Is there a link between billionaire entrepreneurs and reading? Maybe not, but they seem to think so… (and I would listen to them).
I will be the first to admit that I was late to the game. As a jock in highschool I had no real interest in literature. The older I got the more I realized that combining letters creates words, and combining words creates ideas. Crazy huh? My highschool English teacher would be proud. More importantly I came to understand that there were some incredibly smart people in history who decided to share their thoughts with us. Pretty cool.
The bug got me about 8 or 9 years ago. Since then, I am a complete book worm. I credit much of the strategy, ideology and even creativeness which I use today, to the books which I consume on a bi-monthly basis. Startups, Finance, Biographies, Management and Creativity are all topics which I love to read about. While classic “entrepreneurial books” are great, I also find that Biographies & Autobiographies are just as important. Hearing the highs and lows about how business giants formed companies is always a compelling read, but I prefer to try and understand the mind-set which each of these industry titans had.
Here is a quick starter list.
Focus Startups:
- Originals by Adam Grant
- The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
- Zero to One by Peter Thiel
- The Innovators Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen
- REWORK by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hannson
Focus Biographies:
- Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance
- Made in America by Sam Walton
- The Everything Store by Brad Stone
- Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
I would strongly advise setting aside 60+ Minutes every day to read. You don’t have the time? Well how bad do you want to grow? Massive change will occur as the result of reading, learning, then applying knowledge.
Over the next weeks I will also post my reading list for 2018. I would be interested to hear what you are currently thumbing through…
Frog Ventures 