Favorite Business Books Series - Part H
by Helena Escalante, Business Outreach, Thomas Yoseloff Business Center at SNFLOctober 19, 2017
PART H: HONORABLE MENTIONS - OTHER FAVORITE BUSINESS BOOKS (continued)
Today we are right in the middle of our business books Honorable Mentions, how are you liking them so far? I truly hope that you are enjoying reading them all! I have found them very inspiring and insightful.
"It is a book about military strategy, but it helped me develop two concepts that are powerful and enlightening when applied to business strategy:
1. Center of Gravity. A very discussed and controversial subject. To me, this is the point where the balance and energy lies for a competitor and ourselves. It can be identified by many factors, and the best we are at identifying it, the more we know about ourselves and our competitors.
2. Chaos of War. Opening a battlefront, on war and in business, creates an amount of chaos that can precipitate unexpected results. The less ready we are for these possible outcomes, the more we should avoid opening a war.
Also, a quote that I love is "Ability is of little account without opportunity," by Napoleon Bonaparte. It reminds me that it is not enough to surround ourselves with people who have great skills, but it is necessary to give them the opportunity to show and use those skills and to help them flourish."
- Javier Ramis, VP Marketing UCI and blogger at JavierRamis.com
“This book ignited my professional passion after reading it as an uninspired IT project manager back in the mid-2000's. Until then, I thought my love for technology constrained me to working with server and database teams. Godin made me see that digital marketing was where I wanted to take my career interests. I read this book whenever I need to remind myself what good marketing can mean to consumers.”
“This is one of my other favourites which I've read several times, it's written by the guys who started Basecamp. They believe in keeping their company as small and lean as possible, and producing the simplest possible product in their category. The book questions conventional wisdom and challenges how we think about competitors, productivity, meetings, product scope and marketing. Whenever I'm feeling down or challenged in my business, I re-read the relevant essays in the book to help me re-calibrate."
“My mindset concerning investments changed.” (Rich Dad Poor Dad)
- Marian Marcus, Marmia Management, Inc.
“It’s my favorite and I've read it at least three times (Cashflow Quadrant). It explains the different ways people make money and the pros and cons of each. It's succinctly written, easy to understand and it helps people to build a foundation for building wealth. I've used it to help confirm for me the best way to make money is by building a team of people that work for my (partial) benefit, instead of me doing all the sweat equity alone.”
“Just think about the similarities of starting a business from scratch and being stranded on an island all alone! Not trained to start a new business (few of us were), Crusoe was not trained to live off the land either.
If you can't imagine be left on an island all by yourself, you are unlikely to succeed starting your own business. Why? Because the starting of a new business is terrifying, because you are more likely to fail then succeed, because you need to learn by failing and limping along until you know enough to flourish. Welcome to living alone on an island… or starting a new business.
I originally read the book when I was young, perhaps 17 or so. I have since reread it and I believe that it’s not only a classic, but a must for leaders to read.”
“It is a funny memoir and a handbook for professional salespeople about how to get ahead. This book gives ideas on how to motivate and encourage yourself, as well as any group of people. When Barbara Corcoran was young and working as a waitress, she complained to her mom, that the other waitresses were the ones getting all the big tips because they had big breasts. So Barbara's mom told her: ‘In the absence of big breasts, wear pigtails and put ribbons on them’. Barbara did what her mom told her to do, and it worked! She applied it for her real estate too, by always wearing red clothes.
I love the idea of wearing red. I try to follow this too, by wearing some bright dresses. It works especially well when going to some meeting, when all the men wear grey, blue, and black suits, and I wear some bright green dress—it gets me noticed. This book is also great for inspiration about never giving up. Get up, dust yourself and keep moving.”
“It’s a wonderfully written book. The author is a German economist who laid out some of his ideas about how the people in an organization are its most abundant and crucial resource; and how this phenomenal resource is almost completely overlooked. He said, ‘Development does not start with goods; it starts with people and their education, organization, and discipline. Without these three, all resources remain latent, untapped, potential.’ He concluded that much better ways of working exist; and we just need to apply some thought to how we are going to do it. This got me thinking.
I've successfully been in business running my accountancy firm since 2012. By paying attention to this idea and making each business transaction much more personable, I've really found very positive results and have a happy and satisfying way of life. I thoroughly recommend this book.”
“This is my favorite book as a business owner because I find it very inspirational. The premise of the book is that instead of going on the traditional path that successful students take (management consulting, finance, big companies, medicine, law, graduate school, etc.), top students should start or join small businesses. I agree, and I don't just believe that students coming out of college should start businesses, but I also believe that they will develop fastest and learn the most if they join businesses that have less than 50 people at them. I have hired many people fresh out of college into the small company that I run over the years, and I've been able to watch them develop so much faster than people who work in more traditional paths. They are able to take on so much more responsibility and get experiences that are far broader than they would otherwise take being a small cog in a big wheel. The traditional paths tend to make a bit more money the first few years out of school, but the investment in learning and leadership at this stage in a career—in my opinion—ends up being worth far more over time.”
“This is, hands down, the most beneficial business book I've read. I didn't have any sales experience. But for some reason, my boss thought I had some sales chops, and promoted me to a sales position in the company. I read dozens of books, and listened to many podcasts to try and improve my sales skills.
We sell expensive service jobs. Which means I communicate with sophisticated buyers. And those buyers weren't interested in the gimmicky sales tricks. And after I read SPIN Selling, I learned the entire process that those buyers were expecting. And although I'm not selling the most in the company, I'm on track to sell $750,000 worth of work, which is a SIGNIFICANT upgrade in performance.”
Military strategy, uplifting and empowering, marketing, company culture and design, financial outlook and prosperity mindset, resilience, creativity and shining through, human capital appreciation and care, small business and sales… some great topics here today, don’t you think?
Did you get any ideas from reading this post? I certainly hope so! I loved the mentions about Robinson Crusoe, and On War, it simply goes to show that ideas can strike at any time and we don’t have to be immersed in a business environment to get a great idea for our business or for our professional growth. Where else have you gotten business ideas from in a non-business environment? Let me know in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you.
Looking forward to seeing you here tomorrow for another installment (Part I) of our Honorable Mentions.
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P.S. - As a quick reference for you to know what to expect and find in this series of posts, here’s a guide (the links will be live on the day the post is uploaded):
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“It’s a wonderfully written book. The author is a German economist who laid out some of his ideas about how the people in an organization are its most abundant and crucial resource; and how this phenomenal resource is almost completely overlooked. He said, ‘Development does not start with goods; it starts with people and their education, organization, and discipline. Without these three, all resources remain latent, untapped, potential.’ He concluded that much better ways of working exist; and we just need to apply some thought to how we are going to do it. This got me thinking.
With your library card, it's easier than ever to choose from more than 300,000 e-books on SimplyE, The New York Public Library's free e-reader app. Gain access to digital resources for all ages, including e-books, audiobooks, databases, and more.