An Entrepreneur’s Reading List
We all can agree that having the desire to pursue constant improvement is a crucial characteristic of successful people and companies. According to Daniel Coyle in The Talent Code, no one is born with the inherent skill to achieve greatness. Still, it requires a spark to ignite our internal furnace of wild enthusiasm and passionate deep practice to unlock our abilities. Despite the myth, blues legend Robert Johson became the greatest not because he made a deal with the devil, but because he lived, breathed, and practiced the guitar like a fiend.
Do you feel the same excitement about your career or company? Fortunately, we can easily access nearly limitless information to get our fix, but it is never enough to quench our thirst for some of us. And that’s a good thing.
Thanks to the pandemic, I caught the bug again and rekindled my scholarly ambitions and ravenously consumed a litany of books with the extra time afforded to us. I appreciate all the book recommendations from friends, colleagues, and clients that make up this list. In that spirit, I hope to inspire some of you to find the time and enthusiasm to read some of these and make your own reading list to inspire the next phase of your personal and professional growth.
» Top 5 Branding Books for Entrepreneurs & Business Leaders
Read from March to August 2020, in no particular order, my Entrepreneurial Reading List:
The Business of Expertise by David C Baker
Why read it: Positioning is power and profit. If you can become an expert in a little served field with high demand, you can unlock significant impact and wealth. Learn how.
Good to Great plus the monograph Turing the Flywheel by Jim Collins
Why read it: Trust the data. Learn the secrets of why some companies blow up, why others blowdown. (Spoiler: it starts with core values)
The Challenger Customer by Brent Adamson, Matthew Don, Pat Spinner, Nick Toman
Why read it: Trust the data, again. Deep insights will help blur the line between branding, marketing, and sales and unlock a genuinely useful, and scientifically proven, content, and business development strategy.
Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell
Why read it: Abandoned all your preconceived notions of being able to read people with Gladwell's latest fascinating and timely dive into human nature and why trusting your gut may be wrong.
The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle
Why read it: It ain't the shoes, and he wasn't born with it. Learn how enthusiasm and deep practice lead some to become the GOAT.
Indistractable by Nir Eyal
Why read it: Are you feeling consumed by consuming bottomless information and media? Yeah, we all feel that way. Learn why it happens and how to break the habit.
Company of One by Paul Jarvis
Why read it: Don't believe the hype. Why bigger isn't always better, unless you mean bigger profits.
The Lean Startup by Eric Reis
Why read it: Stop thinking about product design as an assembly line where a finished product rolls off the end. You must deliver early and often, testing, measuring, and learning the entire time. Always keep it in beta.
Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
Why read it: Do you ever wonder why your financial statements say you were 35% profitable, yet have no clue where the money is? Me too, until I read this.
Traction by Gino Wickman
Why read it: If operations and culture aren't a strength, the entrepreneurial operation system (EOS) can up your game.
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