Book excerpt: Sir Alan -- or Lord Sugar as he now is -- has the power to inspire anyone to succeed. His story is a template for all who want to achieve. An incredible story, told in a way that will provide maximum tips for those who want to follow him -- how Sugar grew up in an East End council flat and boiled beetroots for the local greengrocer, built his empire, became Sir Alan Sugar and a fixture on the Sunday Times Rich List and television star. Brimming with piercing insight and entertaining anecdotes, this brand new biography reveals the secrets that took Sugar to the top and shows how to learn from his soaring career. The author identifies and analyses the Great British values that made Lord Sugar one of the country's wealthiest men including courage, honesty, hard-work and fair play. Never afraid to tear up the rule-book, Sugar has an unconventional and eccentric streak. In his personal life too, he displays the best of British characteristics, always remaining a loyal family man. In recessionary times, this is a timely and unmissable account of an incredible man. Sugar is also enormously generous, supporting numerous charitable and cultural ventures. This bulldog businessman has proved to be a beacon of light. Partly a biography, this has all the elements of the most practical kind of self-help guide -- showing through the example of the man appointed to be the government's enterprise tsar how anyone can overcome the odds to achieve greatness.