Many Happy Returns : The Story of Henry Bloch, America's Tax Man

by Bloch, Thomas M.

• ISBN13: 9780470767771
• ISBN10: 0470767774
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-11-09
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

The inside story of H&R Block's entrepreneurial founder Henry BlochIn 1955 Henry Bloch and his brother Dick founded H&R Block. Through a mixture of hard work and luck, they transitioned this Kansas City based bookkeeping business into a tax preparation firm just as the IRS stopped preparing tax returns for people. Over the course of more than fifty years, the company grew to become the largest tax preparation firm in the world, serving more than twenty million clients a year.Many Happy Returns tells the compelling story of this company and its founder through Thomas Bloch, Henry's son, who worked along side his father for nearly twenty years. Page by page, you'll discover the rich history of this successful organization, and how Henry Bloch's relentless focus on providing consistent quality at the lowest cost helped the company expand into the worldwide industry leader it is today. Explores the professional and personal life of one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the United States Written by one of the closest people to Henry Bloch, his son, Thomas Details fifty years of H&R Block's rich history, from its humble beginnings to the present day Reveals the hard-won and fresh insights straight from one of the most uncommon business leaders of a generationInspiring and informative, Many Happy Returns is the true story of a man who achieved the American Dream.

Author Biography

Thomas M. Bloch is an author, speaker, educator, entrepreneur, former CEO of H&R Block, and the son of its cofounder, Henry Bloch. Tom worked closely with his father at H&R Block for nearly two decades, serving as President and CEO while Henry was Chairman of the Board. In 1995, Tom Bloch resigned as CEO to?become a teacher in an impoverished inner-city section of Kansas City. He cofounded University Academy, an urban college preparatory charter school.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. xi
Author's Note	p. xv
A Chip Off the OI'Block	p. 1
Childhood Lessons	p. 4
Without a Road Map	p. 7
Henry's Deductions	p. 9
Heaven Can Wait	p. 11
Off to War	p. 13
A Lucky Bastard	p. 18
Henry's Deductions	p. 20
Three Nobodies with an Idea	p. 21
A Tradition of Trailblazers	p. 26
Carrying on the Entrepreneurial Spirit	p. 29
Henry's Deductions	p. 32
Taking the Plunge	p. 33
The Plan	p. 35
The Start	p. 39
A'New Partner	p. 42
Henry's Deductions	p. 45
Made in Heaven	p. 47
The Courtship	p. 49
The Union	p. 52
The Family	p. 53
Henry's Deductions	p. 56
A Blockbuster Idea	p. 57
This Tax Thing	p. 59
The Birth of an Industry	p. 64
Henrys Deductions	p. 66
New York, New York	p. 67
The Second Season	p. 69
Henry's Deductions	p. 73
Building Blocks	p. 75
Entrepreneurship 101	p. 77
Henry's Deductions	p. 80
Going Places	p. 81
Like a Family	p. 82
Going Public	p. 86
Henry's Deductions	p. 90
Learning to Soar	p. 91
Little Details	p. 92
The Best Ideas	p. 95
Henry's Deductions	p. 97
Setbacks and Comebacks	p. 99
The Aftermath	p. 102
Distractions	p. 105
A Dreadful Diagnosis	p. 108
Henry's Deductions	p. 110
Heartbroken	p. 111
A Bad Dream	p. 116
Henry's Deductions	p. 119
Gains and Losses	p. 121
Transitions	p. 124
A Transformation	p. 127
Mourning	p. 129
Henry's Deductions	p. 131
"Block Heads"	p. 133
Blunders	p. 136
Henry's Deductions	p. 139
A Fork in the Road	p. 141
Hitting a Wall	p. 143
More Taxing Times	p. 146
Henry's Deductions	p. 148
A Taxing System	p. 149
Tax History	p. 150
Tax Policy	p. 153
The Ideal Tax System	p. 157
Henry's Deductions	p. 160
Opening Doors	p. 161d
The Bloch School	p. 162
The Bloch Scholars	p. 165
A Debt to Society	p. 167
Henry's Deductions	p. 170
Making an Impression	p. 171
Giving Back	p. 176
Henry's Deductions	p. 177
And Then Some	p. 179
Secrets of the Successful Entrepreneur	p. 182
Building the Winning Team	p. 184
Thriving in the Changing Marketplace	p. 186
Creating a Responsible and Dynamic Business	p. 188
True Success	p. 191
Henry's Deductions	p. 192
Miscellaneous Deductions	p. 193
A Decent Man	p. 196
Henry's Deductions	p. 199
Notes	p. 201
Acknowledgments	p. 207
About the Author	p. 209
Index	p. 211
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.