Favorite Books
I’ve gotten better recently, but it used to be that if we were five minutes into a conversation and I wasn’t giving you a book recommendation, we had problems.
Still – I’m a bit of an amateur-expert on business/entrepreneurship books – so I’ve picked a few of my favorites below. Feel free to add your own in the comments:
The New Business Road Test by John Mullins
John’s book is one of the best I’ve seen for entrepreneurs. He goes extensively into the work that should be done to understand a market, discover an industry and understand the forces that affect each and every business. It’s hands on and nitty gritty.
The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses by Omar Bhide
Omar is a brilliant writer, professor and scholar. He studied the success stories of many of the companies appearing on the Inc. 500 and came up with the best text that has been written on entrepreneurship to date. No ding against Jim Collins, but this is what entrepreneurs need to read rather than Good to Great. (Collins work incidentally was based on large successful publicly traded companies.)
Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker
If you only read one book – make this one the one. Peter Drucker is the intellectual godfather of modern management and one of the most down to other observers of behavior that works. I take this book with me on every trip – because it allows me to kick back and focus on the basics again. You will find it its pages all the best wisdom on the topic of entrepreneurship. Even more fun if you read it in a thick Austrian accent. (Drucker was Austrian.)
The Five Questions by Peter Drucker
Originally intended for non-profit organizations, this is the best crossover book I know. It doesn’t waste a lot of time talking about earned income strategies, managing and recruiting a board or anything silly like that – it focuses on running a mission focused organization.
Based on the tape series that Drucker gave which includes interviews with some amazing non-profit leaders, this is my go to set (the audio being included) for re-thinking my leadership style and my day to day actions.
Finding Fertile Ground by Scott A. Shane
Scott Shane is a world-class researcher and a clear and thoughtful writer. Whether you are reading his academic papers or practitioner focused books like this one – you always walk away with no mistake about what his intent in writing was. In Finding Fertile Ground, Scott uses his experiences studying the spinoffs that came from MIT and the lessons from academia to build a guide for high-tech entrepreneurs to evaluate opportunities. While a lot of b-books may recommend looking at capital intensity, few look at advertising intensity, industry concentration and average firm size to determine what you need to succeed. Except Scott’s does.
From the academic realm?
My favorites have to be Sarasvathy’s Effectuation and Fiet’s Prescriptive Entrepreneurship.
And for the book I don’t know how to classify? Throw in Jon Kolko’s Thoughts on Interaction Design. He has a better description of the creative process and the path to understanding the customer than a lot of marketing and customer service/loyalty books. Far better. (Though you may want to skip the first few chapters – they are a bit heady!) If you really like it – check out the Austin Center for Design which Jon is starting this year.