This top five list is our continuing list of favorites! As we continue to read business literature, we will update this article with more books. For now, we just wanted to name our personal favorites. Keep checking back for more suggestions on great books!
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't
Good to Great is my personal favorite. Jim Collins analyzes companies, on standards and statistics explained in the text, that made the transition from a good company, to a great one. While our entrepreneurial road to building a good company will be hard enough, it is one that has many paths. However, making that transition from good to great is rare and challenging. Many times if unsuccessful it will leave a company in a tough spot. Collins is a great writer with a great research team to back the words.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
For those of you new to business literature, it may be boring or difficult to read at first. Patrick Lencioni presents invaluable leadership and team-related advice within a story. The fictional characters are personalities that we have all worked with, or will work with, in the future, and seem very real in the text. You can imagine yourself sitting with the executive team at their retreat. Lencioni's writing is refreshing and engaging. You will get lost in any one of his "Leadership Fables" quickly.
The Five Temptations of a CEO, 10th Anniversary Edition: A Leadership Fable (J-B Lencioni Series)
Lencioni is obviously my favorite author, so I will not brag on him too much. This is another book in the same format with the same feel as #2. This fable pertains to the CEO and the temptations that can be realized when he or she is failing. While some of these may seem obvious, reading about them in this fable is eye-opening. You can put yourself in the CEO's shoes and seriously consider the temptations. We all may easily be guilty of one or more, analyzing them will help us better ourselves.
The Code of the Executive: Forty-Seven Ancient Samurai Principles Essential for Twenty-First Century Leadership Success
A truly original and insightful read! Don Schmincke took the Code of the Samurai from ages ago (when Tom Cruise was a Samurai), and transferred it to relate to the executive. Surprisingly, you will not find a forced interpretation with vague or confusing links. It smoothly flows into a motivational/leadership book that goes beyond a normal read. Many great business motivation books are set on business and helping others perform. Schmincke takes this further and also focuses on the Executive's mind and body, and his or her interaction with family, friends, and others. Prepare yourself for an awakening in business and life.
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
Ferriss describes a concept in his book that may be new to most people--living like the "New Rich." Ferriss argues that people don't want to be millionaires to have million dollars, but to live like millionaires. By starting an automated profitable enterprise, Ferriss describes precisely how you too can "escape 9-5, live anywhere, and join the New Rich." Not a theoretical treatise on business concepts, this outstanding book is a step-by-step guide to creating wealth by working less.
Here are links to a couple of the books:
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
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