Hey Square Readers!
The Square Readers Book Club is all about learning top skills and lessons from business books that are geared towards your business.
Here, in our virtual Bookshelf, is a comprehensive list of business books suggested by sellers like you, here in the Seller Community. We’ll list the current book we’re reading, previous books we’ve read, and a bunch more of what we might read in the future.
Take a look through and see if there are any that stand out and sound appealing to read together or on your own.
Have any suggestions of books that have helped you better run your business? Drop them in the comments below and we may add them to the list!
Happy reading,
Pesso
Current Book:
- Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara
- January & February 2025
-
Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect
“Essential lessons in hospitality for every business: Radical reinvention, a true partnership between the kitchen and the dining room—and memorable, over-the-top, bespoke hospitality. The answer to some of the most pernicious business dilemmas is to give more; and the magic that can happen when a busser starts thinking like an owner. Today, every business can choose to be a hospitality business— we can all transform ordinary transactions into extraordinary experiences. Find the magic in what we do—for ourselves, the people we work with, and the people we serve.”
Previous Books:
- Day Trading Attention by Gary Vaynerchuk
- September & October 2024
- “Gary Vaynerchuk offers fresh, in-depth advice to enhance brand development, grow sales, and beat the competition using modern advertising strategies grounded in social media; that the biggest transformation and opportunity is the “TikTokification of Social Media.” Increasingly, platforms are distributing content based on what users are interested in, rather than who they follow. Small businesses, large corporations, and creators can take advantage of this trend to develop brands and grow sales by producing relevant, strategic content, even if they don’t have an audience. Vaynerchuk reveals the tactics to master modern advertising with strategies you can apply to the moment you’re currently living in.”
- The Mountain is You by Brianna Wiest
- July & August 2024
- “This book is about self-sabotage. Why we do it, when we do it, and how to stop doing it—for good. Coexisting but conflicting needs create self-sabotaging behaviors. This is why we resist efforts to change, often until they feel completely futile. But by extracting crucial insight from our most damaging habits, building emotional intelligence by better understanding our brains and bodies, releasing past experiences, and learning to act as our highest potential future selves, we can step out of our own way and into our potential. To scale our mountains, we actually have to do the deep internal work of excavating trauma, building resilience, and adjusting how we show up for the climb.”
- The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber
- May & June 2024
- “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 walks you through the steps in the life of a business—from entrepreneurial infancy through adolescent growing pains to the mature entrepreneurial perspective: the guiding light of all businesses that succeed—and shows how to apply the lessons of franchising to any business, whether or not it is a franchise. Most importantly, Gerber draws the vital, often overlooked distinction between working on your business and working in your business.”
- Worth Every Penny by Erin Verbeck and Sarah Petty
- March & April 2024
- “Many small business owners feel pressure to discount their products and services, especially when times are tough. After all, how else will they keep up with the low prices offered by their discounting competitors? What they don't realize is that discounting is the last thing they should be doing if they want to win big. There's a radically different way to run your business: focus on creating specialized offerings and an over-the-top customer experience, not on matching the prices of their competition. Worth Every Penny encourages you to explore and use the boutique model, which is designed to maximize your advantages over discounting competitors.”
- Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
- January & February 2024
- “A simple, counterintuitive cash management solution that will help small businesses break out of the doom spiral and achieve instant profitability. Just as the most effective weight loss strategy is to limit portions by using smaller plates, Michalowicz shows that by taking profit first and apportioning only what remains for expenses, entrepreneurs will transform their businesses from cash-eating monsters to profitable cash cows. Four simple principles can simplify accounting and make it easier to manage a profitable business. A small, profitable business can be worth much more than a large business surviving on its top line. Businesses that attain early and sustained profitability have a better shot at achieving long-term growth."
- Fix this Next by Mike Michalowicz
- October & November 2023
- “The biggest problem facing entrepreneurs is that they don't know what their biggest problem is. If you find yourself trapped between stagnating sales, staff turnover, and unhappy customers, what do you do first? Every problem seems urgent -- but there's no way to address all of them at once. The usual result: a business that continues to go in endless circles putting out urgent fires or prioritizing the wrong things. Michalowicz has a simple system to help you eradicate these frustrations and get your business moving forward, fast. He figured out that every business has a hierarchy of needs, and if you can understand where you are in that hierarchy, you can identify what needs immediate attention. Simply fix that one thing next, and your business will naturally and effortlessly level-up.”
- Hug Your Haters by Jay Baer
- August & September 2023
- "Haters are not your problem, ignoring them is. With the near-universal adoption of smartphones and social media, Critics (“haters”) can now express their displeasure faster and more publicly than ever, resulting in an overall increase in complaints. Hug Your Haters shows exactly how to deal with them. Whether you work for a mom-and-pop store or a global brand, you will have haters—and you can’t afford to ignore them. Baer’s insights and tactics will teach you how to embrace complaints, put haters to work for you, and turn bad news into good outcomes.”
- The 1-Page Marketing Plan by Allan Dib
- June & July 2023
- “To build a successful business, you need to stop doing random acts of marketing and start following a reliable plan for rapid business growth. Traditionally, creating a marketing plan has been a difficult and time-consuming process, which is why it often doesn't get done. Whether you're just starting out or are an experienced entrepreneur, you'll discover: How to get new customers and how make more profit from existing ones; how to close sales without being pushy; how to make yourself the only logical choice; how to get amazing results on a small budget; how to charge high prices for your products and services and have customers actually thank you for it.”
