Scott Franklin Summit (born July 22, 1964) is a self-proclaimed personal success guru, Solution Engineer, and Life Hacker. Often regarded as a charlatan, Summit's works claim to guarantee success.

Excerpt from the forthcoming book "Businessmen Who Ruined America".

BIRTH AND BEGINNINGS

Scott Franklin Summit was an accident. His father, the wealthy power broker Steven Summit, went on a business trip to the UK in the fall of 1963 and had a tryst with one of the more glamorous prostitutes of Brixton known only as Lalena. Lalena never thought of keeping the child until learning of Steven's financial standing. Steven paid a hefty sum to keep the child quiet, fearing that this child would tear his already failing marriage apart. In July of 1964 Scott Franklin Summit was born. By the time Scott was born, Lalena had spent most of Steven's pay-off investing in lavish prenatal care, an enormous house in the heart of London, and frivolous luxuries. As a result she returned to prostitution and her previous party lifestyle. It would often occur that Scott would only see his mother during feedings and when being cleaned. She left him in the nursery wing of the house while wild and loud parties took place, and while she serviced men upstairs. She continually drained small amounts of money from Steven, but it was never enough to curb her appetites for partying and designer clothes. This was the atmosphere in which Scott was raised.

EARLY CHILDHOOD

By 1970 Scott was receiving education via nannies and through the atmosphere of his mother's parties. He was put in charge of handling the money that she earned and was given instructions to guard it with his life. He would often be handcuffed to a heavy suitcase filled with cash. By age six he was given a small .22 caliber pistol to guard the case after an incident in which the case was lost. He took his job seriously and became accustomed to people listening to the "kid with the gun". During this time Lalena began dabbling in heroin and soon lost control. She sold most of her possessions, including the house and moved into a small apartment. She became more and more lost in the addiction, but largely kept her troubles away from Scott. She kept in constant contact with Steven who kept giving her money to shut her up. She kept Scott healthy, but she was losing ground everyday.

In America Steven's marriage had failed as a result of his wife producing five daughters and no sons. He was bent on having an heir to his empire and soon became obsessed with becoming the mentor of his son with the prostitute. On July 22nd, 1971, Scott's seventh birthday, Steven descended on Lalena's small flat carrying three suitcases filled with money and quickly convinced her that Scott would be better in his care. The heroin ravaged Lalena agreed and took the final pay-off, realizing that she was no longer in control of her life. Soon Scott was on a plane to New York with no explanation as to what was happening and no idea that Steven was his father.

PRETEEN TO ADULTHOOD

Steven Summit began teaching Scott the ways of business as soon as they landed in America. Scott had no idea what he was in for as a Steven Summit trainee. Steven Summit was one of the most feared and respected businessmen of the 60's and the 70's. His eccentric behavior and business acumen served as a template for his son. Soon Scott was learning the "ins and outs" of business and the patterns of behavior that he soon believed were necessary to become successful. He was never allowed out in public and received all his information and education from his father, including the removal of his British accent. In 1982, on Scott's birthday, he was given a small plastics company to manage. He followed all of his father's instructions, but the company failed. Scott was depressed by the failure, but his father kept bolstering his confidence. This pattern continued. Steven would give Scott a company, Scott would run it until it failed, and then Steven would not allow Scott to accept the failure as a failure. After years of this pattern Scott eventually could not distinguish success from failure. In his mind, as long as things went his way, and as long things happened the way he wanted, he only saw success.

As the years progressed Steven Summit became deranged due to a rare mental illness and was wholly unable to run his businesses properly. Due to the mental illness he thought that Scott was a fitting replacement and gave him control of the companies, staying on only as an advisor. Scott would run businesses into the ground due to his true incompetence, but also as a result of following his father's odd and often damaging instructions. However, as long as orders were obeyed Scott only saw success, even when he had to personally declare bankruptcy for six different companies.

By the year 2000 Steven Summit was in his 90's and his financial empire was almost extinct. Scott Summit, now 36 years old, was on some of the last companies in the Steven Summit conglomerate. Eventually Steven passed away and Scott inherited several locked away accounts that his father kept as emergency funds. Upon his father's death he felt he needed guidance. He sold the Summit compound in New York on a whim and was finally out in the real world for the first time since he was seven years old.

2001- PRESENT DAY  

In 2001 Scott Summit ruined the last company in the Summit empire, a political consultation firm. After watching other peoples' behavior for a few years, he realized that he had a different way of doing things and firmly believed that his way was the right way. He started calling himself a "Solution Engineer and Life Hacker" and started giving away free advice to anyone who would listen. After much research and the exhaustion of most of his money, Scott has built his own company(Scott Summit Ventures L.L.C.) and now focuses on teaching his way of being efficient and successful. He uses his online series, "The StrataGems of Severely Effective People" as a venue to release hisunorthodox lifestyle methods. With his new company, Scott decided to take his accumulated experience as a Solution Engineer and use his skill to consult clients in need of solutions.