Kick Up Some Dust

Lessons on Thinking Big, Giving Back, and Doing It Yourself

Bernie Marcus

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9780063259942
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Biographies
• Index: Business

A candid, rollicking business memoir from the Home Depot cofounder, filled with personal stories, savvy business advice, and timeless lessons for a life well lived

"A classic Cinderella story of the American dream fulfilled, told with humor and honesty." — GARY SINISE

"An extraordinary story.... [Tells] Marcus's version of the American dream, from tenement to boardroom, homespun into lessons for readers wanting to make it in business or philanthropy." — Financial Times

The start of Home Depot sounds like the beginning of a bad joke: Two Jews and an Italian decide to build a new kind of hardware store... In 1978, Bernie Marcus's livelihood depended on just such a scenario. Having been fired at the age of forty-nine, he teamed up with Arthur Blank and Ken Langone on a bold new endeavor. Their first day in business was so disastrous that the next morning, Marcus's wife wouldn't let him shave because she didn't want a razor in his hands. But the last laugh would be theirs, as the business partners grew Home Depot into the world's largest home improvement retailer, empowering millions of Americans to "do it yourself."

"Doing it yourself" has been the theme of Bernie Marcus's entire life. By the time he was fifteen, he had held more than a dozen jobs, joined a gang, and worked as a hypnotist in the Catskills. The son of a cabinetmaker and garment worker who survived the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, Bernie overcame a hardscrabble upbringing to author one of the best entrepreneurial stories in American history. Today, Home Depot employs 500, 000 associates at 2, 300 stores and is one of the most recognized and admired companies in the world.

The same energy that made Home Depot successful has helped Bernie give away more than $2 billion and pioneer a new model for philanthropy, transforming millions of lives. There is no single, winning formula for trying to make the world a better place, but Bernie shares what he's learned—that the skills needed to build a Fortune 500 company are the same ones that can help cure cancer, treat veterans with PTSD, and transform autism treatment. And it doesn't take a fortune to make a big difference in your community.

Kick Up Some Dust will inspire you to dream, build, and give—and, maybe, change the world.

Table of contents

• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Foreword
• Prologue
• Chapter 1: Get Some Chutzpah
• Chapter 2: How to Get into Business
• Chapter 3: You Can’t Buy People
• Chapter 4: Look for the Golden Horseshoe
• Chapter 5: There Is No Nine-to-Five
• Chapter 6: Problem. Solved.
• Chapter 7: Do It Yourself Does Not Mean Do It Alone
• Chapter 8: Don’t Leave Your Business Sense at the Door
• Chapter 9: Failure Is Not Fatal
• Chapter 10: We Are in the Selling Business
• Chapter 11: Giving Is Better Than Getting
• Epilogue
• Acknowledgments
• About the Authors
• Copyright
• About the Publisher