- Start with Why by Simon Sinek
- April & May 2023
- “Why do you do what you do? Any organization can explain what it does; some can explain how they do it; but very few can clearly articulate why. WHY is not money or profit—those are always results. WHY does your organization exist? WHY does it do the things it does? WHY do customers really buy from one company or another? Starting with WHY works in big business and small business, in the nonprofit world and in politics. Drawing on a wide range of real-life stories, Sinek weaves together a clear vision of what it truly takes to lead and inspire.”
Square Readers Bookshelf:
Business Foundations:
- Start with Why by Simon Sinek
- “Why do you do what you do? Any organization can explain what it does; some can explain how they do it; but very few can clearly articulate why. WHY is not money or profit—those are always results. WHY does your organization exist? WHY does it do the things it does? WHY do customers really buy from one company or another? Starting with WHY works in big business and small business, in the nonprofit world and in politics. Drawing on a wide range of real-life stories, Sinek weaves together a clear vision of what it truly takes to lead and inspire.”
- The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber
- “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 walks you through the steps in the life of a business—from entrepreneurial infancy through adolescent growing pains to the mature entrepreneurial perspective: the guiding light of all businesses that succeed—and shows how to apply the lessons of franchising to any business, whether or not it is a franchise. Most importantly, Gerber draws the vital, often overlooked distinction between working on your business and working in your business.”
- Competing Against Luck by Clayton M. Christensen
- “How do companies know how to grow? How can they create products that they are sure customers want to buy? Can innovation be more than a game of hit and miss? Customers don’t buy products or services; they "hire" them to do a job. The "Jobs to Be Done" approach can be seen in some of the world’s most respected companies and fast-growing startups, including Amazon, Intuit, Uber, Airbnb, and Chobani yogurt, to name just a few. By understanding what causes customers to "hire" a product or service, any business can improve its innovation track record, creating products that customers not only want to hire, but that they’ll pay premium prices to bring into their lives.”
- Worth Every Penny by Erin Verbeck and Sarah Petty
- Build a Business That Thrills Your Customers and Still Charge What Your Worth
- “Many small business owners feel pressure to discount their products and services, especially when times are tough. After all, how else will they keep up with the low prices offered by their discounting competitors? What they don't realize is that discounting is the last thing they should be doing if they want to win big. There's a radically different way to run your business: focus on creating specialized offerings and an over-the-top customer experience, not on matching the prices of their competition. Worth Every Penny encourages you to explore and use the boutique model, which is designed to maximize your advantages over discounting competitors.”
- Built to Last by Jim Collins, Jerry I. Porras
- “This is a book about visionary companies that shatters myths, provides new insights, and gives practical guidance to those who would like to build landmark companies that stand the test of time. They examined the companies from their very beginnings to the present day, as start-ups, as midsize companies, and as large corporations. Collins and Porras go beyond the incessant barrage of management buzzwords and fads of the day to discover timeless qualities that have consistently distinguished out-standing companies. Organized into a coherent framework of practical concepts that can be applied by managers and entrepreneurs at all levels, Built to Last provides a master blueprint for building organizations that will prosper long into the twenty-first century and beyond.”
- Good to Great by Jim Collins
- “Great companies triumph over time and long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the very beginning. But what about the company that is not born with it? Collins and his research team identified a set of elite companies that made the leap to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years. After the leap, the good-to-great companies generated cumulative stock returns that beat the general stock market by an average of seven times in fifteen years. The findings of the Good to Great study will surprise many readers and shed light on virtually every area of management strategy and practice.”
- Quitter by Jon Acuff
- Closing the Gap Between Your Day Job and Your Dream Job
- “Have you ever felt caught between the tension of a day job and a dream job? That gap between what you have to do and what you'd love to do? When we talk about what we do for a living we inevitably say, "I'm a teacher, but I want to be an artist." "I'm a CPA, but I'd love to start my own business." All too often, we hear that dreaming big means you quit your day job, sell everything you own, and move to Guam. But what if there were a different way? From figuring out what your dream is, to quitting in a way that exponentially increases your chance of success, Quitter is full of inspiring stories and actionable advice. It's time to close the gap between your day job and your dream job. It's time to be a Quitter.”
- The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman
- “Anyone who designs anything to be used by humans – from physical objects to computer programs to conceptual tools – must read this book, and it is an equally tremendous read for anyone who has to use anything created by another human. It could forever change how you experience and interact with your physical surroundings, open your eyes to the perversity of bad design and the desirability of good design, and raise your expectations about how things should be designed.”
- Purple Cow by Seth Godin
- Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable
- “Cows are boring. A Purple Cow, though...now that would be something. Purple Cow describes something phenomenal, something counterintuitive and exciting and flat out unbelievable. Every day, consumers come face to face with a lot of boring stuff-a lot of brown cows - but you can bet they won't forget a Purple Cow. Seth Godin urges you to put a Purple Cow into everything you build, and everything you do, to create something truly noticeable. It's a manifesto for marketers who want to help create products that are worth marketing in the first place.”
