“The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read” – Mark Twain
I am a very keen reader as anyone who follows my #bookofthemonth LinkedIn posts will know.
So far this year, I have read 50 books and it is only mid-August 📚
I keep copies of all of my favourite books in my office and they can usually be seem behind me in any Zoom/Teams calls 🙂
There aren’t many books that I buy the hardback copy of, though – usually I just borrow them from the library or buy a paperback and then sell it again later on Ziffit.
Every now and then however, it isn’t enough to just take some notes and I want a hardback copy to keep referring back to.
There are only 3 books that I have read or listened to in one format and then bought the hardback copy of:
✳Good to Great ✳
For a long time, Good to Great by Jim Collins was the only one – most books have one or two takeaways in them but this one has several of my favourites – the Hedgehog Concept, the Flywheel, First Who Then What (Get the Right People on the Bus), Confront the Brutal Facts (the Stockdale Paradox), Level 5 Leadership and Fire Bullets Then Cannonballs.
✳ Buy Back Your Time ✳
Recently I did the same for Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell – that one was something of a revelation and has given me a lot of ideas for keeping my business small so as to keep the personal touch and maintain our “treat every client as if they were our only client” company value, but expanding what we do and how we do it.
With the right systems, people, subcontractors and virtual assistants plus now also use of AI, there is great potential to be a “Small Giant” in 2023 (Bo Burlingham’s book – “Small Giants – Companies that Choose to be Great instead of Big”, is a good one on being the best in a specific niche and choosing not to have a goal of just getting bigger and bigger).
✳The False Exit✳
My third hardback arrived this month – John Lamerton‘s new book “The False Exit” which complements both of the other two very well and also even has a mention of me and our business (page 132).
I wish that I had had these books twenty years ago when I started my business so that I knew better how to expand without burning out and working every hour of the day, but now that I have them, I am catching up for lost time!
Do you have any favourite books that you have to have a hardback copy of to refer back to?