15 quick reads that will grow your business
- Alistair Bezuidenhout
- Jan 27, 2020
- 6 min read
Updated: Sep 6, 2020
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Being an entrepreneur is time-consuming. You have so many things on your to-do list. And most likely reading a book is the last thing you want to do.
But here’s the secret most successful entrepreneurs know that the best knowledge is found in books. “But ain’t nobody got time for that,” I hear you say.
Well this carefully curated list of books can be read in a weekend. They are all 350 pages or less. So you could finish reading it in one sitting or a weekend. It’s up to you.
Dedicate the time to it and you will be all the better for it.
This 288-page classic examines the myths about starting your business. We all have assumptions about entrepreneurship and what an entrepreneur should do. But small business consultant and author Michael E. Gerber, with sharp insight gained from years of experience, points out how common assumptions, expectations, and even technical expertise can get in the way of running a successful business. Gerber steps through all the steps needed to grow a business from infancy to maturity. And above all, he draws a sharp distinction between the important fact of working on your business as opposed to working in your business.
How can two people with the same skills and abilities, in the same situation, end up with two totally different outcomes? Leadership expert John C. Maxwell says the difference maker is attitude. In The Difference Maker, Maxwell shatters common myths about attitude—what it can do for you and what it can’t. Showing you how to overcome the five biggest attitude obstacles, Dr. Maxwell teaches the skills you need to make attitude your biggest asset. This weekend read doesn’t sell a quick fix fantasy, but the techniques it teaches, if applied, will ease the dilemmas of everyday life.
The Outward Mindset will change how you look at leadership and change management. With a focus on others, it provides simple yet profound steps for improving our own personal interactions thereby impacting your organisation positively.
What keeps us from our greatest work? How can we silence the critic that keeps us from being our most creative - whether that’s in art or business or life? Bestselling novelist Steven Pressfield identifies the resistance that keeps us from achieving our greatest success. The War of Art is tough love for yourself.
Do you have a grip on your business, or does your business have a grip on you? In Traction, you will learn how to leverage the six key aspects of your business - vision, people, data, issues, process and traction - to give you and your leadership team more focus and more growth. And you’ll learn to love working on your business every day.
We are relational beings. Connection makes us all tick. In business, good and effective relationships are vital to growth and success. In Relationomics: Business Powered by Relationships, Dr. Randy Ross ays out the principles and practices that will help readers develop and sustain the kind of relationships that can build their business and energize their team. When you apply these techniques you will succeed at business and life.
Thought leader, Brené Brown, sees vulnerability as a strength, which is contrary to conventional business knowledge. But every day we experience moments uncertainty, risk and emotional exposure that challenges us to be vulnerable. Daring Greatly invites us to lean into these moments. There is power in these moments - when we do this we allow others to vulnerable too. And this should improve authenticity and relate-ability.
Are you a yes-person? Do you try to be all things to all people? Being spread thin doesn’t work, hey. Well you need to read this book then. Essentialism aims to help you become more productive by doing what is essential to completing the task at hand. It’s about doing the right things that are absolutely necessary, in a right manner and at the right time.
Most of the greatest leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs have on thing in common: they all know why they’re doing what they’re doing. Their purpose and mission all started with a why, according to Simon Sinek. In Start With Why, Sinek encourages you to seek out your why, and then move on to how you are going to accomplish. Most people start with what, and that is the road to mediocrity and possibly abject failure. But cut through the chaos of that mindset by reading (and applying) the principles from Start With Why.
10. Dare by Becky Blalock
The statistics on female representation in C-suites and entrepreneurship are shockingly low. Becky Blalock, who rose to become CIO in a traditionally male industry, wants to change this. In Dare: Straight Talk on Confidence, Courage, and Career for Women in Charge, she shares her advice s well as that of 28 top female executives, to show all aspiring women how to dare to reach the highest tier of leadership and C-suite positions. This is a weekend must-read for all aspiring female leaders and entrepreneurs.
Do you want to make a leap in your career or business (or both)? Then The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level is for you. In it, Gay Hendricks demonstrates how to go beyond your internal limits, release outdated fears and learn a whole new set of powerful skills and habits to liberate your authentic greatness.
Getting ahead is often an arduous journey. It is fraught with resistance and doubt. But the ancients may have had a one-up on us and our always-be-happy, consumerist culture. In The Obstacle Is the Way, author Ryan Holiday references the wisdom and insight of the Stoic philosophers. Holiday shows how these people used events that would probably paralyse us, as launching pads towards their greatness. This 184-page read offers an ancient and profound method and framework for understanding, appreciating, and acting in the face of the obstacles life throws at us.
In The 15 Invaluable Laws Of Growth, John Maxwell teaches everything he has gleaned about what it takes to reach our full potential. Embracing these laws will cause you to grow individually and in your contribution to those around you.
Michael Hyatt has the credentials to show you how to stand-out from the crowd in a digitally-noisy world. He has thousands of followers on social media and is the former chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers. In Platform, he offers down-to-earth guidance on crafting an effective and meaningful online platform to help readers extend their influence, monetize it, and build a sustainable career. If you replicate the formulas and tips Michael shares, you will most likely become a social media business success. And you will stand out from the crowd.
If you are moving from the corporate world into entrepreneurship then you definitely need to read The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. In this weekend read, Ries provides entrepreneurs (and companies) a way to test their vision continuously, to adapt and adjust before it’s too late. Ries emphasises agility and doing launching when a product or service is good enough. And then learning and adapting quickly to meet market needs.
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