- Find Your Why by Simon Sinek
- “Find Your Why picks up where Start With Why left off. It shows you how to apply Simon Sinek’s powerful insights so that you can find more inspiration at work -- and in turn inspire those around you. Achieving that fulfillment starts with understanding exactly WHY we do what we do. With detailed exercises, illustrations, and action steps for every stage of the process, Find Your Why can help you address many important concerns. Whether you've just started your first job, are leading a team, or are CEO of your own company, the exercises in this book will help guide you on a path to long-term success and fulfillment, for both you and your colleagues.”
- The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen
- “Outstanding companies can do everything right and still lose their market leadership -- or worse, disappear completely. And he not only proves what he says, he tells others how to avoid a similar fate. Focusing on "disruptive technology,” Christensen shows why most companies miss "the next great wave." A successful company with established products will get pushed aside unless managers know when to abandon traditional business practices. Using the lessons of successes and failures from leading companies, here is a set of rules for capitalizing on the phenomenon of disruptive innovation.”
- People over Profit by Dale Partridge
- “Serial entrepreneur and business visionary Dale Partridge reveals seven core beliefs that create success by putting people first. Established corporations have begun reevaluating the quality of their products, the ethics of their supply chain, and how they can give back by donating a portion of their profit to meaningful causes. Meanwhile, millions of entrepreneurs who want a more responsible and compassionate marketplace have launched a new breed of socially focused business models. Partridge believes this is the secret to creating a sustainable world that values honesty over deception, transparency over secrecy, authenticity over hype, and ultimately, people over profit.”
- Awakening the Entrepreneur Within by Michael E. Gerber
- How Ordinary People Can Create Extraordinary Companies
- “Michael Gerber shows you how to go from dreaming about having your own business to actually doing it in Awakening the Entrepreneur Within. A highly in-demand keynote speaker whose company boasts over 52,000 business clients in 145 countries, Michael Gerber is THE name in small business—and now he demonstrates “How Ordinary People Can Create Extraordinary Companies.” Making your dreams real is the first step to creating a successful business—and Gerber’s Awakening the Entrepreneur Within provides the key.”
General Business:
- How I Built This by Guy Raz
- “Based on the highly acclaimed NPR podcast, How I Built This with Guy Raz, this book offers priceless insights and inspiration from the world’s top entrepreneurs on how to start, launch, and build a successful venture. In How I Built This, he shares tips for every entrepreneur’s journey: from the early days of formulating your idea, to raising money and recruiting employees, to fending off competitors, to finally paying yourself a real salary.”
- Twelve and a Half by Gary Vaynerchuck
- “Gary Vaynerchuk explores the twelve essential emotional skills that are integral to his life and business success, and provides critical tools to acquire and develop these traits. Gary provides real-life examples involving common business scenarios to show you how to use them to land promotions, retain core employees, move faster than competitors, win the loyalty of customers, and build successful organizations that last.”
- Own It by Tabatha Coffey
- “From the straight-shooting breakout star of Bravo, Tabatha Coffey shares the secrets of her success! On television, Coffey is known for using tough love to overhaul failing businesses and help owners take charge of their future. In Own It!, Coffey takes her trademark no-nonsense style and business expertise to the page to provide small business owners, aspiring entrepreneurs, and anyone looking to "own their lives" with the keys to success. Combining her own experiences with those of everyday people who have faced challenging transitions, Own It! will help readers reach their goals.”
- The Halo Effect by Phil Rozenwig
- And the Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers
- “Phil Rosenzweig unmasks the delusions that are commonly found in the corporate world. The most pervasive delusion is the Halo Effect. When a company's sales and profits are up, people often conclude that it has a brilliant strategy, a visionary leader, capable employees, and a superb corporate culture. When performance falters, they conclude that the strategy was wrong, the leader became arrogant, the people were complacent, and the culture was stagnant. Rosenzweig identifies nine popular business delusions. For managers who want to separate fact from fiction in the world of business, this is essential reading -- witty, often funny, and sharply argued, it's an antidote to so much of the conventional thinking that clutters business bookshelves.”
- Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink & Leaf Babin
- “Detailing the mindset and principles that enable SEAL units to accomplish the most difficult missions in combat, Extreme Ownership shows how to apply them to any team, family, business or organization. Each chapter focuses on a specific topic, explaining what they are, why they are important, and how to implement them in any leadership environment. A compelling narrative with powerful instruction and direct application, Extreme Ownership revolutionizes business management and challenges leaders everywhere to fulfill their ultimate purpose: lead and win.”
- Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
- Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It
- “A former FBI hostage negotiator offers a new, field-tested approach to negotiating – effective in any situation. Never Split the Difference takes you inside his world of high-stakes negotiations, revealing the nine key principles that helped Voss and his colleagues succeed when it mattered the most – when people’s lives were at stake. Rooted in the real-life experiences of an intelligence professional at the top of his game, Never Split the Difference will give you the competitive edge in any discussion.”
- The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
- Jumpstart your Income, Your Life, Your Success
- “No gimmicks. No Hyperbole. No Magic Bullet. The Compound Effect is based on the principle that decisions shape your destiny. Little, everyday decisions will either take you to the life you desire or to disaster by default. The Compound Effect is a distillation of the fundamental principles that have guided the most phenomenal achievements in business, relationships, and beyond. This easy-to-use, step-by-step operating system allows you to multiply your success, chart your progress, and achieve any desire. If you’re serious about living an extraordinary life, use the power of The Compound Effect to create the success you want.”
