This post is by Flex Legal’s founder, Erin Cowling, and contains her personal reviews and business book recommendations.
As an avid reader I always have at least two books on the go: one that is fiction (most often a murder mystery or detective novel), and one that is non-fiction, usually a business book or biography / memoir by a businessperson.
I have always been eager to find great business book recommendations. Some online lists have been helpful and have included honest reviews with a variety of interesting or useful books. Other times I have been duped by lists that are clearly biased or paid reviews. Since the number of books that I have read keeps growing, I’ve decided to make my own list and write some reviews & business book recommendations to help others find their next great read.
I’ve developed my own rating system for the books on a scale of 1-5:
1: Disliked (I wish I could get the hours of my life back I spent reading this book). 2: Not a huge fan (but I learned at least one nugget of knowledge making it worth my time). 3: Solid book (with some room for improvement). 4: Good book (left an impression). 5: Excellent book (very useful, will likely re-read or have re-read already). |
Keep in mind that I have an undergraduate degree in English Literature and no formal business training, so some of these books may be very basic for those with a business degree. Also, I fully admit that the majority of these books are written by men (19 of the 25) and I am not happy about that. Adrienne Dorison recently posted on LinkedIn a list of business books authored by women. Many of those are on my to-read list now!
I have loosely separated out the books into three categories (although some books can fit into one or more category): 1) business improvement books; 2) autobiographies/biographies or memoirs by business owners or entrepreneurs; and 3) leadership / career advice books.
(If you don’t want to read the full blog post with my reviews and recommendations and just want the list with links to the books, you can find that here.)
Category One: Business Improvement
1) Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman
Rating: 5
This book sits on a table in my office, always in reach, especially during our quarterly and annual planning meetings. In it Wickman sets out a simple framework (which he calls the Entrepreneurial Operating System or EOS) for how to run your business.
At Flex Legal, we have implemented many of the recommendations in this book but have put our own twists on them. Traction is one book of many in the EOS/ Traction library and the EOS world, which also includes EOS podcasts and EOS coaches (implementers) you can hire. I’m very much a DIY’er so I never felt the need to hire an EOS coach and have implemented the suggestions in the book myself.
Rating: 2
This is another book in the Traction library. I gave this book a lower rating because I felt like it could have been a blog post. It was an easy read, but I’m disappointed I spent money on it. It boils down to the five points of the EOS Life: doing what you love, with people you love, making a huge difference, being compensated appropriately, with time for other passions.
3) The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field by Mike Michalowicz
Rating: 4
This book was my first introduction to Mike Michalowicz. Michalowicz writes business books for small business owners who likely do not have business degrees. Some people may find his writing off-putting (it is rather cringey in some places), but I recommend that you try to overlook the goofiness and focus on the messaging.
This book is not about growing pumpkins (ha!) but about growing a business by focusing on the few big pumpkins (great clients) in your pumpkin patch and weeding/pruning away the other pumpkins (bad clients) that are taking resources (your time, energy) away from the best. He gives some good tips on how to find your dream clients and fire your nightmare ones.
4) Clockwork (Design Your Business to Run Itself) by Mike Michalowicz
Rating: 5
This book sits next to my Traction book. At Flex Legal we combine lessons from Clockwork and Traction to make sure our business is running like clockwork and gaining traction (see what I did there?). Michalowicz’s goal is to help business owners take a 4-week vacation by having their business run itself (so, having the right people, processes, and systems in place). The book also helps business owners determine and focus on the “Queen Bee Role” of the business, in other words the critical role for your business, without which your business will collapse. I have an older version of this book and I understand that there is a newer and updated version now available.
5) Fix This Next by Mike Michalowicz
Rating: 2
I gave it a 2 because I never actually finished reading it. I’m not sure why, I think I just got bored? It appears to be a business version of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. If I do finish it, I will be sure to update this review.
6) The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber
Rating: 4.5
Another book I would put with Traction and Clockwork with similar messaging and advice. I have also read this one at least twice. The “E-myth” stands for the “Entrepreneurial Myth” and is aimed at people who start small businesses who haven’t yet embraced the entrepreneurial mindset. This book helps you to think more like an entrepreneur and take steps to have your business run without you. A lot of the tips stem from the saying “work on your business and not in it”.
7) Building A Story Brand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller
Rating: 5
This book makes branding and marketing concepts accessible to non-branding and non-marketing people. If you are looking to refresh your messaging on your website or in your email marketing campaigns, this is a good book for you. Miller describes the 7 elements of great storytelling and how to use them to grow your business.
8) Business Made Simple by Donald Miller
Rating: 3
Maybe it’s because I read many “business made simple” type books before I picked this one up, but I did not find this one as helpful as Traction, Clockwork, etc. However, if you have not read the other ones, this might be a good one to start with. Donald Miller breaks down running a business into bite-size (read one-a-day) tips and actions for small business owners.
