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What would you recommend as "must have" books for an entrepreneur's bookshelf?
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As someone who has read a minimum of 100 business books a year – every year since 1989 – it's pretty tough to narrow it down to just a handful of the very best. However, if I were going to pick the top 25 books that I feel give the most valuable information for how to run a business successfully, this would be my list:
1. In search of excellence -- Tom peters
2. Good to great -- Jim Collins
3. Built to last -- Jim Collins
4. What really works -- Joyce, Nohria, Roberson
5. The leadership challenge -- Kouzes and Posner
6. Authentic leadership -- Bill George
7. Indispensable – Joe Callaway
8. The discipline of teams -- Katzenbach and Smith
9. The five dysfunctions of a team -- Patrick Lencioni
10. Team building (fourth edition) -- Dyer, Dyer and Dyer
11. Lessons in excellence from Charlie Trotter -- Paul Clarke
12. Kiss theory goodbye -- Bob Prosen
13. Mavericks at work -- Taylor and LaBarre
14. On becoming a leader -- Warren Bennis
15. The great game of business -- Jack stack
16. The Starbucks experience -- Joseph Michelli
17. The new gold standard -- Joseph Michelli
18. Customers for life – Carl Sewell
19. At America's service -- Karl Albrecht
20. the northbound train -- Karl Albrecht
21. Leading people -- Robert Rosen
22. The definitive Drucker -- Elizabeth Edersheim
23. What the best CEOs know – Krames
24. Teaching the elephant to dance -- James Belasco
25. If Aristotle ran General Motors -- Tom Morris
I could easily recommend 75 or 80 of the top of my head, but I think that if you were to read these books they would give you the best overall view on how to build, lead and grow a highly successful organization.
PS – I might also humbly recommend my own book "Awesomely Simple – essential business strategies for turning ideas into action." I wrote it specifically for the small business owner who does not have time to read a hundred business books a year – as a simple, straightforward and clear outline of the fundamental principles a business must focus on in order to create sustained success. I hope you will consider taking a look at it – and that you found this list helpful. Take good care – John Spence
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.
Anything by John Maxwell... Make Today Count, Failing Forward.
"How to win friends and influence people" by Dale Carnegie
"7 Habits of Highly Successful People" by Steven Covey
"Social Intelligence" by Karl Albrecht
"The E-Myth" or "The E-Myth Revisited" by Michael Gerber
Oh, and "Stuck to C.E.O" by Kris Cavanaugh.
Two books that have helped me immeasurably over the last year:
1. Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions of a Team
2. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout.
Get these on your iPod. Makes for really good use of airport/road trip time.
Just Add Management; Seven Steps to Creating a Productive Workplace and Motivating Your Employees In Challenging Times. Farzad and Rhonda Dibachi.
Definitely a great resource that breaks down how to unify a team and create a true organization out of a group of people.
Guy Kawasaki's "The Art of the Start"
Geoffrey Moore's "Crossing the Chasm"
Napoleon Hill's " Think and Grow Rich"
Kevin Harrington's "ACT NOW"
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie
Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Farris
This is an amazing book with awesome information and is well worth the read!
Jason Nast
"No Problems, Only Solutions"
www.MastermindingIdeas.com
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