The Books You Need to Build a Great Business
Probably you figured it out already: I love sharing the great resources that I come across and that I use in my business to learn something new.
After getting positive reactions to this article about some of the people I follow and read on a regular basis, I have decided to share with you the three most important books that I’ve read and that have helped me on my journey as an entrepreneur.
I’ll also share the five books that I’m eager to read because came highly recommended by various people I like and trust in the business world.
So let’s get started.
By far, the best book when it comes to thinking in general about building a great business is Good to Great by Jim Collins.
It’s not a new book, but it’s a great one; I’ve read it twice already. It lays the foundations for what does it take for a company not to be just good, but to actually become great.
What I loved is that the author and his team didn’t write what they thought or observed. The book is actually backed up by real data and proper research.
If you are thinking of creating and building a great business, get this one.
The next one on my list is The Blue Line Imperative by Kevin Kaiser. I’ve had a class with Kevin Kaiser during my MBA at INSEAD, and absolutely loved his approach to value creation and finance in general.
Kevin’s book translates value creation for both those interested in numbers and formulas but also for those who lead in a more intuitive way. The essence: it pays off to pay attention to more than just the profit a company makes and actually focus on value creation in general.
The third one on my list is Let My People Go Surfing by the founder of Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard. It’s about how he built Patagonia, the values behind it, and how these values are enacted in the way the company is still run to this day.
I found it very inspirational and got quite a few ideas about how to build Beyond Dracula to be aligned with the values we, as its founders had.
The next 2 books have helped me more recently and are suited to women entrepreneurs and service business owners. I mention them because I found both very useful.
Million Dollar Women is the book by Julia Pimsleur that I mentioned already in the article about the people I get inspired by and follow regularly.
It’s a book that helped me understand how a woman with two children took a business off the ground at a time when I was a new mom and didn’t quite know how to fit it all together.
One of my friends who got it after reading the article mentioned above, sent me pictures with all the notes she’s taking from reading Julia’s book. So have a look especially if you’re a mom entrepreneur.
The other one is Badass Your Brand by Pia Silva. Especially if you run a small service business or are in a creative business, this book will help you think about your model, your strategy, and implicitly your communication and sales.
Check out Pia’s podcast also, she talks to entrepreneurs who are real bosses to their business, not the other way around. (If you run your own business you might know already that sometimes you are ran by it; it’s usually a sign to make a change.)
If I were to point out one thing that these books have in common is this: they combine both the strategic, tactical thinking needed but also the real life implementation that you must do when running a business. And they do it in a very down to earth, common sense, no bullshit kind of way.
Finally, here’s what’s on my list to read in the months to come. The books below have been recommended to me by various people, often more than by one person.
- Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
- The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt (I’ve read this during my MBA and loved it so I am slightly curious to know how I’ll find it now)
- Getting Things Done by David Allen (because I am curious to learn more about productivity and time)
- The Practice by Seth Godin (have heard Seth talk about it in a few podcasts and got me very curious)
- The Innovators by Water Isaacson (I enjoyed Steve Jobs’ biography and I am curious how this one is written)
Have you read any of the ones above? Let me know.
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