Barry J. Nalebuff

This book was just fabulous. The idea of writing a business book as a graphic novel was simply brilliant. I loved the experience of reading this book and following the dreams of Seth Goldman and Barry Nalebuff as they told the story of creating the company of Honest Tea, building their company, and selling their company. As a part owner of a small business myself, I was intrigued by the mission of these two men and agree with them completely about having a business run on honesty and fairness.

I love that their product ended up becoming USDA Organic certified as well as Fair Trade certified. I was appalled at the end to learn that the international company which bought Honest Tea was none other than Coca Cola! However, after reading what Seth and Barry wrote about how individuals and small companies can influence others, I have faith that Honest Tea can continue to exist under the auspices of Coca-Cola and remain the good product it was created to be. Muhtar Kent, CEO of Coca-Cola, said "This deal is not about making Honest Tea more like Coca-Cola; in many ways, we want Coca-Cola to operate more like Honest Tea." I'll be watching...and probably tasting as well. I still am sad, however, that small businesses, to ultimately be "successful", are "owned" by international global business giants. Not all huge corporations are run by men and women of integrity.

Some of the more detailed financial aspects of the Honest Tea business deals were a bit over my head, but I read them very careful to see what I could learn. It was an interesting experience to try to do this. I'm not sure how well I succeeded.

I love that this company was founded in a city (Bethesda, Maryland) local to me. I've always prided myself in supporting small, local businesses and was happy to learn of Honest Tea's success, both financially and in consumer popularity.… (más)