Fighting Failure:
- Fix this Next by Mike Michalowicz
- Pinpoint and Solve Your Company’s Biggest Problem
- “The biggest problem facing entrepreneurs is that they don't know what their biggest problem is. If you find yourself trapped between stagnating sales, staff turnover, and unhappy customers, what do you do first? Every problem seems urgent -- but there's no way to address all of them at once. The usual result: a business that continues to go in endless circles putting out urgent fires or prioritizing the wrong things. Michalowicz has a simple system to help you eradicate these frustrations and get your business moving forward, fast. He figured out that every business has a hierarchy of needs, and if you can understand where you are in that hierarchy, you can identify what needs immediate attention. Simply fix that one thing next, and your business will naturally and effortlessly level-up.”
- Traction by Gabriel Weinberg
- “Most startups end in failure. What failed startups don't have are enough customers. Founders and employees fail to spend time thinking about (and working on) traction in the same way they work on building a product. This shortsighted approach has startups trying random tactics - some ads, a blog post or two - in an unstructured way that's guaranteed to fail. This book provides startup founders and employees with the framework successful companies have used to get traction. It allows you to think about which marketing channels make sense for you, given your industry and company stage. It covers every possible marketing channel you can use to get traction, and shows you which channels will be your key to growth.”
- The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
- “Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched. This is just as true for one person in a garage or a group of seasoned professionals in a Fortune 500 boardroom. The Lean Startup approach fosters companies that are both more capital efficient and that leverage human creativity more effectively. Shorten product development cycles, measure actual progress without resorting to vanity metrics, and learn what customers really want. It enables a company to shift directions with agility, altering plans inch by inch, minute by minute.”
- The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, Jim Huling
- Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals
- “Do you remember the last major initiative you watched die in your organization? What happened? Often, the answer is that the “whirlwind” of urgent activity required to keep things running day-to-day devoured all the time and energy you needed to invest in executing your strategy for tomorrow. By following the 4 Disciplines leaders can produce breakthrough results, even when executing the strategy requires a significant change in behavior from their teams. When a company or an individual adheres to these disciplines, they achieve superb results, regardless of the goal. 4DX represents a new way to think and work that is essential to thriving in today’s competitive climate.”
Leadership & Management:
- Dare to Lead by Brene Brown
- “Leadership is not about titles, status and power over people. Leaders are people who hold themselves accountable for recognising the potential in people and ideas, and developing that potential. Over the past seven years, Brene Brown found that leaders in organizations ranging from small entrepreneurial start-ups and family-owned businesses to non-profits, civic organizations and Fortune 50 companies, are asking the same questions: How do you cultivate braver, more daring leaders? And, how do you embed the value of courage in your culture? Dare to Lead answers these questions and gives us actionable strategies and real examples from her new research-based, courage-building programme.”
- Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek
- “Today, in many successful organizations, great leaders create environments in which people naturally work together to do remarkable things. In his work with organizations around the world, Simon Sinek noticed that some teams trust each other so deeply that they would literally put their lives on the line for each other. Other teams, no matter what incentives are offered, are doomed to infighting, fragmentation and failure, driven by cynicism, paranoia, and self-interest. But the best ones foster trust and cooperation because their leaders build what Sinek calls a "Circle of Safety" that separates the security inside the team from the challenges outside.”
- The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership by Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman, Kaley Klemp
- “A comprehensive road map to guide you to shift from fear-based to trust-based leadership. You’ll do more and more of what you are passionate about, have more fun, be happier, experience less drama and be more on purpose. Your team will be more collaborative, creative, energized, engaged, and solve issues faster. Be curious. Most of us are far more interested in being right and proving it, than we are in learning, growing and shifting out of our old patterns.”
- Radical Candor by Kim Malone Scott
- “Radical Candor is a simple idea: to be a good boss, you have to Care Personally at the same time that you Challenge Directly. When you challenge without caring it’s obnoxious aggression; when you care without challenging it’s ruinous empathy. This simple framework can help you build better relationships at work, and fulfill your three key responsibilities as a leader: creating a culture of feedback (praise and criticism), building a cohesive team, and achieving results you’re all proud of. Radical Candor offers a guide to those bewildered or exhausted by management, written for bosses and those who manage bosses”
- EntreLeadership by Dave Ramsey
- 20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches
- “Your company is only as strong as your leaders. These are the men and women doing battle daily beneath the banner that is your brand. Are they courageous or indecisive? Are they serving a motivated team or managing employees? Are they valued? Your team will never grow beyond you, so here’s another question to consider—are you growing? Whether you’re sitting at the CEO’s desk, the middle manager’s cubicle, or a card table in your living-room-based start-up, EntreLeadership provides the practical, step-by-step guidance to grow your business where you want it to go. EntreLeadership is a one-stop guide filled with accessible advice for businesses and leaders to ensure success even through the toughest of times.”
- The Good Jobs Strategy by Zeynep Ton
- How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits
- “Conventional wisdom says that bad jobs with low wages, minimal benefits, little training, and chaotic schedules are the only way companies can keep costs down and prices low. But Zeynep Ton makes the compelling case that even in low-cost settings, leaving employees behind is a choice, not a necessity. Ton shows how operational excellence enables companies to offer the lowest prices to customers while ensuring good jobs for their employees and superior results for their investors. The Good Jobs Strategy outlines an invaluable blueprint for any organization that wants to pursue a sustainable competitive strategy in which everyone wins.”
