"We all know the story of the latest version of the American Dream: a young innovator drops out of college and creates the next big thing, remaking both business and culture in one fell swoop. We are told these stories constantly, always with the idea that we'll be next. But this story masks a lot about what really goes on in our economy. Most new businesses aren't tech startups; they are what we think of as ordinary: restaurants or dry cleaners or freelance writing or accounting or consulting services. And those who are starting new businesses aren't all millennials. In fact, if you're a new college grad, it's more likely that your parents will start a new business than that you will. In truth, entrepreneurship -- new business starts -- has been declining for a number of years. What's more, while we hear about the few startups that get billions from tech giants, most businesses are run by the people who found them, often on small or medium budgets. What does it actually take to run your own business, week by week and year by year? If you do make it past the first years, what happens when you start managing a big organization? When is it time to consider selling, or grooming your replacement? When you're an entrepreneur, these are not just financial questions but deeply personal ones. The Soul of an Entrepreneur is a rich, searching story about the reality of the business spirit. In a field full of gimmicky ideas and empty promises, it fills a much needed gap in the literature: exploring the truth of who we are, what we make, and why we devote our lives to it"--

When a heart attack claimed Gert Boyle's husband in 1970, the forty-six-year-old housewife and mother of three found herself at the helm of Columbia Sportswear, a small outerwear manufacturer in Portland, Oregon, that was struggling financially. With no business experience whatsoever, Boyle was faced with the challenge of running Columbia, which had been founded in 1937 by her father — a Jewish immigrant who had fled Hitler's Germany. Boyle and her son Tim persevered, turning a company that in 1970 had forty employees and less than 800,000 in annual sales into the leading seller of skiwear in the United States, with more than 2000 employees and over a billion in annual sales. Along the way, thanks in part to a creative marketing campaign that billed her as "one tough mother," Boyle established herself as an industry icon, and the first woman ever inducted into the International Sporting Goods Hall of Fame. One Tough Mother presents an honest and often irreverent account of Boyle's journey from a childhood in Nazi Germany to incredible success in America. She offers insights into succeeding in business and in life, and shares many of the advertisements and strategies that have made her so recognizable.