A good friend of mine was asking for advice on buying business related books for another friend this Christmas. I’d like to add a lot more later, but here’s my first take at a recommended business reading list.
Good general business books…let me think for a second…
Well, I wouldn’t quite call it a business book - but “Hackers and Painters“- Paul Graham, is pretty good. Not what I would consider fact, or even always sound advice - but it’s a good read. I might give it another read after meeting Paul Graham a couple of times to see if it’s consistent with how he thinks now after 2 seasons of YCombinator.
Good to Great - Jim Collins. For sure one of my favorites. Can’t say enough about this book, but it seems to provide some pretty good recipes for success by analyzing great performers. It definitely changed the way I think about hiring to be much more selective, or what the Good to Great team calls “bringing people on the bus”. Also led to me buying “Topgrading” which is recommended below.
The Tipping Point, Blink, and Freakonomics - Malcom Gladwell for #1 and #2, Stephen Levitt for #3
These aren’t directly business books - but if you look with the entrepreneurial eye, have a lot of insights into things.
Flow - The Psychology of Optimal Experience - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Not directly business related, but should improve overall someone’s outlook on life, or how to approach problems. This is high on my list of favorite books ever and a recommended read for everyone I know who is or wants to be passionate about something.
The Art of Project Management - Berkun. I really liked what I’ve read (I have a copy still). I’m trying to apply many of the principles to running my own (back in) college life.
Top Grading - How Leading Companies Win by Hiring, Coaching, and Keeping the Best People - Bradford D. Smart.
If you can look at it from the standpoint of “How to be a better employee / team member” - there is a ton to learn from this book. A ton. It’s huge and dense though, but if you haven’t read it - or put your hand on it…I’d go to Borders and browse through it.
The Gamesman - Michael MacCoby. Old style view of 4 different types of people in a company. Gives insight into what their motivations are and where they can falter. Provides a good starting point for building an idea in your head of how to interact with different types of people, and how different types of people can fit into a team or a company. I constantly find myself categorizing people I interact with into the “Gamesman”, “Jungle Fighter”, “Company Man”, or “Craftsman” profiles. MacCoby has a write-up of them here: http://www.maccoby.com/Articles/CorporateClimber.shtml .
Also to be put on this list should be a book on coaching. It’s a very important skill and gives you tools to interact with people. I’ve read parts of many, but one that I bought and brought home was Effective Coaching - Marshall J. Cook. It reads kind of like a junior high textbook - but provides many good formulas for success. A great read for individuals in a team that is having problems.
I will hopefully have another go at this list sometime in the future, a lot of the learning I do is through reading in my free time, so if you have any recommendations of your own - please post them up.
Updated 1-13-2007:
Found a post at lifehack with a book that’s in my reading stack, but I haven’t gotten around to reading yet (Never Eat Alone). I can’t recommend it yet, but they can (and so I’ll half jump on the bandwagon because I’ve heard lot’s of good things about this book lately).
Word. I had read Guy Kawasaki’s review of the the book (The Long Tail), it looked pretty solid. I’ve added it to the “Save for Later” in my Amazon cart (which now totals about $400).
Also, I ended up getting my friend Hackers and Painters for Christmas, and he really enjoyed it, so I just wanted to say thanks for the rec.