5 Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Dale Carnegie

        If you haven’t read this book already, you really should. Almost any list of the top books on leadership, interpersonal communication, relationships and success contain this title because of its simplicity and real value. Learn from Dale Carnegie, one of human relations’ forerunners, as he shares stories of common people like most of us and greats such as Abraham Lincoln, Charles Schwab, John D. Rockefeller and many more. His overarching message? If you care about others, they will care about you. (This book is now “public domain” and can therefore be downloaded in pdf format for free online.)

Who Moved My Cheese

Spencer Johnson, MD

        Change, change, change. That’s a day in the life of an entrepreneur. Who Moved My Cheese is the story of two mice and two men and their fight for what makes them whole. In the case of our characters, it’s cheese. This book teaches timeless principles of change and how we can prepare for, run with and even enjoy changes in our lives.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Patrick Lencioni

        A “leadership fable” as this book style is called, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team is written from the standpoint of a struggling executive team that needs to make some changes, or fail. This book takes an interesting and very powerful approach to team dynamics and engages the reader by putting him/her in the shoes of each character. A great book for discussion and reading simultaneously as a team.

Freakonomics

Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

        Freakonomics isn’t like the rest of the books mentioned here, in fact it’s not like any other book out there. From cheating schoolteachers, to crack dealers and sumo wrestlers, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner take a fascinating and engaging approach to studying “the hidden side of everything.” Levitt, the MIT economist, shows how solutions to problems aren’t often a result of common knowledge or a great strategic plan, they’re a result of digging deep into information to find what no one else has. This book will help an entrepreneur see that the answers he/she islooking for to take business to the next level, usually can’t be Googled.

Multipliers

Liz Wiseman

        In Multipliers Liz Wiseman helps the reader explore deep within his/herself the question, “Am I a builder or a breaker? A creator or a destroyer? A multiplier or a diminisher?” She helps pick apart the way managers try to motivate and inspire in order to truly understand how to make the people around you smarter and better, rather than making yourself smarter and better. A diminisher may think he/she is the smartest and best person in the room but a multiplier makes everyone else the smartest and the best in the room.

Enjoy these great titles and keep on learning! From your financial, tax and legal partners at GQLaw.