Too Good to Be True cover art

Too Good to Be True

Scottsdale and Privatization in the 1980s

Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Too Good to Be True

By: Paul Redvers Brown
Narrated by: Paul R. Brown
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £18.99

Buy Now for £18.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

This is the personal story of a very public project.

In 1984, a respected Boston environmental engineering firm took on the industry’s biggest engineer-constructors to win the first municipal water treatment plant privatization project in the country. The city of Scottsdale, Arizona, had embarked on the "untested" financing approach to take advantage of tax incentives that arrived with the presidency of Ronald Reagan.

Because it was the first of its kind and the water industry saw many more to come, this small project captured nationwide attention. As the city raced to build the treatment facilities needed to take long-awaited water supply from the Colorado River, a team of aggressive long shots took on the world of infrastructure development and finance.

It’s a roller-coaster ride from big achievements to colossal blunders, seen through the eyes of an ambitious MBA, in way over his head. Ultimately, it's a cautionary tale for young professionals that there’s a lot to be gained by taking risks and even more to be learned from accepting defeat.

©2020 Paul Redvers Brown (P)2020 Paul Redvers Brown
Business Professionals & Academics Management Taxation

Listeners also enjoyed...

Money Games cover art
No Red Lights cover art
The World by Design cover art
Railroader cover art
How Real Estate Developers Think: Design, Profits, and Community cover art
Twelve Years of Turbulence cover art
From the Arena cover art
Raising the Bar cover art
Money Machine cover art
The Ambuja Story cover art
California Burning cover art
Risk cover art
The Burger King cover art
Good Derivatives cover art
Riding the Rails cover art
Buying Disney's World cover art
No reviews yet