Tim Lewis asked me onto his podcast where I had to pick my 22 business books of all time and here they are
- Creativity, Inc – Ed Catmull
- Sprint – How to solve big problems and test new ides in just 5 days – Jake Knapp
- Crossing the chasm – Geoffrey Moore
- Build – Tony Fadell
- The first 90 days – Michael D. Watkins
- Dare to Lead – Brene Brown
- Lost and Founder – A Painfully honest field guide to the start-up world – Rand Fishkin
- Be more pirate – Sam Conniff Allende
- Using behavioural science in marketing – drive customer action and loyalty by promoting instinctive responses by – Nancy Harhut
- Unreceptive – A better way to sell, lead and influence by Tom Stanfill
- Re-Humanising the workplace (by giving everybody their brain back) – Chuck Blakeman
- Beyond Good – How technology is leading a purpose driven business - Theodora Lau and Bradley Leimer
- Thinking in bets – marking smarter decisions, when you don’t have all the facts – Annie Duke
- The Wentworth Prospect – A novel guide to success in B2B sales – John Smibert
- Lend me your ears – All you need to know about making speeches and presentations – Professor Max Atkinson
- Nonviolent communication – A language of life – Marshall B. Rosenburg
- Atomic Habits – James Clear
- Energize – Simon Alexander Ong
- Mindset – Carol Dweck
- Permission Marketing – Seth Godin
- To sell is human – Daniel H. Pink
- Social Selling – Techniques to influence buyers and changemakers – 2nd edition – Timothy Hughes
Why this list?
When Tim Lewis asked me onto his podcast, I had to pick my 22 business books of all time and I wanted to create a list to educate and inform, helping others at the same time.
What criteria did I use to create this list?
The criteria I used for this list, was that I had to have read the book, but I have read so many good books. There are many books that I had to leave behind, maybe I need to do a list of the best 50 or 100 books.
I decided to focus on books that have helped me lead “better”, sell “better” or market “better”, I left all the amazing books on digital transformation, the Mathew Syad’s, the Malcolm Gladwell’s on the shelf. Amazing books, but wanted a level of practicality.
All of the books I itemize, I’ve ended up using a technique in a meeting or a blog or a video, the books have made me the person I am, good or bad, but they have made me the leader I try and be.
Do you want to watch a video rather than read the rest of this blog?
Rather than reading the list, if you would prefer to watch the video, the link to the interview on youtube is here.
Tim also create short videos for each book if you would prefer to watch those
Tim also created clips on youtube, where you can watch me discuss each book, just click the link in the title below.
This book is 3 books in 1. It’s a book about leadership and setting up a company and a great culture but is also a book about the setting up of Pixar, how it survived a merger with Disney Animation. It is also a book about Steve Jobs who was an investor in Pixar.
Sprint – How to solve big problems and test new ides in just 5 days – Jake Knapp
This book is an amazing methodology to build and create prototypes, so even before you get to MVP (minimum viable product) to see if the idea works or not. It will save a start-up time, effort and money. The book has become a standard methodology in the start-up community.
Crossing the chasm – Geoffrey Moore
First published in 1991 and still relevant today. If you are taking a product to market, you will need to “cross the chasm”, so how do you do that. I’ve taken 5 new products to market and have always used the techniques described in here and always been successful.
A book about building a business in terms of culture and the mistakes you can make, learn from them.
The first 90 days – Michael D. Watkins
This is a book about your first 90 days in any role, you may have changed roles within a company, you may have been promoted, you maybe a new hire. This book gives you all the processes, spreadsheets and counsel you need. Read it while in the interview process for the new job and use it from day 1 for your first 90 days.
I would recommend all of Brene Brown books and her TedTalks but I have to pick one. This is the first book of hers I read, it teaches that it is OK as a leader to be vulnerable, it is OK not to have all the answers, it’s OK to feel shame. Leadership can be lonely, leadership is not a popularity contest, sometime you have to have difficult conversations and be unpopular, this book helps you get through that.
Lost and Founder – A Painfully honest field guide to the start-up world – Rand Fishkin
The best book I’ve ever read on what it takes to run a startup, it covers the highs and the lows, the mistakes and successes. I ended up buying a copy for everybody on my Board of Directors. When we hit difficult times or need to make difficult decisions it’s a “handrail” we reach for.
