These are my current favorite books for Entrepreneurs and Leaders. Hope you find these introductions useful!
1. Radical Candor, by Kim Scott
Drawing from years of experience, Kim Scott provides practical examples from Apple Inc, Google, Twitter and other startups.
The idea of the book is straightforward: To be a great boss you have to have a great relationship with your employees, but caring for your employees also means being able to challenge them.
Scott explains the importance of being straightforward with your employees about their shortcomings so that you can help them grow instead of letting faults slide.
It seems very obvious, but yet this is not something every boss does!
Radical Candor is a guide for leaders who strive to create a culture of feedback, build a unified team and get things done!
2. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the leap
and Others Don’t, by Jim Collins
What makes a company go from good to great?
Collins and his research team followed 28 elite companies for 15 years, and compared the good to the great companies.
They developed their concepts by making empirical deductions from the data, seeking to build a theory from the ground up rather than trying to prove a theory.
In his findings of good to great companies, Collins dives deeper into the following topics:
Becoming good to great
Level 5 leaders – great leaders are often shy, and a blend of personal modesty and professional resolve.
First Who…Then What – have the right people on your team, so that you can engineer success from the start.
Confront the Brutal Facts – have faith that you will succeed, but have the ruthless discipline to face the facts.
The Hedgehog concept – a business that has been doing something for a long time does not mean it can be the best in the world at it. Be prepared to transcend current competence.
A culture of Discipline – disciplined people don’t need hierarchy or bureaucracy. When discipline and entrepreneurship are combined, the company has great performance.
Technology accelerators – great companies are pioneers at selecting technologies carefully, but they don’t use technology as their primary source to transcend.
The Flywheel and the Doom Loop – good to great transformation happens systematically. It does not happen in one grand moment or lucky break.
From Good to Great to Built to Last – great companies attain iconic status when their core values and purposes goes beyond just making money or stimulating progress.
Good to Great is a must read for entrepreneurs and leaders who want to take their companies up to the next level!
3. The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, by Eric Ries
Ries defines a startup as an organization devoted to innovating under conditions of extreme uncertainty.
While it is true that most startups fail, Ries argues that these failures can be prevented.
Inspired by lessons from lean manufacturing, Ries offers an approach to help startups build sustainable businesses.
Essential recommendations
Validated learning (measuring progress concerning present and future prospects).
Build-Measure-Learn Feedback loop (the process which produces Validated learning). Minimum Viable Product (making a version of the product and testing the riskiest elements of the startup’s plan first).
Innovation Accounting (using the concept of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to test business plan assumptions).
Pivot or Persevere (making a strategic decision after completing the Build-Measure-Learn loop to change the course of direction or continue with the current idea).
The Lean Startup is a useful guide for entrepreneurs who want to get their products into the market quickly and effectively.
4. Zero to One, by Peter Thiel
Thiel—the founder of PayPal—wrote this self help book for entrepreneurs to show what it means to take a completely innovative idea from zero to the first step.
Thiel explains the world goes from 1 to 0, if we copy what everyone else is doing.
If we do something completely new, the world goes from 0-1.
For example the next Bill gates won’t be building an operating system. Te victors of the future will not win by competing in today’s marketplace.
Entrepreneurs will become truly successful when their businesses are unique!
Zero to One casts a fresh perspective on what it means to create and innovate successfully.
5. Give and Take, by Adam Grant
In today’s world, success is dependent on our interactions, connections and negotiations with others.
According to Grant there are three types of people in the social arena—givers, takers, matchers.
The takers don’t give anything in return. The matchers expect something for something.
The Givers are the people who usually become incredibly successful in a wide range of industries. They contribute without expecting anything in return.
Givers make way not only for themselves but for their peers as well. They share credit and they collaborate.
People who give prioritize motivation rather than talent and they show their vulnerabilities when they communicate.
Givers stay at the top of the game while being concerned about other people’s needs.
To see how the giver can avoid burnout check out this handy link: https://giveandtakeinc.com/blog/work-life/10-ways-to-avoid-giver-burnout/
Give and Take shows the importance of collaboration and helping others to achieve personal success.
More Recommended Books for Entrepreneurs and Leaders:
- The e-myth revisited, by Michael Gerber
Michael Gerber who worked as a business consultant before, shares his insights about why small businesses fail and what to do about it.
- The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You, by John C. Maxwell
Dr Maxwell is a renowned leadership expert, best-selling author and inspirational speaker. Drawing from his forty plus years of leadership successes and mistakes, he provides 21 laws for leaders who want to build a solid following.
- Drive, by Daniel H.Pink
Pink asserts that motivation is not attained by outer rewards, but it is self- directed instead. We are motivated by our need to steer our own lives, acquire new skills, and to do something that is meaningful and important.
*For more motivation and Inspiration check out Books to Win at Life , Books to help you think out of the box , or Inspirational Books to help you change your mindset, change your life!
Do you have more book suggestions for entrepreneurs and leaders? Please comment in the box below!
Sincerely,
Elaine
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