Our blog post on the Best Small Business blogs was so popular that we decided to develop an article about favorite business books. Our survey was not scientific. It is a compilation of books we recently read and found valuable, along with recommendations from other business people and entrepreneurs. We hope if you pick up and read one of these that you’ll let us know what you think of it and how it impacts your work or life.
- Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh, founder of Zappos. According to the author, the best businesses combine “profit, passion and purpose.” The book follows the history of Tony’s life and the growth of Zappos to more than $1 billion in gross merchandise sales annually. Anthony Onesto, former chief operating officer with Zeta Interactive, recommends Delivering Happiness because it has completely changed his idea on how to build a successful company.
- Duct Tape Marketing by John Jantsch. We have to say we’re fans of this book and it also came highly recommended by Robyn Sharp, a small-business marketing guru and business coach. She shares that the value of this book for her business was providing a “great framework for creating my marketing plans on a budget.”
- eBoot Camp by Corey Perman. Angil Tarach-Ritchey, an expert in senior care and franchise owner for Visiting Angels Ann Arbor says, “eBoot Camp was instrumental in allowing me to help seniors and their families far beyond my community.” The book opened up a whole new career path for her.
- How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. This book recommendation comes from Marc Pitman, a coach and the author of How to Ask Without Fear. He put off reading this book for years, but recommends it for its practical tips and reminders about avoiding arguments.
- Just Listen by Mark Goulston. We all know how important listening can be when it comes to the health of business or personal relationships. This book has practical advice for improving these skills with example of how communication can impact results and outcomes. We at Communiqué PR found it to be very helpful in our relationship building with journalists, editors and clients alike. For more about this book, you can check out this post: “New Book Gives Blueprint for Reaching the Unreachable.”
- Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, by Verne Harnish. According to Ken Halkin, president of Kenneth C. Halkin Management Consulting, this business book helped him to fine-tune the planning process and make plans simpler, quicker and more focused on critical issues. Based on Ken’s comments, I am adding this to my reading list.
- Open Leadership by Charlene Li – I wrote about this book on July 12 in a post entitled, “The Public Relations Strategies: Interview with Charlene Li”. I am about half way through the book and love it. I recommend it for those of you who are interested in social media and how it is impacting company culture, leadership or corporate responsibility.
- The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss. I have not read this book, but based on the number of comments I received about it, I have decided to pick this one. We received five glowing recommendations for this book. For instance, Derek Johnson, CEO of Tatango Inc., the maker of a group text messaging platform, says he has read this book multiple times, learning different things at each pass. He said, “Whether you are looking to decrease the amount of work you need to do, or increase your efficiency, allowing you to do more work in a day’s time, this book is a step by step guide.” He especially recommends this book to entrepreneurs. Another recommendation for the book came from Jaime Cevallos, the owner and founder of The Swing Mechanic, a business aimed at helping Major League Baseball players work on their swing mechanics in the off season. He said without Ferriss’s The Four Hour Workweek he never could have shaped his career.
- The Discipline of Market Leaders by Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema. This book was recommended by Maralyn Dolan, president of Integrated Printing & Graphics, because it helped her focus on her business core strengths. The book has given her some guidelines that allow her to feel confident in the directions she takes – and it has stayed with her for 15 years.
- The New Strategic Selling by Stephen E. Hieman, Tad Tuleja, J.W. Marriott. This is one of my favorite books. It was recommended to me by my mother who worked for AT&T as a global account manager. The book has been a tremendous resource to me in business development.