Saturday, November 12, 2016

Interview With Author Scott MacDonald


Saving Investa: 
How an ex-factory worker helped save one of Australia’s iconic companies


1. What inspired you to write your book?
The situation at Investa was so unusual and we used uncommon and perhaps unprecedented strategies, Board members often joked, “Someone should write a book about this.” I did because I think the story is worth telling and lessons from what happened, especially the over reliance on debt by private equity investors, should be a case study lesson for those who follow.

2. What is it about?
The Investa story is about saving a big company with hundreds of employees and one of the top companies in the world in sustainability practices from insolvency and liquidation and the terrible consequences that would have had on Morgan Stanley (one of the too big to fail banks) and international lenders during the global financial crisis.  There is a personal story intertwined about my rise from washing dishes, sweeping streets, and working in a factory ‘sweat shop’ to being an international CEO of multiple companies. The book uses an innovative format to weave my life story with the company’s struggle for survival.

3. What do you hope will be the everlasting thoughts for readers who finish your book?
Governments (including the US) will change the tax code to discourage massive and often unsustainable borrowings to take over companies. The existing tax code favors use of debt and directly leads to corporate bankruptcies and closures when projections do not work out.

4. What advice do you have for writers?
Be persistent. The investors threatened me with lawsuits if I insisted on having the book published. A year later and at considerable legal expense, we reach an agreement to let the book proceed. This is not a story that the investors or bankers wanted publicized.

5. Where do you think the book publishing industry is heading?
Two types of books will be published. Certain high volume sellers generally written (or ghost written) by famous people and already established best selling authors and self published, self financed books.

6. What challenges did you have in writing your book?
1.      Distilling considerable information and observations to a condensed approachable format. The early versions of the book were much longer and probably less interesting.
2.      Describing complex business terms and conditions in language that the public can understand
3.      Weaving a personal memoir that describes my experience and sets the stage to answering how I came to be in Sydney at the helm of Investa with the action backed events going on at Investa. I chose a very unusual format with alternating flashback chapters to my life and current events at Investa. I have not seen this format tried previously.

7. If people can only buy one book this month, why should it be yours?
This book is a business thriller.  Most people would believe this is an oxymoron but they should read Saving Investa.  There is a final chapter on lessons learned from a career that spanned work on the factory line, palm reading, and working on corporate assignments throughout the world.  An investment banker with the company that tried to stop my book subsequently told me he gave my chapter on lessons learned to his teenage daughter and told her she should study the lessons and would be better off in the future if she remembered them. The book will be of value to those who like non fiction, employees, managers, and young people starting their careers.

for more information, please see: http://authorscottmacdonald.com/


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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog 2016 ©.
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