With the possible exception of what the Treasury Department turns out, "Money: Master the Game" -- Tony Robbins' new book -- may be the most valuable stuff in print. It's absolutely jammed with advice you can take all the way to the bank.

Tony boils his message down to "7 simple steps to financial freedom." I, in turn, have seven compelling reasons why you absolutely have to sink your teeth into "Money" cover-to-cover:

-- Tony's stories sing. For Tony, caring and giving are the most powerful urges to build financial stability in the first place. When Tony was 11, a stranger saved Thanksgiving Day by appearing like magic at his family's front door with bags chock-full of groceries. At 17, "working nights as a janitor," Tony spent Turkey Day treating a couple of families to dinner himself. He describes one young woman whose motivating financial dream was to "buy a ranch and turn it into a church camp." As the old saying wisely put it: "We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give."

-- Tony's all-star team of financial experts is jaw-dropping. They include David Swensen, "the rock star of institutional investing ... who grew Yale University's endowment from $1 billion to more than $23.9 billion in less than two decades." Then there's Mary Callahan Erdoes, who "oversees more than $2.5 trillion as CEO of J.P. Morgan Asset Management." She offers families some very sage advice about asset allocation, the delicate balancing art of not stacking all your investment nest eggs in one basket. And we hear from Carl Icahn, one of the world's most successful investors the last 25 years.

-- Wisdom whacks you at every corner. Whether it be Mark Twain, saying: "The secret of getting ahead is getting started," or Doug Warren, author of "The Synergy Effect," who contends, "Baby boomers have been the primary mice used in the great 401(k) retirement experiment." The longer we live, the more knowledge we acquire. But, knowledge isn't power until we put it to work. "Knowledge is not mastery. Execution is mastery," Tony declares. "Execution will trump knowledge every day of the week."

-- Commonplace conclusions are always out of place. How do you get started? Tony recommends asking yourself: "What's the price of your dreams?" On money matters, Tony stresses, "We've been taught to think, 'This is too complex' or 'This is not my field.'" Tony is intent on making you an insider. His mission is for you to "know the rules before you get in the game." Tony has some attention-getting ideas: "You'll learn why chasing returns never works (and) why nobody beats the market long-term." He'll also equip you with some energizing skills that really work: "You'll ... learn about a proven way of growing your money with 100 percent principal protection, and tax free to boot (IRS-approved)."

-- Tony's candor is unflinching. There's no substitute for experience, and you have to be prepared to acquire it, no matter what age you are. Tony points to the sobering setback all adults have likely tasted: being on the losing end of a video game with a youngster. "So why do these kids always win? Is it because they have better reflexes? Is it because they're faster? No! It's because they've played the game before."

-- "Money" is tool-rich. There are quick links to sites that help you do a quick self-assessment and actually design a workable plan. Not all of this is easy, but every inch of it is clear.

-- Constructive advice is the heart of Tony's message. "Money" combs the complex wilderness and etches expert maps to guide you. But you still need to be able to size up talent. As Tony says, "not all professionals have equal skill or experience."

Tony Robbins is the hands-down master of behavioral breakthroughs. As he maintains, "I'm not a positive-thinking coach. Quite the opposite: I'm a prepare-for-anything coach." Bottom line: You'll not find a better heads-up map.

Mackay's Moral: When it comes to money, get the sense right and the dollars are sure to follow.

Leading an organization, whether public, private or nonprofit, requires making tough decisions. It's just part of the job, whether it's in the job description or not. Because, as they say, it's lonely at the top.

Business school classes in leadership offer sound advice based on solid research and practical experience. In theory, it all works beautifully. You make the rules, you set the example, you toe the mark and everyone follows your lead. Leadership training is important, even if it doesn't prepare you for every scenario.

But in practice, results aren't always so predictable. Sure, personality matters. Some people are better leaders than others. And unexpected situations arise that defy all logic. Trust me, I've been in business long enough to say I've seen it all -- until I see the next crazy event.

To become the best leader you can be, you must take advantage of every opportunity to learn and improve. Learning from others' mistakes and experiences can save you plenty of misery and embarrassment.

But even more important, in my view, is setting standards for what you will and will not do, and what you will and will not tolerate. Take the time to determine what values are important to you and your organization. Make sure that everyone you lead understands what is expected. Then practice what you preach.

One of my favorite examples of well-defined leadership comes from Kent Keith, under what he calls the "paradoxical commandments of leadership." I've added my thoughts to these "10 commandments" and hope they help you prepare your value statement.

1. People are illogical, unreasonable and self-centered. Love them anyway.

I've learned that co-workers and customers do not always respond as I would hope. But if I want to keep them as colleagues and customers, I need to cut them some slack.