Be more pirate – Sam Conniff Allende
My business partner, Adam Gary and I saw Sam speak when he launched the book it resonated with us as we are running a start-up where we are changing the world. It seems to have resonated with a whole ton of people as it became a bestseller.
Pirates, if you didn’t know were one of the first organization to understand that diversity was key, they supported same sex marriages as well as understanding that they needed to be a team. They needed to create community and start a movement. If you run a business, you will come away from this book fired up.
My comment here is very similar to the 5 stars review I left on Amazon. I have read lots of Marketing books and to be honest, they are all very much the same. Nancy’s book walks you through real world examples of how you can use psychology to influence your sales and marketing copy. Nancy uses a whole bunch of case studies to back up the science.
Unreceptive – A better way to sell, lead and influence by Tom Stanfill
It’s one of the first sales books I’ve read that recognises that there has been a change in the modern buyer and the fact they are unreceptive to cold calling, spam emails and advertising. It offers a number of useful tips and case studies on how to use sales skill and psychology to sell today.
Re-Humanising the workplace (by giving everybody their brain back) – Chuck Blakeman
The book is described as “the art and science of distributed decision-making” what that means is that this is a blueprint on how you build a modern business, for employees. Don’t think this is some hippy, sit around, a camp fire way of work. But it is fare, equitable and empowering for employees. Based on outputs, not inputs or objectives.
Beyond Good – How technology is leading a purpose driven business
As a leader you need a vision, a vision of a world where business does the right thing for its employees, but also wider society. In this book the authors explain how the world could work differently, not leaving governments or society to support the most vulnerable, but how business is actually the change we need, for its employees and their families. Note, this isn’t new, this is what the companies such as Bournville and Lever Brothers tried to create.
Thinking in bets – marking smarter decisions, when you don’t have all the facts – Annie Duke
Annie is a world champion poker player and she walks you through how you can make better decisions, for example, don’t play all the hands or that good decisions can still create bad outcomes. It’s a great alternative to decision making in leadership.
The Wentworth Prospect – A novel guide to success in B2B sales – John Smibert
The sales book that isn’t a sales book. Most sales books, teach you a strategy and it can feel cold even textbook like. This is different, it’s a novel and the story walks your way through the sales process. It’s an Australian book, so you will also learn some great Aussie slang too.
This is the book that all great speech writers in the 20th and 21st century have used, it gives you a great foundation in not just storytelling, but tone, emphasis and getting your point across.
Nonviolent communication – A language of life – Marshall B. Rosenburg
In leadership we all need support in helping us communicate, conversations with our reports, conversations with our fellow leaders and conversations with maybe investors or bosses. This book provides a great foundation in having conversations that support each other. There are other books around this subject I would recommend, like “Fierce conversations by Susan Scott” but I had to pick one.
As a leader you need to make sure you spend your time wisely, habits can be good and can be bad, so how do you optimise yourself, this book is a great start. The next book is a “book end to this”.
Energize – Simon Alexander Ong
This is a “book end” to Atomic Habits, in the book Simon explains how you get more energy during the day. This is not some “Hippy sit around a camp fire” but solid processes that will enable you get what you want in life, have the relationships you want and have the energy you need for work.
The classic book that explains the difference between “fixed mindset” and “open mindset”, I purchased a copy of this for all my board members. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft did something similar has part of his transformation to make Microsoft a learning organization.
Permission Marketing – Seth Godin
The first marketing book I ever read, 21 years old and still relevant today. People hate being spammed and cold called
To sell is human – Daniel H. Pink
For anybody who things they cannot sell, Daniel does not give you a selling methodology, he explains that we can all sell.
Social Selling – Techniques to influence buyers and changemakers – 2nd edition – Timothy Hughes
This is my third book and a rewrite of my first book and the first social selling book that came out in 2016. It explains the current situation that buyers, job hunters, investors have all migrated to digital and having a company that cold calls or sends spam emails just does not cut it. Business is now digital.
I then walk you through how you can be social, as an individual and as a business, setting social media as a strategy, for sales and in fact right across the business. We find that business can increase revenue by 30% and reduce sales cycles by 20%. The book is packed with case studies from practitioners who are doing this already. Contributions are from Cyberhawk, Telstra, Ring Central, Namos Consulting, Mercer and Ericsson.
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