Now you can find business literature for every taste: biographies of entrepreneurs, development histories of well-known companies, management and marketing guides, life hacks on process management and personal growth.
Some people perceive books about business as recipes for success and try to apply all the recommendations, others do not see any benefit in them, since it is impossible to repeat someone else’s experience. The truth is somewhere in the middle: business books are useful, but it is worth understanding what their benefits are and for what purpose they should be read.
And it is equally important to choose only the best books on business topics – those that will help you avoid mistakes at the start, lay the right foundation for a business project and quickly make a profit.
How business books help entrepreneurs
Books for entrepreneurs teach you how to build a business on the experience and mistakes of others. They will help you avoid common problems and share useful tools and life hacks.
More books on business motivate. Stories of success and failure, examples from the real experience of entrepreneurs and reflected mistakes make you want to act on your own. The psychological impact of business literature should not be underestimated: many aspiring entrepreneurs lack such a stimulating push to put aside fears, start acting and earning.
Books for self-improvement and self-development give inspiration and bring new ideas. And the stories of other businesses help to look at your usual and well-known business from the outside, as if through someone else’s eyes. Someone else’s experience makes you go beyond and come up with something fundamentally new.
The Purpose, Eliyahu Goldratt
This is both a book about management and a story about a man who solves life’s problems. You can not only read inspiring advice, but also evaluate by example how realistic it is to follow them in life
What is this book about. Eliyahu Goldratt is an Israeli physicist, economist, and author of a popular management method called “Theory of Constraints.” In 1984, Goldratt laid out the principles of his theory in the production novel The Purpose, which remains a bestseller in business literature to this day.
“The Purpose” is the story of a plant manager who is on the verge of closing. The hero seeks help from a familiar physicist who knows how to establish control in any system. Under his leadership, the director finds and corrects problems that slow down production: incorrect distribution of work responsibilities, outdated accounting principles, inefficient work of the marketing department.
Goldratt describes in detail and step by step the essence of his method of management, which is to detect and eliminate the weak points of the system – “bottlenecks”.
Who should read. Entrepreneurs starting a business in the industrial sector, as the author describes the real logic of production processes in a factory.
For those who find it difficult to read dry business literature: Goldratt’s book captivates with the plot and unobtrusively teaches with illustrative examples.
People who do not have basic knowledge of economics and management. But for people with an economic education, most of the principles described in the book are already familiar.
What will help the business. “Goal” will help to establish management in any system and in any business. Goldratt’s methods are applicable not only to production in a factory, but also to the operation of a construction company, cafe or online store.
The book will tell you how to check the business from the position of the theory of constraints: find weaknesses, turn the restrictions in your favor and eliminate bottlenecks over time.
Motivates to continuously improve, analyze management, look for cause-and-effect relationships and patterns.
Helpful advice. The main goal of any business is profit. When managing complex systems, especially those not directly related to sales, it is difficult to remember the end goal, which leads to problems and failures. When making decisions, always focus on profit.
“Customers for Life” Carl Sewell, Paul Brown
To provide good service, you need to reconsider the organization of work in general and wages. The author is convinced that point changes in service are unlikely to help improve the service
What is this book about. Carl Sewell is the owner of one of the largest and most successful auto dealer networks in the United States. In collaboration with professional writer Paul Brown, he created the book “Customers for Life”, which has become a desktop book for millions of entrepreneurs and managers around the world.
This is a practical guide to working with customers and improving service. Sewell is convinced that it is necessary to build long-term relationships with consumers. It is regular, not one-time customers that bring the greatest profit.
The book gives recommendations on how to understand people’s desires, build service strategies, organize feedback and motivate customers to come back again and again.
Who should read. Those who work directly with people, especially in areas with high competition.
What will help the business. It will help to attract, and most importantly, to retain customers. Much of Sewell’s advice is about how to turn existing customers into long-term customers.
Stimulates to improve the quality of service. Service is one of the weakest points in many Russian companies. This book will give specific recommendations on how to achieve the perfect service and help you withstand high competition. Quality service is the most important component of success in areas where you need to compete for customers with other companies.
Helpful advice. “The world’s best customer service system is also the simplest: do what you promise and do it the first time.”
Accelerated the cycle of work on orders
How did it work
“Think Slow… Decide Fast” by Daniel Kahneman
The book warns that it is necessary to double-check and critically evaluate even those data that seem obvious to us.
What is this book about. Think Slow, Decide Fast is a bestseller by psychologist Daniel Kahneman, who won the Nobel Prize for applying psychological techniques to economics. Kahneman’s research refutes the conventional wisdom that a person usually thinks sanely when making a decision or forming a judgment about something. In fact, the brain constantly makes logical errors.
