Review: Sharing failures adds credibility to lessons

— -- Is writing a rule book for renegades akin to selling hot dogs at a PETA convention?

Christine Comaford-Lynch, author of Rules for Renegades, appears to be a certifiable renegade.

Not too many people who drop out of high school to pursue modeling go on to become a Buddhist monk, computer programmer, company founder, CEO and venture capitalist. That's Comaford-Lynch's résumé in a nutshell, and now the 44-year-old is adding author to her current consultant and public speaker job description.

It's a slightly kooky career path that serves as perfect fodder for what's becoming a predictable byproduct of success: a book about How I Did It, and How You Can, Too!

What helps set Comaford-Lynch's effort apart is her willingness to share her failures — some spectacular — as a way of assuring readers that it's possible to fail and still go forward.

She began geisha training, for example, with the goal of increasing her femininity and power, and perhaps opening her own business to help other American women do the same, only to figure out four months later what geishas are expected to do with their patrons.

Another lesson from the self-proclaimed poster child for epic failure falls under Rule 4: Build Power Instead of Borrowing It.

Here, Comaford-Lynch dishes about Bill Gates, recounting in excruciating detail their first date when she was a contractor for Microsoft in the early days. She pokes fun at his methods of wooing — he offers to solve a puzzle really fast. Their romance lasted only one more date.

We are also privy to another of her billionaire romances, this one with Oracle's Larry Ellison (a "fit nerd") and encounters with Barbara Walters and the Clintons. She learns something useful from all of them — Gates' supreme self-confidence and Ellison's methods of dealing with public attack and perception.

But ultimately, she writes, she didn't become truly successful in business until she started building her own power by challenging herself, acquiring new skills, and by deciding to stop giving away her right to feel powerful to a man or a job title or her company at the moment.

Among Comaford-Lynch's rules:

•Problems + Pain = Profit. In this chapter, she describes how to find ideas for start-up companies (she's had five). Mostly, she suggests paying attention to those around you who are in business "pain," come up with a solution, sell it and profit.

•An MBA is Optional; a GSD is Essential. GSD is short for "gets stuff done."

•Everything's an Illusion, So Pick One That's Empowering. Here, she gives advice for tackling your inner critic or, "That Vile Bitch Upstairs" who calls you a fraud or says you aren't smart or experienced enough to be an entrepreneur. Act it until you are it, she writes.

•Work Your Money Mojo. This is the nitty-gritty of funding a new company, and where Comaford-Lynch abandons some of the rock 'n' roll language and talks cold, hard cash and how to get it.

For readers in search of more hands-on, how-to instructions, Comaford-Lynch offers free links to, among other things, a sample business plan outline, sales tutorials and tips for building your own power and handling rejection.

While putting those resources online (rulesforrenegades.com) makes this book a faster read, it certainly tests the effectiveness of the author's motivational skills: Has she sufficiently given readers enough of a kick in the pants to set and follow through on their goals?

Rules for Renegades suffers only from being a bit scattershot, perhaps the inevitable outcome of the collected wisdom from a full, varied, mistake-prone, profitable and, in the end, enviable career.