9) The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches Your When to Quit (and When to Stick) by Seth Godin
Rating: 2
I picked this book up a few years into running Flex Legal as a solopreneur. It was at a time when I was trying to decide whether to stick with Flex Legal or bail.
According to Seth Godin I was either facing a “Dip” or a “Cul-de-Sac”.The Dip being a temporary setback that you can overcome if you keep pushing (so don’t quit when the going gets tough, push through it). Supposedly successful people don’t just ride out the dip, they lean into it. The Cul-de-Sac is a place you can be in that will never get better, no matter how hard you try. Good premise, but the book fails to teach you how to really recognize if you are in a Dip or a Cul-de-Sac. In hindsight, I was in a Dip, but I had no idea, and this book did not help.
10) Company of One: Why Staying Small is the Next Big Thing for Business by Paul Jarvis
Rating: 3
I also read this book when I was still a solopreneur and I think I wanted some reassurance that it was okay to keep my business small. The premise of this book is that not everyone has to start a business that needs to scale up as soon as possible and that some business owners are quite successful at committing to a better business instead of a bigger one. Jarvis focuses on a minimalist business strategy. However, some businesses just grow or need to grow in order stay successful. I probably waited too long to bring on employees and grow the management side of my business after reading this book.
11) Think. Do. Say. by Ron Tite
Rating: 3
Ron Tite is an advertising creative director, and he writes about an approach to cutting through the advertising noise as a business owner. That approach is boiled down to Think.Do.Say. The premise being: be authentic. I found it to be an easy fun read with a couple of little nuggets for me to take away. Probably could have been a blog post. I would pair this book and read it with Story Brand by Donald Miller.
Category Two: Autobiographies, Biographies, & Memoirs
12) After Steve: How Apple Became a Trillion Dollar Company and Lost its Soul by Tripp Mickle
Rating: 4.5
While this technically isn’t a biography of one person, this book does a deep dive into Apple after Steve Jobs’ death, and in particular, follows the careers of Tim Cook the COO turned CEO and Jony Ive the Chief Design Officer. The author is a good storyteller, weaving anecdotes and painting a picture of the building tension between these two men and their visions for the company. After reading the book, it is clear that Apple is no longer the same company it once was, and it was fascinating to see the shift in culture that happened.
13) Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight
Rating: 5
I really liked this book. While this was clearly a privileged white man who started out on second base in his journey to build a massive business, it was an entertaining and interesting read. This book follows the wild and stressful journey of Phil Knight in building Nike and the ridiculous and crazy events that happened on the way, along with some not-so-great choices and actions that he took as a leader. This book not only made me feel better about my business but made me think I needed to take a few more risks in life.
14) The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder
Rating: 4
Many, many times throughout reading this book I would turn to my husband and say, “Warren Buffet sounds like an a-hole.” My biggest beef with the man (not the book, which was fascinating) was that he collects women like objects. He collects them for different needs in his life and truly believes that the women’s fulfillment in life comes from caring for him. Now to be fair, he did have a traumatic childhood with an abusive mother, so the source of this need to have women care for him is obvious. It still doesn’t make it right.
Putting this aspect of Warren Buffett aside, the business parts of the book are fascinating. Highlighted throughout is Buffett’s need to collect things from stamps to women to obviously money and companies, and the razor-sharp focus he has on building his wealth and making smart choices. I enjoyed reading all the inside information on the many business deals and the decision process he undertook to make those deals.
At 960 pages (!) the author gives a very detailed account, almost too detailed account on every aspect of Buffett (and his wife Susie’s) life (and I read the updated and shortened version!)
15) The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company by Robert Iger
Rating: 5
This book chronicles Robert Iger’s role as CEO, the decisions he made, and the setbacks he faced. Iger describes the principles that he feels are necessary for true leadership: optimism, courage, focus, decisiveness, curiosity, fairness, thoughtfulness, and integrity. The book starts with Iger learning about the little boy who was killed by an alligator at the Disney World in Florida and then flashes back to follow Iger’s career leading up to be becoming CEO. Once again this is a great “behind the scenes” look at a large company and the human component (emotions and egos) that can make or break a business. The appendix has a long list of “lessons to lead by” which are helpfully collected in one place.
16) Untamed by Glennon Doyle
Rating: 1
I know I am an outlier on this one, so please bear with me. It’s hard for me to describe, but I have major distrust over this book and find it lacks authenticity (*ducks and hides*). In this book, the author mentions two previous books she had written about her life which she now admits weren’t honest depictions of her life at the time, but Untamed is now the real honest truth. What am I to believe? (Also, I don’t know why, but the fact that she is a grown woman, with kids and running her own business, and didn’t know how to buy a plane ticket really bothered me – was this really true? It also made me question the entire book for some reason).