The book talks about how thinking works. It consists of two systems. The first operates at the subconscious level and thinks quickly, intuitively, but not always correctly. The second turns on consciously and relies on logic, but requires effort and time, which the brain saves. Therefore, the second system often agrees with the first without rechecking. Sometimes this leads to incorrect or suboptimal decisions in areas that require logic and precise calculations, such as economics or business.
Daniel Kahneman talks about existing thinking errors and how to overcome them.
Who should read. Anyone who is interested in economics, logic, neuroscience and self-development.
Those who want to understand the psychology of consumption and learn how to use cognitive distortions in marketing.
What will help the business. It will teach you how to make the right decisions in difficult and critical situations when doing business. The book deals in detail with examples of irrational choices associated with the errors of thinking of the first system.
Will give insight into customer behavior to use this knowledge in marketing.
Helpful advice. One of the most common thinking distortions is called the planning error. When making predictions, people tend to be optimistic. Most plans are unrealistic, too close to the best case scenario, and ultimately not implemented. Kahneman recommends using statistics and past experience to draw up an effective plan of action.
“Zero to One” by Peter Thiel
According to the author, the strength of a startup founder is not that he figured out how to create something of value. The talent of a successful founder is to inspire every employee to put their best into work
What is this book about. American entrepreneur Peter Thiel created the PayPal payment system and analyzed the activities of other successful startups – LinkedIn, Twitter, eBay, Facebook. He identified patterns that allowed these endeavors to succeed. Thiel presents his findings in the popular Stanford lectures that form the basis of the book From Zero to One.
Peter Thiel says over and over again that the basis of a startup’s success is a monopoly. Strong competition is a serious obstacle to building a stable business. Monopoly, on the other hand, makes it possible for a long time to receive high incomes. To create a monopoly enterprise, you need a unique product.
Who should read. Founders of startups, developers of fundamentally new products and services.
Ambitious future and aspiring entrepreneurs who want to create something unique.
What will help the business. It will help to lay a solid foundation for a startup. Peter Thiel talks about the importance of a start and gives tips on how to find good partners, attract good employees and get the project off the ground.
It will inspire you to create new products and services and use innovation in business. The most difficult and important step for success is the step from zero to one, that is, the creation of something fundamentally new from scratch. A separate chapter is devoted to how to look for ideas for innovation, find free niches and see opportunities where others do not see anything.
Helpful advice. “Think about the product, not the sales.”
“Business from scratch” by Eric Rees
The author warns: if you imagine a startup as an exciting project without rules, it may not start to make a profit. Need a clear plan and methodical work
What is this book about. The author of the book “Business from scratch” is an American business consultant and blogger Eric Rees, who has both positive and negative experience in creating startups. After analyzing his mistakes and his achievements, Rees created the Lean Startup methodology, which is now successfully used all over the world.
Rees’s idea is based on the rule of thrift. It is important to constantly reduce the inefficient waste of resources and time, get rid of losses and useless activities. Each part of the business plan must first be tested and checked for value, and only then fully implemented. The book describes in detail and with examples how to apply this principle in practice. In parallel, Rees gives recommendations on marketing, general business strategy, and sales.
Who should read. Beginners and experienced entrepreneurs in any field. Although the book focuses on high-tech startups, the methods described in it are applicable to any business.
What will help the business. He will tell you how to launch a startup or any new project with minimal risks.
It will help to analyze investments in the business and reduce unnecessary expenses. Many entrepreneurs spend a lot of time and money on new projects without checking their value, which is why they suffer losses. Rees tells how to implement ideas from the point of view of the principle of frugality.
Helpful advice. “Efforts that do not lead to an understanding of the desires of customers are not needed. This is how evidence-based knowledge is born, which always leads to an improvement in the key performance indicators of a startup.”
Rework. Business Without Prejudice Jason Fried, David Hensson
The authors believe that the heroes are those managers and employees who have learned to organize their affairs in such a way that they can relax at home with their families in the evening. Although it is generally accepted to consider the heroes of workaholics who work 20 hours a day
What is this book about. Jason Fried and David Hensson are American businessmen, founders of the legendary firm 37signals. It has only 14 employees, but the company has millions of customers. Fried and Hansson’s book became a sensation all over the world. It is written in an easy, engaging and humorous way.
The book breaks stereotypes about business management, such as that a company must seek investment, that profits depend on the number of employees, or that entrepreneurs need to work 100 hours a week to be successful. The authors give non-standard, but proven in practice and reasoned advice that you want to instantly try.
Who should read. Small business owners. The book dispels the stereotype that only large companies can be successful, and gives advice on how to manage a small business.
For future and aspiring entrepreneurs who want to run their own project in parallel with their main job. The authors describe how this can be implemented in practice.
What will help the business. It will inspire, give confidence and energy to start a business or launch a new product.
It will help you rethink your approach to doing business, get rid of stereotyped thinking.
Helpful advice. “The easiest and most obvious way to create a first-class product or service is to make something that you yourself would like to use.”