Five Great Books to Read
How many books have read over the past twelve months? Five, ten, twenty? According to a recent survey by Fast Company, the average number of books read by a CEO is 60 books per year (it is well known that Bill Gates reads about 50 a year), yet I know that many of us are lucky to read one a month and if asked why so few, I suspect that most of us would put this down to not having the time. However, there are a wealth of excellent books out there that can literally change the way you think and whilst we may struggle to find the time or money for personal development training, reading is a relatively inexpensive way to improve you knowledge and personal perspective. So with COVID-19 now imposing a lot more free time on all of us, I thought I would list the five books that have had a powerful impact on my professional life and which all contain highly valuable advice and techniques.
1. ”Start With Why” by Simon Sinek
Simon is a natural storyteller whose ideas are both practical and easy to understand and he illustrates his points with a number of excellent real-world examples. Central to his ideas is the notion of ‘The Golden Circle’ which neatly links business to biology in an original and fascinating way and underpins his message that “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”.
2. “The E-Myth Revisited” by Michael E. Gerber
For me this is required reading for anyone about to start a business or has started one within the last two years. Drawing on experience with thousands of businesses, Gerber explains why “most small businesses don’t work and what to do about it” and uses a good example to bring the narrative to life. It identifies where business owners need to put their focus for best results and highlights the need to provide customers with a consistently authentic customer experience.
3. “Mindset” by Carol Dweck
Using numerous professional and personal examples, Professor Dweck shows how those with a “growth mindset” will always outperform those with a “fixed mindset”. She demonstrates how failure is a necessary and integral part of learning and is naturally embraced by those with a growth mindset whereas those with a fixed mindset inhibits growth and the realisation of a person’s full potential.
4. “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R Covey
This book was on my list of ‘must reads’ for years and after a couple of abortive attempts (probably due to volume of information), I finally read it from cover to cover and it changed my thinking. This is a book for those who want to take action and would like a useful framework to do this most effectively. His guidance is both practical and useful; you will get something new out of it every time you read it.
5. “Good to Great” by Jim Collins
With a group of up to 21 researchers working over a period of five years, Collins and his team identified the underlying themes that made great American businesses great (and his definition of “great” is pretty tough). The book is filled with facts, data and quantitive results and derives a range of useful models that can usefully be applied. In short, this book provides an invaluable insight to what are the truly important things to building a successful business.
Happy reading!
Ian Ash ACC, AInstIB
Managing Director OrgMent Business Solutions