2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway.

If you are doing well, then you should be doing good. The good you do will outweigh the criticism you endure. In truth, it would be more selfish to abandon your good works in order to avoid conflict.

3. If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.

There will always be those who will want to jump on your bandwagon or be jealous of your good fortune. That shouldn't prevent you from doing the best you can do.

4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

Do good because it's the right thing to do, not because you are looking for lifetime recognition. Remember, virtue is its own reward.

5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.

I maintain that lying and cheating make you more vulnerable. Being honest and frank translates into trust, which is the most important five-letter word in business.

6. The biggest men with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.

Small-minded people rarely accomplish big things, and they are not leaders. Take some risks and trust your judgment.

7. People favor underdogs, but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

Top dogs were underdogs once, too. Great leaders mentor their replacements because they know they won't be the top dogs forever. They also have a knack for recognizing talent.

8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.

You can't predict the future, but you can be prepared to face problems with careful planning.

9. People really need help, but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.

A helping hand might get slapped away. But if you stand by and do nothing when you have the capacity to be helpful, shame on you. That's not leadership, that's cowardice.

10. Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

Put a smile on your face and give your detractors a big, toothy target. You never have to apologize for doing your best. You should apologize if you do less than your best.

A well-defined purpose is central to effective leadership. It doesn't just happen. You have to know why you are doing what you are doing. Otherwise, how will you know where you are going?

Mackay's Moral: When you lead with a purpose, people have a reason to follow you.

I've always considered myself quite bold when it comes to business and risk-taking. I can live with failing a few times, knowing that I will eventually be successful because I am determined to be.

I've found a like-minded colleague in Jeffrey Hayzlett, host of Bloomberg Television's "C-Suite With Jeffrey Hayzlett" and author of an inspirational new book, "Think Big, Act Bigger."

Hayzlett embraces big and bold without apology or inhibition. "Thinking big and acting bigger is all about action and attitude: being fearless and bold, steamrolling obstacles, ignoring perceived limitations, and even being a little irrational and pigheaded at times," he writes. "I've learned it is about being relentless in all I do but especially trusting in who I am because I can."

He shared an important philosophy in an earlier book, "Running the Gauntlet," where he wrote: "No one is going to die from changes you make in business." He has since refined that idea, but the importance of the message remains.

He shares five important lessons in that vein:

-- No one is going to die when you think big and act bigger, so get over yourself.

-- Stop overthinking things, coming up with reasons not to do something and then playing it safe. You still might fail. And that's OK.

-- Succeeding fast is better than failing fast: Stop wearing failure as a badge of honor.

-- Passion fuels that momentum and drowns out the negative voices in your head.

-- Passion can override your fears and inhibitions, but it cannot override facts. Yet it can also lead to overindulgence, obsession and lost perspective.

"Passion comes from our hearts and guts, not our heads," he continues. "It's a strong emotion and can lead us into bad decisions and questionable actions. But it is the adrenaline we need to succeed."

My opinion is that it's OK to be passionate, but you better be good at what you're passionate about.

Hayzlett says successful leaders have to strongly identify with what they don't want as well as what they do want. Being genuine in character makes people willing to follow them even when they are pigheaded or irrational.

Does that ever strike a chord with me! As long as people know what to expect from me and I live up to my ideals, I can honestly say that while my staff may wonder what I am up to, they support my actions almost 100 percent of the time. They assume I have some information or experience that is guiding my decisions. That's how you earn trust, and it's critical that you don't abuse it.

Hayzlett's friend Greg Lucier, the former CEO of Life Technologies, introduced him to the term "irrational leadership," explaining that you have to be so far out there sometimes to pull people along to where you want them to go. Hayzlettt writes: "I had said for years that leaders need to create tension and results by pushing farther and farther to move the rest of their teams in that direction. Now I had a name for it."

"Think Big, Act Bigger" is full of no-nonsense lessons that even successful leaders should study and review to keep their perspective. One of my favorites is the following story, which Hayzlett tells in a chapter about the importance of maintaining a constant state of awareness: On a fishing trip to Canada, Hayzlett's guide served a specific brand of blueberry jam, which came in a can, and which he liked so much that he bought a case and shipped it home to South Dakota at a very high price.

His wife was stunned. Why would he do that? Despite his best explanation about the special jam, she was unimpressed and teased him about it over the next couple of weeks.

On a trip to their local supermarket together, she needled him again about his expensive purchase. He responded, telling her that she really didn't understand how special this jam really was. The clincher: "You can't get this anywhere else ..."

And that's when she told him to turn around. There, on the shelf, was his prized jam -- for $2 a can. A constant state of awareness, indeed!

Mackay’s Moral: Bigger risks reap bigger rewards.