New Book “32 Ways to be a Champion in Business” Offers Tips Gleaned From His Career After Basketball

In his new advice book “32 Ways to be a Champion in Business,” Earvin “Magic” Johnson explains how he translated his fame as a basketball player into a career as an investor and businessman off the court. The title references the number that Mr. Johnson wore when he played for the Los Angeles Lakers from 1979 to 1991 – when he announced his retirement after having been diagnosed as HIV-positive. He returned to the court for the Lakers briefly in 1996.

Mr. Johnson, 49 years old, is CEO of Magic Johnson Enterprises, a closely-held company based in Los Angeles that brings retail outlets like Starbucks and movie theaters, to urban areas. In Business Week’s October 2008 listing of the 100 most powerful people associated with professional sports, Mr. Johnson ranked No. 58.

Mr. Johnson’s book comes at a time when the public’s appetite for such titles appears to be waning. The number of business advice titles fell significantly, to 7,651 in 2007 from 8,719 in 2006, according to Books in Print, which is owned by R.R. Bowker, a provider of bibliographic information. The number is expected to fall again this year as readers turn from get-rich-quick texts to books that explain how to survive in a tough economic climate. Mr. Johnson was interviewed by The Wall Street Journal’s Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg.

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