Rogers has appeared
several times before the House Banking Committee). A chapter titled
“Creativity Fuels Success” shows how the best businesspeople are
creative at heart.

Within these bigger themes are scores of more specific business lessons — for
example, how to use bankrupt shell companies to significantly cut the costs of
going public. Most of the lessons, large or small, reflect Rogers’ iconoclastic
yet practical philosophy of business and life: The “system” — whether
it’s government regulations that undermine entrepreneurship or Hollywood egos — is not your friend, according to
Rogers, but you have to make the most of it. Washington politicians are a repeated
target of Rogers’ disdain, although Hollywood decision-makers aren’t held in much better
regard. Rogers recalls asking Warner Brothers to
finance on Broadway a Neil Simon play called Brighton
Beach Memoirs that Rogers
was producing. The decision-maker at Warner Brothers agreed to invest in the
play if Simon would make some changes. Rogers
describes how he reacted: “I laughed and asked this woman, ‘You are going
to tell Neil Simon what is funny?’ Her response was, ‘Well, yes.’ I could not
help myself. Very politely, I asked, ‘Are you sure you are the right person to
tell Neil Simon what is and what is not funny?’” Warner Brothers never
invested in the play, which, of course, was a big hit.

Make Your Own Rules is filled
with stories, opinions and advice that will sometimes make you want to laugh,
nod your head fervently in agreement, or, most often, take some notes for the
next time you have a business or investment decision to make.