RULE 16 Hire raw talent Do you know how many publishers turned down the first Harry Potter book? i've heard several numbers quoted, but the answer is at least eight, whoever you ask. And what does that say about Barry cunningham, the publisher who finally signed up the author? To just about everyone it says he was a whole lot smarter than all the guys who turned the book down. Every hugely successful manager was once fresh out of school or college, waiting for someone to recognize their talent and offer them a job. They were junior managers looking for promotion, or middle managers hoping it would be them who'd be asked to head up the new project or department or enterprise.