- Primed to Perform by Neel Doshi and Lindsay McGregor
- How to Build the Highest Performing Cultures Through the Science of Total Motivation
- “While most leaders believe culture is critical to success, few know how to build one, or sustain it over time. Primed to Perform explains the counter-intuitive science behind great cultures, building on over a century of academic thinking. It shares the simple, highly predictive new measurement tool—the Total Motivation (ToMo) Factor—that enables you to measure the strength of your culture, and track improvements over time. Most importantly, it teaches you to build great cultures, using a systematic and sustainable approach. Whether you’re a five-person team or a startup, a school, a nonprofit or a mega-institution, Primed to Perform shows you how.”
- The Great Game of Business by Jack Stack
- Unlocking the Power and Profitability of Open-Book Management
- “Jack Stack didn't know how to manage a company, but he did know about the principle of athletic competition and democracy: keeping score, having fun, playing fair, providing choice, and having a voice. With these principles he created his own style: open-book management. The key is to let everyone in on financial decisions. It’s a system which, as he describes it here, is literally a game, and one so simple anyone can use it.”
Marketing & Promotion:
- Crushing It by Gary Vaynerchuck
- “Crushing It! is a state-of-the-art guide to building your own path to professional and financial success, but it’s not about getting rich. It’s a blueprint to living life on your own terms. Gary dissects every current major social media platform so that anyone, from a plumber to a professional ice skater, will know exactly how to amplify his or her personal brand on each. He offers both theoretical and tactical advice on how to become the biggest thing. For those with more experience, Crushing It! illuminates some little-known nuances and provides innovative tips and clever tweaks proven to enhance more common tried-and-true strategies.”
- Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller
- “This method for connecting with customers provides the ultimate competitive advantage, revealing the secret for helping their customers understand the compelling benefits of using their products, ideas, or services. Building a StoryBrand does this by teaching readers the seven universal story points all humans respond to; the real reason customers make purchases; how to simplify a brand message so people understand it; and how to create the most effective messaging for websites, brochures, and social media.“
- This is Marketing by Seth Godin
- "Great marketers don't use consumers to solve their company's problem; they use marketing to solve other people's problems. They don't just make noise; they make the world better. Truly powerful marketing is grounded in empathy, generosity, and emotional labor. This book teaches you how to identify your smallest viable audience; draw on the right signals and signs to position your offering; build trust and permission with your target market; speak to the narratives your audience tells themselves about status, affiliation, and dominance; spot opportunities to create and release tension; and give people the tools to achieve their goals."
- To Sell is Human by Daniel H. Pink
- “Whether we’re employees pitching colleagues on a new idea, entrepreneurs enticing funders to invest, or parents and teachers cajoling children to study, we spend our days trying to move others. Like it or not, we’re all in sales now. Daniel H. Pink reveals the new ABCs of moving others, explains why extraverts don't make the best salespeople, shows how giving people an "off-ramp" for their actions can matter more than actually changing their minds, describes the six successors to the elevator pitch, the three rules for understanding another's perspective, the five frames that can make your message clearer and more persuasive, and much more.”
- The 1-Page Marketing Plan by Allan Dib
- “To build a successful business, you need to stop doing random acts of marketing and start following a reliable plan for rapid business growth. Traditionally, creating a marketing plan has been a difficult and time-consuming process, which is why it often doesn't get done. Whether you're just starting out or are an experienced entrepreneur, you'll discover: How to get new customers and how make more profit from existing ones; how to close sales without being pushy; how to make yourself the only logical choice; how to get amazing results on a small budget; how to charge high prices for your products and services and have customers actually thank you for it.”
- Obviously Awesome by April Dunford
- “You know your product is awesome—but does anybody else? Forget everything you thought you knew about positioning. Successfully connecting your product with consumers isn’t a matter of following trends, comparing yourself to the competition or trying to attract the widest customer base. Obviously Awesome, shows you how to find your product’s “secret sauce”—and then sell that sauce to those who crave it. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, marketer or salesperson struggling to bring inventive products to market, Dunford’s insights will help you find your awesome, so that your customers can too.”
- Belonging to the Brand by Mark W. Schaefer
- Why Community is the Last Great Marketing Strategy
- “Bestselling author and futurist Mark Schaefer explains why community is a massively overlooked marketing opportunity for most organizations. He explains how three major trends collide in a way that makes brand communities the future of marketing strategy. Through extensive research, diverse case studies, and expert interviews, Schaefer provides a compelling and actionable blueprint for the modern brand community. This is an unmissable work from one of marketing's leading thought leaders.”
Customer Service:
- The Nordstrom Way by Robert Spector
- “According to David Glass, President and CEO of Wal-Mart, Nordstrom's customer service standards are "what we all shoot for." What, exactly, does this retail giant do that distinguishes it from the competition? In The Nordstrom Way, the authors isolate practical lessons that teach how to better respond to customers' needs so they'll keep coming back to you. Packed with examples of excellent customer service, The Nordstrom Way offers a fresh behind-the-scenes look that provides lessons on how to find and focus on customer needs, follow-up, and customer satisfaction.”
