100 business books that have influenced 100 business owners (Part 4)

Part-four of the series already! If you’ve missed any of the other parts you can check them out here: Inspiration – MeasMedia

C.S. Lewis said: “we read to know we are not alone.” And it’s true. Reading unites us in more ways than we would ever think possible.

It can connect us to someone across the other side of the globe, someone we’ve never met and might never meet. For example, I’m a big fan of the Harry Potter books as I grew up along with them and in 2018, 500 million Harry Potter books had been sold all over the world in 80 different languages. I’m never going to meet all these people, yet we have one big common interest.

Not only does it connect us with people we have never met, but it also creates discussion with the people we do know.

Two people can love the same book, but on the other hand, two people can have completely different opinions on a book- but it still creates discussion and brings us together. For example, a few years ago, I finished a book and I remember thinking “Oh, is that it?” and when I said that to my friend, she gave me a lengthy verbal report on how it was an excellent book, and she loved the metaphors and we spent easily over an hour discussing our different opinions on the book.

Here are five more books that have influenced successful business owners- give them a read! You never know… they might influence you!

1) Founder and CEO of Moment One, Co-Founder and COO at Wee Jobs and Founding Member of NextGen Scotland Naish Yadav chose ‘The Chimp Paradox: The Mind Management Programme’ by by Steve Peters. “Personally, I enjoy learning about behaviour psychology because it is the basis of our attitudes, decisions, and interactions with others. The Chimp Paradox book in particular, offers a much-needed insight towards understanding the human psych. This has been an essential part of my reading because it has allowed me to better focus on my own thoughts and behaviours while allowing me to apply an empathetic leadership approach towards all my projects.” http://linkedin.com/in/naishyadav

2) Ryan O’Keeffe, Founder of Jogo, chose Agencynomics by Spencer Gallagher and Peter Hoole. “This book gave simple, plain English guidance on how to scale my agency. If you want a blueprint on how to scale your agency, then this is the book for you. The book includes how to structure your agency, what KPI’s to measure, how to win more business and much more!” http://linkedin.com/in/ryan-okeeffe

3) Founder of Professionals in Transition Support Group Inc. Damian Birkel said: “When I lost my job for the second time (the company sold and relocated), I was 500 miles from home and simply handed a copy of “What Color Is Your Parachute,” by Richard Nelson Bolles.  “I was like a zombie when I arrived home early that day. My bride knew something was wrong, but I couldn’t talk about it. Instead, I sat in my favorite chair and read and re-read for hours, 1 page in Dick’s book. The Title? “How To Find Your Mission In Life.” Not only did it change my life, but his book also guided me through the re-employment process. It also inspired me to write 3 books published by Harper Collins Leadership/AMACOM. Dick was a wonderful man. I visited with him twice; 1 time spending an entire afternoon at his home. It was stunning, & a peak experience in my life. His memory lives on every time we have a Professionals In Transition® Support Group Meeting…Thank You, Dick!  RIP.” http://linkedin.com/in/birkel

4) Karl Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Agile World and Co-Chief and Executive Officer of Agile World News chose The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective by Kopytoff, I. (1988) and edited by Appadurai, A.- P.64-91 (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK). And said: “So I added to this, to create the model by which I understand, everything. It works, I don’t have context issues in my life, I adopt no fear only the desire to do more. I think understanding where I fit gives me so much peace that really cannot be bought. It gives me liberty to take risks because I understand my environment very well.” http://linkedin.com/in/karlsmith2

5) Stephen Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” is what Founder/ Business Consultant at Rioxa, Juan Rio Salvador said: “It still has great insights about personal and interpersonal effectiveness. However, I find it useful when focusing on a specific chapter or theme at the time, otherwise when I try to read the whole book, I get distracted. This book has information to help us to re-focus on what is important in life and how to reprioritise behaviours/habits around principals such as fairness, integrity, honesty, etc. One of the key lessons from this book for me was Eisenhower’s Time Management Matrix. Now more than ever it is critical to manage time and how we focus on priorities.  The matrix has 4 Quadrants, we should spend most of our time on the 2nd one (important, but not urgent things). We created Rioxa’s Priority Matrix using this and our clients/own experiences. Another habit that I think is very useful these days is the one called “Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood”. A key skill here is empathic listening, we should practice being mindful during conversations trying to make an emotional connection with the other person.” http://linkedin.com/in/juanriosalvador

And that’s it for today- 20/100 books listed already! Stay tuned for part 5!