June Hill, Reference Assistant, Bronfman Business Library

Published Thursday September 5, 2013

This summer I read Seymour Schulich’s book “Get Smarter: Life and Business Lessons” and, it is just that, a series of personal anecdotes shared by a truly successful and generous man on the two things he knows best; life and business.  We have 7 copies at the Peter F. Bronfman Business Library.

Schulich begins this book by recalling a story that warms the heart of every librarian, his discovery of the public library and a love of reading.

 “ At eight years of age, I went to the closest public library and made a wonderful discovery: I could borrow three books for three weeks. I started to read a book a week. If you read a page a minute, then set aside an hour a day, it’s very easy to read a book a week….”

What is exceptional about his recollection, which at first has casual sense about it, is that Schulich figured out a system for reading consistently each day and that he continued to apply this system for the rest of his life.  Like many successful people he reads broadly on many topics to provide himself with different perspectives and to feed his curiosity.

He tells us this book is aimed at university students and his wish is to impart “lessons on choosing a career path and a mate.  In my experience, the years in age from twenty to thirty are, in many ways the most difficult because of the search for direction in these two areas.”  He does include chapters later in the book for people who are more established in business and in life.  The simple but underlying theme is that there is no separating business and life; they are inextricably bound.

“Get Smarter” would be a good reading choice while on the bus, as each chapter is short with a single defining nugget of wisdom directly and clearly stated.

Another read I would recommend would be Dr. James Gillies (founder of the Faculty of Administrative Studies at York which later became the Schulich School of Business ) “From Vision to Reality:The Founding of The Faculty of Administrative Studies at York University 1965-1972” that chronicles the history of development of a business school at York University but also provides an insider’s view on how business was done in the early days in Toronto.