- Hug Your Haters by Jay Baer
- “Haters are not your problem, ignoring them is. With the near-universal adoption of smartphones and social media, Critics (“haters”) can now express their displeasure faster and more publicly than ever, resulting in an overall increase in complaints. Hug Your Haters shows exactly how to deal with them. Whether you work for a mom-and-pop store or a global brand, you will have haters—and you can’t afford to ignore them. Baer’s insights and tactics will teach you how to embrace complaints, put haters to work for you, and turn bad news into good outcomes.”
- Setting the Table by Danny Meyer
- “Seventy-five percent of all new restaurant ventures fail, and of those that do stick around, only a few become icons. Danny Meyer started Union Square Cafe when he was 27, with a good idea and hopeful investors. He is now the co-owner of a restaurant empire. How did he do it? How did he beat the odds in one of the toughest trades around? In this landmark book, Danny shares the lessons he learned developing the dynamic philosophy he calls Enlightened Hospitality. The tenets of that philosophy, which emphasize strong in-house relationships as well as customer satisfaction, are applicable to anyone who works in any business. Whether you are a manager, an executive, or a waiter, Danny’s story and philosophy will help you become more effective and productive, while deepening your understanding and appreciation of a job well done.”
- Never Lose A Customer Again by Joey Coleman
- Turn Any Sale into Lifelong Loyalty in 100 Days
- “Learn how to turn a one-time purchaser into a lifelong customer. It isn't about focusing on marketing or closing the sale: It's about the First 100 Days® after the sale and the interactions the customer experiences. While new customers experience joy, euphoria, and excitement, these feelings quickly shift to fear, doubt, and uncertainty as buyer's remorse sets in. Across all industries, somewhere between 20%-70% of newly acquired customers will stop doing business with a company. If you can understand and anticipate the customers' emotions, you can apply a myriad of tools and techniques to cement a long and valuable relationship. These are easy to implement action steps that result in lasting change, increased profits, and lifelong customer retention.”
Growing & Scaling your Business:
- How to Grow Your Small Business by Donald Miller
- “For so many entrepreneurs, running a small business ended up looking different than they imagined. They’re stressed, discouraged, and not confident in their plan for growth. Donald Miller gives entrepreneurs a 6-step plan to grow their businesses so they produce dependable, predictable results. Using the exact steps you’ll learn in this book, Donald Miller grew his small business from four employees working out of a basement to a 15 million dollar operation, increasing revenue sixfold in just six years. In this book, you’ll learn the 6 steps to grow a successful small business and create a playbook to implement them- your Flight Plan. Then you can stop drowning in the details and spend more time doing the things you truly love- in your business and your life.”
- Clockwork by Mike Michalowicz
- “If you're like most entrepreneurs, you started your business so you could be your own boss, make the money you deserve, and live life on your own terms. In reality, you're bogged down in the daily grind, constantly putting out fires, answering an endless stream of questions, and continually hunting for cash. In Clockwork, he explains his simple approach to making your business ultra-efficient: Make your employees act like owners; Pinpoint your business's most important function; Know what to fix next. Whether you have a staff of one, one hundred, or somewhere in between, whether you're a new entrepreneur or have been overworked and overstressed for years, Clockwork is your path to finally making your business work for you.”
- Scaling Up by Verne Harnish
- How a Few Companies Make It… and Why the Rest Don’t
- “In Scaling Up, Harnish and his team share practical tools and techniques for building an industry-dominating business. There's no reason to do it alone, yet many top leaders feel like they are the ones dragging the rest of the organization up the S-curve of growth. The goal of this book is creating a company where the team is engaged; the customers are doing your marketing; and everyone is making money. To accomplish this, Scaling Up focuses on the four major decision areas every company must get right: People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash. Running a business is ultimately about freedom. Scaling Up shows business leaders how to get their organizations moving in sync to create something significant and enjoy the ride.”
- Traction by Gino Wickman
- “Don't let common problems and frustrations run you and your business. Get a grip and gain control. You'll learn the secrets of strengthening the Six Key Components of your business, and discover simple yet powerful ways to run your company that will give you and your leadership team more focus, more growth, and more enjoyment. The Entrepreneurial Operating System is a practical method for achieving the business success you have always envisioned. Successful organizations are applying it every day to run profitable, frustration-free businesses -- and you can too.”
- Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman and Mark C. Winters
- “Discover the vital relationship that will take your company from "What's next?" to "We have liftoff!" Visionaries have groundbreaking ideas. Integrators make those ideas a reality. This explosive combination is the key to getting everything you want out of your business. Rocket Fuel details the integral roles of the Visionary and Integrator and explains how an effective relationship between the two can help your business thrive.”
Setting Goals & Using Data:
- Radical Focus by Christina Wodke
- Achieving Your Most Important Goals with Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)
- “How do you inspire a diverse team to work together, going all out in pursuit of a single, challenging goal? How do you stay motivated despite setbacks and disappointments? It’s not about to-do lists and accountability charts. It’s about creating a framework for regular check-ins, key results, and most of all, the beauty of a good fail – and how to take a temporary disaster and turn it into a future success. Wodtke takes you through the fictional case study of Hanna and Jack, who are struggling to survive in their own startup. They fight shiny object syndrome, losing focus, and dealing with communication issues. The second half of the book demonstrates how to use Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) to help teams realize big goals in a methodical way, leaving nothing to chance.”