Many, many, people found this book empowering. I did not.
17) No Bootstraps When You’re Barefoot by Wes Hall
Rating: 4
This book was an inspiring read and chronicles the life and career of a Canadian business leader and founder of the Black North Initiative, Wes Hall. This is a true “I started with nothing” book (unlike other “I started with nothing but a small $200,000 loan from my parents” type of story). Wes recounts overcoming his lack of money and education as well as facing systemic racism to become the successful businessperson he is today. Bonus: if you are intrigued about proxy solicitation the second half of the book is fascinating.
Category Three: Leadership & Career Advice
18) Permission to Screw Up: How I Learned to Lead by Doing (Almost) Everything Wrong by Kristen Hadeed
Rating: 5
I loved the honesty in this book. It follows Kristen Hadeed’s unintentional launch of a business called Student Maid, because she wanted to buy a pair of jeans she couldn’t afford as a university student. The author sets out everything she did wrong (and how she fixed it) as a leader, and new business owner. I borrowed this book from the library, and I wish I had my own copy to re-read. I may have enjoyed this book so much because I read this book when I was still a new-ish business owner. It gives such an unvarnished look at entrepreneurship that it made me feel so much better about my own mistakes. It was a breath a fresh air.
19) The Genius Habit by Laura Garnett
Rating: 3.5
This book talks about the importance of knowing what you are good at and what brings you joy and focusing on this information to find a successful and fulfilling career. Basically, Laura Garnett gives you tips on how to become more self-aware and figure out what you really want in life. I read this book back when I had started practicing as a freelance lawyer and I was already enjoying my career. I felt like I had already found my “Zone of Genius” as she called it so I didn’t find it very helpful, but I did loan it (I guess the proper term is “gift” as it was never returned) to a friend who was struggling with finding fulfillment in her career.
20) The Coaching Habit (Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever) by Michael Bungay Stanier
Rating: 4
Anyone who manages other people would benefit from reading this book. It is a short read with bit-sized tips on how to ask the right (seven) questions when approached by members of your team (or others) seeking your advice or help. It encourages more asking questions and less telling people what to do. I recommend this book for people with businesses who want to be doing less and delegating more. This book helps you to stop and understand before jumping in and trying to fix or do everything yourself.
21) The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention and Energy by Chris Bailey
Rating: 4
This felt like it was written by a single person with no one else depending on them. Chris Bailey spent a year performing a deep-dive into studying productivity and conducting productivity experiments, the results of which are this book. There are many different takes on how to improve your productivity and some actually worked for me. Others, I very much reacted with a “Hell, no!” to (like the “give up or reduce coffee intake” advice). I would recommend this for someone who wants to dig deeper into what it means to be productive and to find ways to bring better productivity into their lives.
22) How to Calm Your Mind: Finding Presence and Productivity in Anxious Times by Chris Bailey
Rating: 5
Turns out focusing only on being very productive may not be the best thing for your mental health. This book was written after The Productivity Project and after Chris Bailey had become stressed and burnt out and started suffering from panic attacks. This book was one of the impetuses behind some of the real changes I made in my life to look after my mental health better and to find more “calm”. While some critics argue that Bailey isn’t writing about anything new, I found it helpful and new to me or at least a good reminder of advice I already knew but didn’t put into practice. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on stimulation fasting and choosing analog; my morning routine has changed because of this book.
23) Daring Greatly by Brene Brown
Rating: 1
Another one where I am an outlier. This time it was the writing for me. I found it very frustrating. According to the book description, Dr. Brown discusses how to “embrace vulnerability and imperfection, to live wholeheartedly, and to courageously engage in our lives.” However, I found that it included a lot of generalities and I need concrete examples, steps, and to-dos. At the end of the book, I was asking myself: “What the heck IS vulnerability?” “What was this book about?” “What am I supposed to take away from this?” I literally tossed the book in frustration across the room when I was finished. The book does have a 4.29 out of 5 rating on Goodreads, so I am very much in the minority.
24) The Anxious Achiever: Turn Your Biggest Fears Into Your Leadership Superpower by Morra Aarons-Mele
Rating: 4
According to the dust-jacket description this is a book with a mission: “to normalize anxiety and leadership.” Aarons-Mele tackles reframing anxiety, helping leaders understand and avoid common thought traps and triggers, and resisting perfectionism among other tips. I found the anecdotes and shared experiences helpful as well as the various exercises spread throughout the book to put the tips into practice. If you are into podcasts the author hosts “The Anxious Achiever” podcast.
25) Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein
Rating: 3
I am not sure if I finished this book. I found it to be a bit of a slow read. It was a few years ago and I remember learning a few nuggets of wisdom from it though. The book encourages us to think broadly and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives to thrive in life. As someone who has had numerous jobs and career paths, I do remember feeling reassured after reading this book ( or at least a part of it).
