In his distinguished publishing career, Wolff has acquired and edited more than 60 New York Times or Wall Street Journal bestsellers. Wolff started his trade publishing career at Macmillan, then went to the Time Warner Book Group (which was eventually acquired by Hachette). During his time there, Wolff was a Vice President/Executive Editor and created and oversaw his own imprint, Business Plus, for 15 years. He eventually left Hachette to go to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to serve as their Senior Executive Editor.
One of his best-known successes includes Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad, which Wolff acquired when he was with the Time-Warner Book Group. Kiyosaki’s book ran close to seven years straight on the New York Times bestseller list, and is still one of the top 100 bestselling books as of 2022.
Other major best-selling authors of Wolff’s include former GE CEO Jack Welch (JACK: Straight from the Gut), former Secretary of Treasury Hank Paulson (On the Brink), Duke University’s Coach K (Leading with the Heart), NPR’s Guy Raz (How I Built This), Ted Turner (Call Me Ted), Dr. Kai-Fu Lee (AI Superpowers), CBS’ Dan Rather (Rather Outspoken), Governor John Kasich (Stand for Something), US Navy Captain Mike Abrashoff (It’s Your Ship), Dr. Robert Sutton (The No Asshole Rule), Chris Anderson, the head of TED, (TED Talks); Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian (Without Their Permission), NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young (QB: My Life Behind the Spiral), Tiger Woods (How I Play Golf), billionaire investor Howard Marks (Mastering the Market Cycle), Roger Angell of The New Yorker (A Pitcher’s Story), Phil Mickelson (One Magical Sunday), Bill Geist of the New York Times (Little League Confidential), Harvard professor Mihir Desai (The Wisdom of Finance), Greg Smith (Why I Left Goldman Sachs), Leigh Gallagher (The Airbnb Story), and dozens more.
Of particular note is James Finn Garner, whose humorous book Politically Correct Bedtime Stories spent 64 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, including six weeks in the top position. The book had previously been turned down by 27 houses before Wolff acquired it. Three of Wolff’s acquisitions made it to being number one on the New York Times bestseller list. In addition to Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, Rich Dad Poor Dad and JACK: Straight from the Gut were number one bestsellers as well.
Several of Wolff’s books were optioned by Hollywood and became movies, including Mr. Baseball starring Tom Selleck, which was based on You Gotta Have Wa by Bob Whiting. The movie Little Pink House by Jeff Benedict dealt with a recent case of eminent domain in New London, CT, which went all the way to the US Supreme Court. House of Lies by Martin Kihn was made into a top TV series starring Don Cheadle on Showtime. Mike Sowell’s The Pitch that Killed is currently being made into a major documentary for release in Fall 2022.
In addition, Wolff has hosted Rick Wolff’s Sports Edge, a show dedicated to controversial sports parenting issues, on WFAN Sports Radio in New York City since 1998.