- Measure What Matters by John Doerr
- “Measure What Matters is about using Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), a revolutionary approach to goal-setting, to make tough choices in business. In the OKR model objectives define what we seek to achieve and key results are how those top priority goals will be attained. OKRs focus effort, foster coordination and enhance workplace satisfaction. They surface an organization's most important work as everyone's goals from entry-level to CEO are transparent to the entire institution. This book will show you how to collect timely, relevant data to track progress - to measure what matters. It will help any organization or team aim high, move fast, and excel.”
Finances:
- Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
- “A simple, counterintuitive cash management solution that will help small businesses break out of the doom spiral and achieve instant profitability. Just as the most effective weight loss strategy is to limit portions by using smaller plates, Michalowicz shows that by taking profit first and apportioning only what remains for expenses, entrepreneurs will transform their businesses from cash-eating monsters to profitable cash cows. Four simple principles can simplify accounting and make it easier to manage a profitable business. A small, profitable business can be worth much more than a large business surviving on its top line. Businesses that attain early and sustained profitability have a better shot at achieving long-term growth."
Personal Finance
- The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko.
- “The incredible national bestseller that is changing people's lives -- and increasing their net worth! Can you spot the millionaire next door? Who are the rich in this country? What do they do? Where do they shop? What do they drive? How do they invest? Where did their ancestors come from? How did they get rich? Can I ever become one of them? Get the answers in The Millionaire Next Door, the never-before-told story about wealth in America. You'll be surprised at what you find out.”
- The Next Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley and Sarah Stanley Fallaw
- “In this book the authors highlight how specific decisions, behaviors, and characteristics align with the discipline of wealth building, covering areas such as consumption, budgeting, careers, investing, and financial management in general. They include results from quantitative studies of wealth as well as case studies of individuals who have been successful in building wealth. They discuss general paths to building wealth on your own, focusing specifically on careers and lifestyles associated with each path, and what it takes to be successful in each.”
- Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki and Sharon L. Lechter
- “Rich Dad Poor Dad is Robert's story of growing up with two dads — his real father and the father of his best friend, his "rich dad" — and the ways in which both men shaped his thoughts about money and investing. The book explodes the myth that you need to earn a high income to be rich and explains the difference between working for money and having your money work for you.”
Solo Entrepreneurs & Smaller Businesses:
- Company of One by Paul Jarvis
- “Company of One is a refreshingly new approach centered on staying small and avoiding growth, for any size business. By staying small, one can have freedom to pursue more meaningful pleasures in life, and avoid the headaches that result from dealing with employees, long meetings, or worrying about expansion. Company of One introduces this unique business strategy and explains how to make it work for you, including how to generate cash flow on an ongoing basis. Jarvis explains how you can find the right pathway, including planning how to set up your shop, determining your desired revenues, dealing with unexpected crises, keeping your key clients happy, and of course, doing all of this on your own.”
- The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss
- “Forget the old concept of retirement and the rest of the deferred-life plan - there is no need to wait and every reason not to, especially in unpredictable economic times. Whether your dream is escaping the rat race, experiencing high-end world travel, earning a monthly five-figure income with zero management, or just living more and working less, this book is the blueprint. This step-by step guide to luxury lifestyle design teaches: How to eliminate 50% of your work in 48 hours, real-world templates you can copy for eliminating email, negotiating with bosses and clients, lifestyle design principles can be suited to unpredictable economic times.”
Personal Development Skills & Habits:
Being a business owner is more than just running your business, it’s about balancing the rest of your life too. And the best part is you can apply these concepts to both your life and your work!
Goal Setting
- Dream Big by Bob Goff
- “Bob Goff helps people recapture the version of their lives they dreamed about before fear started calling the shots. He wants them to dream big. In this book, Bob takes you on a life-proven journey to rediscover your dreams and turn them into reality. Based on his enormously popular Dream Big workshop, Bob draws on a lifetime of living and dreaming large to help you reach your larger-than-life dreams. Dream Big is the only book you need to uncover the wild and exciting dream for your life you’ve hidden from yourself--and help you take the steps necessary to achieve it.”
Mindset
- The Mountain is You by Brianna Wiest
- “This book is about self-sabotage. Why we do it, when we do it, and how to stop doing it—for good. Coexisting but conflicting needs create self-sabotaging behaviors. This is why we resist efforts to change, often until they feel completely futile. But by extracting crucial insight from our most damaging habits, building emotional intelligence by better understanding our brains and bodies, releasing past experiences, and learning to act as our highest potential future selves, we can step out of our own way and into our potential. To scale our mountains, we actually have to do the deep internal work of excavating trauma, building resilience, and adjusting how we show up for the climb.”
- The Gap and the Gain by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin P. Hardy
- “Most people, especially highly ambitious people, are unhappy because of how they measure their progress. We all have an "ideal," a moving target that is always out of reach. When we measure ourselves against that ideal, we're in "the GAP." However, when we measure ourselves against our previous selves, we're in "the GAIN." In this book you will learn that measuring your current self vs. your former self has enormous psychological benefits. And that's really the key to this deceptively simple yet multi-layered concept that will have you feeling good, feeling grateful, and feeling like you are making progress even when times are tough, which will in turn bolster motivation, confidence, and future success."
Habits
- Implementation Code by Stacy Tuschl
- “If you’re always thinking that your to-do list is impossible and that there aren’t enough hours in the day, The Implementation Code was written specifically for you. This is not another typical time management book. It goes so much deeper than that and gets to the core of why you can’t seem to get things done. And once you understand those reasons, Stacy gives you the exact code you need to put to use today with actionable steps that will allow you to move through your to-do list to start growing your business and living the life you want. Her insights underscore the power of implementation, and implementation is exactly what separates those who have a to-do list and those who actually get things done.”
- Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod
- “What if you could miraculously wake up tomorrow and any—or every area of your life was transformed? What would be different? What if I told you that there is a "not-so-obvious" secret that is guaranteed to transform any—or literally every area of your life, faster than you ever thought possible? What if I told you it would only take 6 minutes a day? The Miracle Morning could perhaps be the simplest approach to creating the life you’ve always wanted.”
- The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson
- “The Slight Edge is a way of thinking, a way of processing information that enables you to make the daily choices that will lead you to the success and happiness you desire. Learn why some people make dream after dream come true, while others just continue dreaming and spend their lives building dreams for someone else. It shows you how to create powerful results from the simple daily activities of your life, by using tools that are already within you.”
- The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
- Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. We learn why some people and companies struggle to change, despite years of trying, while others seem to remake themselves overnight. At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, raising exceptional children, becoming more productive, building revolutionary companies and social movements, and achieving success is understanding how habits work. By harnessing this, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.”
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven R. Covey
- Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
- “In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, author Stephen R. Covey presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centered approach for solving personal and professional problems. With penetrating insights and pointed anecdotes, Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, service, and human dignity--principles that give us the security to adapt to change and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates.”
- How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
- “You can go after the job you want...and get it! You can take the job you have...and improve it! You can take any situation you're in...and make it work for you! As relevant as ever before, Dale Carnegie's principles endure, and will help you achieve your maximum potential in the complex and competitive modern age. Learn the six ways to make people like you, the twelve ways to win people to your way of thinking, and the nine ways to change people without arousing resentment.”
Relationships
- Science of Trust by John Gottman
- “Gottman presents a new approach to understanding and changing couples: a fundamental social skill called emotional attunement, which describes a couple’s ability to fully process and move on from negative emotional events, ultimately creating a stronger relationship. Gottman shows how emotional attunement can downregulate negative affect, help couples focus on positive traits and memories, and even help prevent domestic violence. He offers a detailed intervention devised to cultivate attunement, thereby helping couples connect, respect, and show affection.”
ADHD
- Scattered Minds by Gabor Mate
- “Scattered Minds explodes the myth of attention deficit disorder as genetically based – and offers real hope and advice for children and adults who live with the condition. Gabor Maté is a revered physician who specializes in neurology, psychiatry and psychology – and himself has ADD. With wisdom gained through years of medical practice and research, Scattered Minds is a must-read for parents – and for anyone interested how experiences in infancy shape the biology and psychology of the human brain.”
Fables & Entertaining Reads:
- The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander
- “Presenting twelve breakthrough practices for bringing creativity into all human endeavors, The Art of Possibility is the dynamic product of an extraordinary partnership. The authors' harmoniously interwoven perspectives provide a deep sense of the powerful role that the notion of possibility can play in every aspect of life. Through uplifting stories, parables, and personal anecdotes, the Zanders invite us to become passionate communicators, leaders, and performers whose lives radiate possibility into the world”
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
- A Leadership Fable
- “In The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Patrick Lencioni once again offers a leadership fable. This time, he turns his keen intellect and storytelling power to the fascinating, complex world of teams. Throughout the story, Lencioni reveals the five dysfunctions which go to the very heart of why teams, even the best ones, often struggle. He outlines a powerful model and actionable steps that can be used to overcome these common hurdles and build a cohesive, effective team. Just as with his other books, Lencioni has written a compelling fable with a powerful yet deceptively simple message for all those who strive to be exceptional team leaders.”
- The Truth about Employee Engagement by Patrick Lencioni
- A Fable About Addressing the Three Root Causes of Job Misery
- “In his sixth fable, bestselling author Patrick Lencioni takes on a topic that almost everyone can relate to: job misery. Millions of workers, even those who have carefully chosen careers based on true passions and interests, dread going to work, suffering each day as they trudge to jobs that make them cynical, weary, and frustrated. In addition to the fable, the book includes a detailed model examining the three root causes of job misery and how they can be remedied. It covers the benefits of managing for job engagement within organizations — increased productivity, greater retention, and competitive advantage — and offers examples of how managers can use the applications in the book to deal with specific jobs and situations.”
- The 6 Types of Working Genius by Patrick Lencioni
- A Fable about the Working Genius Model
- “The 6 Types of Working Genius is the fastest way to help people identify the type of work that brings them joy and energy, and avoid work that leads to frustration and burnout. Beyond the personal discovery and instant relief that Working Genius provides, the model also gives teams a remarkably simple and practical framework for tapping into one another’s natural gifts, which increases productivity and reduces unnecessary judgment. Join the hundreds of thousands of people who have already discovered their Working Genius, and experience the transformation in your work, your team, and your life.”
- The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Man
- A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea
- “The Go-Giver tells the story of an ambitious young man named Joe who yearns for success. Joe is a true go-getter, though sometimes he feels as if the harder and faster he works, the further away his goals seem to be. Joe learns that changing his focus from getting to giving—putting others’ interests first and continually adding value to their lives—ultimately leads to unexpected returns. Imparted with wit and grace, The Go-Giver is a heartwarming and inspiring tale that brings new relevance to the old proverb ‘Give and you shall receive.’”
