Hot Holiday Gift: 'You Can Do It' outlines a path to righting your economic ship

By April MacIntyre Oct 21, 2011, 17:34 GMT

Stanley A. Dashew impresses everyone he meets. He has the whipsmart wit of a young man and the desire to help Americans regain hope during these awful economic times.

The Hot Holiday Gift series is Monsters and Critics' 2011 picks for the best in Made in America gifts for everyone. From beauty, food, wine and spirits, DVDs to fashion, we have found the best in each category for you to consider gifting a loved one this holiday season.

Life ends when it ends, and while you live, make the most of every moment. This is the ethos of a fascinating American entrepreneur who is 95 years "young" as he says, who has written the perfect inspirational and informative book for the times; You Can Do It!

Stanley A. Dashew impresses everyone he meets. He has the whipsmart wit of a young man and the desire to help Americans regain hope during these awful economic times.

Stanley Dashew (L) courtesy of Mr. Dashew

Bad times come and go. Mr. Dashew has lived through 13 recessions in addition to the Great Depression. Having weathered all sorts of adverse times, including WWII, the Korean War, Vietnam and now Iraq and Afghanistan, his wisdom is welcome in this day and age of seemingly scant job prospects and precipitous investment markets.

If you carry a piece of plastic in your wallet to use instead of hard cash, then Stanley A. Dashew, inventor, philanthropist and entrepreneur, has impacted your life. Mr. Dashew helped found the plastic credit card industry in America during the 1960s. His company Dashew Business Machines developed embossing and imprinting technologies that led to the creation of BankAmericard, American Express and Diners Club. Mr. Dashew always thinks ahead of the curve. He anticipated the credit card economy. And then invented the tools that made it happen.

His book "You Can Do It" is loaded with "Stanleyisms" and real life lessons and business wisdom culled from his own personal challenges, starting with finding a job in the middle of the Great Depression. His approach to job seeking and business creation remains as timely today as when he applied it over the course of ninety years.

"You Can Do It!" delivers many insights to help you find your own successful solutions:

• What to do when your expertise fails

• Finding success in the process, as well as the outcome

• How to pick your business and life partners

• What to do when you hit a roadblock

• 11 sure-fire problem-solving steps

• 46 other tips for working toward success in various aspects of your life!

Praise for "You Can Do It!":

"Stanley Dashew vividly describes how he has sailed through life, both literally and figuratively. As passengers on this voyage, we readers learn how to set goals, focus efforts, maintain standards, take risks, make sacrifices, and achieve success-in business and in life." -- Dr. Albert Carnesale, author, retired chancellor of UCLA and provost of Harvard University

"Nuggets of wisdom gleaned from separate aspects of life-in finance, adventure, love, health, activism-all coalesce into one coherent vision of success." -- Terri Jentz, screenwriter and author, Strange Piece of Paradise

"Enjoyable reading that finished with a 'wow!' A life-encompassing philosophy. I couldn't put it down, wanted more, didn't want it to end." -- Ronald B. Ziman, MD, FACP, FAAN, Internal Medicine and Neurology
Product Details

The book is loaded with anecdotes, real strategy and wonderful stories of Mr. Dashew's life: His first invention was in 1949 when he and his family, wife Martha and his two young children embarked on a 1500 mile sea voyage. The boat was fully provisioned except for diapers. “Conventional cloth ones were out of the question because they require too much water to wash. Fresh water had to be conserved and a diaper washed in salt water was unsafe for the newborn,” Mr. Dashew recalls. Then, while in a doctors office he had his eureka moment when he spotted a roll of surgical dressing. Thus, “the world’s first disposable diaper was born,” he chuckles.

While he never thought to seek a patent for the diaper design, he would not let that mistake happen again.

Over the ensuing decades his companies and innovations included: Imodco Company, a single point mooring for offshore oil production; Dashaveyor, a monorail system to move both people and materials; Omnithruster, a revolutionary ship bow thruster to maneuver industrial and military vessels; and, Biomixer, an environmentally-friendly wastewater treatment system.

Most recently, he created Dashaway, a multi-function rehab and exercise mobility device for spinal decompression for Parkinson’s patients like himself.

Mr. Dashew especially wants to reassure the over-50 job seeker to never give up, and gives specifics on how to compete with younger competition. Today, Mr. Dashew refuses to be labeled "retired," and is active in business still and is a world-class sailor, sailing his 72-foot sailboat almost every weekend when he is not involved in his real estate business.

One aspect of his life that is very dear to him is philanthropy; in 1998, he anticipated the challenges that today face our global village and together with his wife Rita, he established UCLA Dashew Center for International Students and Scholars. It serves students from over 110 countries, in his vision to foster greater international tolerance, understanding and peace.

You can follow Stanley Dashew for more words of business wisdom on Twitter and on the "You Can Do It!" Facebook page, and purchase the book on the "You Can Do It!" Amazon link