Nonfiction Book Award Status: Gold
Synopsis
Learn. Love. Lead.
An embattled son becomes a patriarch. An untested employee becomes a CEO. A husband becomes a caregiver. A student becomes a teacher, and ultimately a student. Spike Yoh’s life story paints a vivid picture of the profound and very human forces that shape leadership. From a troubled childhood that would have propelled most into a cycle of broken relationships and self-doubt, he rewrote the rules of his own life, and in the process built his father’s company into a billion-dollar enterprise.
Through self-determination and a commitment to see the glass as more than half full, Spike Yoh became a loving family man, a business leader, and a philanthropist whose keen intuition and unmatched ability to connect with others have inspired individuals and organizations to achieve unprecedented levels of success.
Drawing on interviews spanning eight decades of relationships; more than one hundred years of research, correspondences, and family diaries; as well as personal perspectives, Spike’s youngest son Bill Yoh creates a candid and emotional journey of love and grit, of business and blood, of admiration and imperfection that covers the drama, the comedy, and the tragedy of a life well lived.
From the deep-rooted influences of American ancestry to the complexities of modern family dynamics, Our Way offers readers a rare glimpse of a life that bridges the divide between the twentieth-century industrialist and the twenty-first-century man. Spike Yoh’s journey is both energizing and relatable, regardless of one’s background or beliefs.
Author Bio:
A lifelong writer, Bill has published business and literary articles and blogs, and produced a feature film about human relationships. Our Way is his first book, and he has a second non-fiction project underway. Bill speaks regularly about leadership, family business, relationships, and faith. As a third-generation owner and executive of Day & Zimmermann, his family’s 43,000-employee business, Bill has a rare and personal view of the complex and human dynamics behind today’s multi-generational family businesses.
Bill earned a BA from Duke and an MBA from Wharton. He previously worked in the management consulting industry and advises multiple startup ventures. He enjoys playing guitar, songwriting, cooking and fishing. He and his family live outside Philadelphia.