Between beer reviews, watching sports and doing Wordle and Quordle one may wonder where I ever find the time to read. Once I got into the business of running a business, I recognized that the only thing I knew about running a business was that I had no business running a business. I wasn’t even qualified to have imposter syndrome! So I started reading books about business. I found many of the books quite humourous, particularly the ones that were trying to be serious. So here is my overview of every book you will ever need to succeed in business, or not.
Sinek tell us to “Start with Why”. I just did. That still begs the question, why start with why? I had to ask. As for his other book, every time there was a lunch meeting I had to remind my people that the saying “Leaders Eat Last” is figurative not literal.
Drucker famously said “Culture eats strategy for breakfast” What if your strategy is to build a culture? And what about lunch? I know from 45 years of office lunchroom experience that if you leave a sandwich in the fridge for too long your lunch will start to grow a culture of its own. Of course, that’s the yeast of our worries.*
I like Herb Cohen’s advice on empathy in his book “Negotiate This!”. “You gotta care …. But not that much.” My advice is similar, be empathetic not pathetic.
John Maxwell says “There’s no such thing as business ethics, there is only ethics.” I have to agree with the first part of his statement.
I think “Leadership on Trial” is all about visible felt leadership, which can lead to criminal charges especially if they get you on video.
“Make Your Bed” by McRaven tell us that to be successful you need to make your bed first thing every morning. Well I get up first and the misses is not impressed if I try to make the bed with her in it, unless we are talking about “making the bed”. Come to think of it she’s not too impressed with me suggesting that type of bed making at 6:30 am either.
In his book “Good to Great” Collins tells us that good is the enemy of great. Damn it, I was just starting to get good at this then I find out good isn’t that great. Well, that’s just great.
Max Depree’s “Leadership is an Art” and “Leadership Jazz” were recommended by an unimpeachable source, Former President Bill Clinton. **
Laurence Peter wrote “The Peter Principle”, which is unique in this list because it is actually a very funny book on purpose. I think it has something to do with carrying out a minor felony in order to pay Paul back.
“The 80/20 Principle” by Richard Koch is based on the Pareto principle that 80% of outcomes are based on 20% of causes. Sounds like some rounding going on there. It does add up to 100, they got that right. Did you know that 72.5% of all statistics are made up, and 100% of people don’t care about them anyway.
Adams’ “The Dilbert Principle” is the third in the “Principle” trilogy and by far the most realistic and helpful of the three.
I thought the book “Black Swan Event” by Taleb was about how to put on a fund raiser for endangered species, but it turns out it is about very rare and unexpected events, like actually finishing reading the book.
“The 10 Times Rule” is a book by Grant Cardone. I think we learned this in grade 3, but I guess a refresher never hurts.
In the “$100 Start Up” Guillebeau tells us to fire our boss and start your own business with $100. I think an I-phone is around $1000 now. Maybe the ten times rule applies here?
The average reader will read 200 pages in 5.6 hours when reading at a speed of 300 words per minute. At 237 pages, that means “The 5 Second Rule” by Mel Robbins takes 23,890 seconds to read. Maybe this is an example of the 4,778 times rule?
“Getting Things Done” is by David Allen. I started reading it a few years ago but I haven’t finished it yet. You know how some books you just can’t put down. This isn’t one of them.
“Think and Grow Rich” is a classic by Napoleon Hill. Hmmmm … is it working yet? Any timeline suggested?
How come Keller’s book “The One Thing” is 246 pages long?
Lewis Cornfeld tells us that “To Catch a Mouse Make a Noise Like a Cheese”. What the hell does that mean? You can buy a mousetrap at Canadian Tire for a couple of bucks and save yourself the cost of this book.
Spencer Johnson is wondering “Who Moved my Cheese”? What’s with all the cheese? I’m waiting for the sequel for those who are lactose intolerant “The Cheese Moved Me”.
Kahneman won the Nobel prize in economics for his work on decision making, which is outlined in his book “Thinking Fast and Slow”. For many years now JT and I have been researching another potential Nobel prize winner, “Drinking Fast and Slow”.
The Dale Carnegie classic “How to Win Friends and Influence People” is a bit dated. Throw in Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, woke culture, and the haters and we can expect the latest edition to be renamed “How to Find an Influencer, Put Their Picture on a Bud Light Can, and Lose Substantial Market Share.” ***
My old buddy Ted curses like a drunken sailor on shore leave, and he’s funny as all hell. So when I saw Gallo’s book “Talk Like Ted” I had to pick up a copy.
I think the original title of “The Purple Cow” was “The Purple Cow Pie”, a no bullshit book that is one. In a stroke of marketing genius, which is what Seth Godin is known for and as, they dropped “Pie” from the title. If you have one catch phrase Godin can show you how to turn it into a 200 page book complete with baffling analogies and irrelevant advice.
Peters is one of my favourite business gurus. He wrote “The Pursuit of Wow!” Not to be confused with the sarcastic teenager valley girl “wow” which isn’t that hard to come by in our house. It seems Hyundai has the market cornered on Wow, time for Peters to find an untrademarked superlative.****
Is Drucker’s “The Effective Executive” an oxymoron?
Ducker also wrote the book “The Executive Inaction“, or was that “The Executive In Action“? It’s sometimes hard to tell.
How come Buckingham’s “The One Thing You Need to Know” is 304 pages long? The one thing you need to know about this book is not to buy it.
Tolle wrote “The Power of Now”, I haven’t read it yet, I plan to later.
I may be a bit biased, but I think the COMDB Secret to Business Success may be the only thing you will ever need to read to be successful in business.
And there you have it, every book you need to read (or not) to be successful in business. Maybe a good idea, combined with some great people, and throw in a dash of luck and lots of hard work, might be another formula for success. But that doesn’t add up to 250 pages now does it.
*Editor’s Comment: I’m hoping lameness is not contagious.
**Editor’s Comment: President Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives on December 19th, 1998. Merry Christmas. On February 9th, 1999, the Senate acquitted Clinton of the impeachment charges. Happy New Year.
***Editor’s Comment: Bud Light, previously America’s bestselling beer, has found itself in a bit of a controversy recently. Kidd Rock blasted Bud, literally, taking aim with his semi-automatic at a few cases. Travis Tritt has banned it from his tours. Ted Nugent, never at a loss for words or guns, called it a “Tsunami of cultural deprivation”, he may have meant depravity, or maybe he did mean deprivation? Apparently, this all stems from Bud sending some personalized samples of Bud Light to Dylan Mulvaney. I didn’t recognize the name either, but it turns out she is a transgender social media influencer and she taped a clip of herself drinking a bud light dressed like Holly Golightly, the Truman Capote created character from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. Holly going lightly with a Bud Light so to speak, although I don’t think Holly Golightly would ever drink a Bud but that isn’t the point. Regardless of the flawed but creative presentation, the controversy has led to speculation about Bud boycotts. Rumour has it that the marketing fiasco has already impacted Anheuser-Busch InBev’s market value to the tune of $5 Billion? Ouch.
****Editor’s Comment: Hyundai’s ad campaign is based on the power of “Wah” which in Korean loosely translates to Wow in English.
0 Comments