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Provocateurs Abound
Provocateurs abound. To sell books in the United States these days, you can take one of two paths. The first one is to write as thoughtfully as your God-given talent allows you to. The second path is to cause as much controversy as you can. (See Michael Moore and Ann Coulter). Clearly, Broken Buildings, Busted Budgets: How to Fix America's Trillion Dollar Construction Industry by Barry LePatner is the of the second sort. His book has little redeeming value as a contribution to construction and contracting.
He is guilty of litigating in the pages. Not building or thinking through a better approach. He is a second guesser of the first sort. Mr LePatner certainly will attract attention from owners who are looking for someone to sue. His billings should be very high this year. He might even make partner in his firm, if he hasn't already. Maybe managing partner, if billings are high enough.
Hank Harris of FMI Corporation wrote a 5 page condemnation of the the book. I am sure Mr. LePatner thought it was too long. I think it was too short.
A man must choose between two options at one point in his professional life. Shall I strive for riches or significance? Sadly, Mr. LaPatner will certainly be financially wealthy from his work. His significance is to be determined. He can certainly point out what others have identified previously as problems. Good for him. However, his contribution to fixing those problems of construction are minimal.
Posted by Matt Stevens at March 10, 2008 12:31 PM