1. If You Didn’t Finish College, And Are Successful, I Want to Interview You!

I’m seeking to interview successful people who did not attend or finish college for my next book, coming out from Penguin/Portfolio in 2011.

I believe there is a growing sense that traditional liberal arts education is no longer preparing young people adequately for the realities of work and careers in the 21st-century globalized, outsourced, digitized, flat-world, entrepreneurial economy–and I am exploring this issue through the lens of successful people who educated themselves.

If you did not attend or finish college, and are successful by normal societal standards, I’d love to interview you. You can be an entrepreneur, work in the corporate world, own your own business, etc. You will be featured alongside some very famous people in the book.

If you fit this description, or know anyone who does, please get in touch at michael@ellsberg.com and tell me about yourself and your background. The book will be in hardcover in a major national book release 2011. I will show you the write-up of our interview for your approval before publication.

2. Seeking to Interview the Following Famous Businesspeople Who Didn’t Finish College

Also, I am currently working through my networks to interview the following self-educated businesspeople, below. I know some of these are long shots, but if anyone could be of assistance in reaching any of these people with an interview request (perhaps through a few degrees in your own network), please let me know! (Of course I’ll give you full credit for connecting me in the book!)

I have already interviewed Lynda Resnick, founder of POM Juice and Fiji Water; Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress; and Jeff Black, founder of Hotels.com and founding VP of AltaVista.com

I’m seeking interviews with:

• S. Daniel Abraham, founder of Slim-Fast
• Sheldon Adelson, CEO of Las Vegas Sands
• Richard Branson
• John Paul DeJoria, co-founder of John Paul Mitchell Systems
• Michael Dell
• Felix Dennis, magazine publisher, Maxim
• Barry Diller
• Mark Ecko
• Larry Ellison
• Debbi Fields, founder of Mrs. Fields Cookies
• Bill Gates
• David Geffen
• John Glenn
• H. Wayne Huizenga, builder of Blockbuster video chain
• Steve Jobs
• Ingvar Kamprad–founder of IKEA
• Kirk Kerkorian, casino magnate
• Ralph Lauren
• Guy Lalliberte — founder of Cirque du Soileil
• David Murdock, chairman, Dole Foods
• David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue airlines.
• Vidal Sassoon
• Steven Spielberg
• Alfred Taubman, chairman of Sotheby’s
• Jack Crawford Taylor, founder of Enterprise Rent-a-Car
• Theodore Waitt, founder of Gateway Computers
• Anna Wintour
• Annie Leibovitz
• Mark Zuckerberg
• Dov Charney, founder American Apparel
• Tom Anderson, founder of MySpace
• Ted Turner

Like everyone else on the Net, I’d heard of of Seth Godin’s concept of Tribes. I had thought it had vaguely something to do with building a Twitter following, an email list, adding Facebook followers.

But this week was my first feeling of what it really means to build—and have, and be part of—a tribe. And it feels amazing.

The week started off with a friend emailing me Monday morning, asking for last-minute advice on his book proposal he’s submitting to a major publisher the next day. After chastising him playfully for giving me so little advance notice, I got to work, rolled up my sleeves and delivered him some kick-ass advice after going through the proposal. He was very grateful, and we both agree that the changes he made in response to my comments—which he executed masterfully and beyond anything I could have expected—could add tens of thousands of dollars to the advance he gets. Not bad for a few hours work, and we both feel great about it.

Then, throughout the week I’ve been helping a new friend, who operates at a very high level in a major publisher, navigate a major career transition caused by shifts within the company. Should she stay, should she go? How should she talk to her numerous bosses? What should she ask of them? What would her dream job description look like? This has been the stuff of our conversations during the week at all hours.

Then, an old friend David Braun called me (wow, in this Twitter/Facebook age, 2.5 years feels like an “old friend”—but hey, that’s how it feels!) and said he was building a practice as a productivity coach for entrepreneurs. He is insanely talented at this, and I started sharing with him everything I know about Internet marketing and sales. We’re going to continue with this, and he’s going to give me productivity coaching in return, which I sorely need.

Then, out of the blue, another well-known author calls me, has a book due in a month, and wants me to look over his chapters. Which I gladly oblige

I spent pretty much the whole week helping other people…. and it feels great. Because I love these people and want to help them. AND, because I know these people’ve got my back if and when I need them.

In fact, they’ve already got my back. One of the people I helped this week—a new friend who wanted advice starting his own freelance practice—has turned around and played a CRUCIAL role in helping me organize the launch party for my new book The Power of Eye Contact. I gave him some great advice, and now he’s turning around in a way I could have scarcely imagined, securing my dream venue in SF and my dream DJs, all in his rolodex (stay tuned for party details and an invite!)

I had always thought of “helping others” as going and serving at a soup kitchen, or doing some community service project in Africa. And these kinds of service are vital—more power to those that do them.

But my own life of service and contribution seems to be shaping in a different way—more within my own community, my own network, my own “tribe”. Lately I seem to be attracting just the right people into my life, people who are playing a really big game, and who can use my help in a very specific way for which I’m uniquely suited. And it feels fantastic to give it them that help. I feel as though my talents are being used to their full potential.

So this is what an emerging “tribe” feels like. It’s not a bunch of random strangers on Twitter or Facebook. It’s not a bunch of people who will buy stuff if I send them an email.

It’s a living, breathing community, an ecology of friendship and connection, a group of people I would go to battle with, I would fight for, because I believe in them and what they’re doing, and they believe in me.

This is different than a “group of friends.” It feels more mission-oriented. We each are up to big things in life, and we’re each supporting each other in what we’re doing. We have a semi-common purpose, which is helping people like us, finding more people like us, and bringing us all together for common benefit. This is a tribe. And it feels great.

It’s official! This deal note was just published on Publisher’s Marketplace:

“Michael Ellsberg’s SELF-EDUCATED BILLIONAIRES, which examines billionaires and other successful figures who never graduated from college, and how they became successful in business and in life, to David Moldawer at Portfolio, by Esther Newberg at ICM.”

Lots more details about my new project to come…but for now, I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who helped me get this deal.

I’m always looking to interview successful people who did not finish college. You don’t have to be a billionaire Or even a millionaire– just enjoying a great, interesting career that you love, or running a business that you started, without having finished college.

If you or anyone you know fits the bill, please get in touch!

Russian Woman is Excited to Practice What She Learned From Reading "The Power of Eye Contact" by Michael Ellsberg

Foreign rights to The Power of Eye Contact just sold in Russia–my first foreign rights deal!

Does anyone know how to say “The Power of Eye Contact” in Russian?

I can’t wait to see how eye gazing takes off in Russia