No one has ever accused Sam Zell of being conventional. One of the savviest, most mysterious and most controversial investors today, he built his real estate empire by zigging when everyone else zagged. Despite a few notable failures, most famously that of the Tribune Media Company, his success with his own investment firm Equity Group and his ownership of companies like Sealy, Santa Fe Energy Resources and Schwinn Bicycles is undeniable and he remains one of the few truly self-made multi-billionaires in the United States.Zell takes readers inside his world, where the secrets of success are embedded in the dramatic and often surprising stories of his youth and business life. He tells the remarkable story of how the son of Holocaust survivors was able to grow the Equity Group network, one of the nation's largest real estate enterprises and expand across industries - from real estate and railcars to energy, logistics and others -- amassing enormous wealth from nothing. Instead of handing out the same old advice, Zell cuts the bull and talks straight about how to make it in business. The book is packed with his characteristic nuggets of insight, such as:- Trying to be right 100% of the time leads to paralysis.- Business is not a battle to be waged. It's a puzzle to be solved.- Keep it simple.- Liquidity equals value.- When others go left, look right.