Less-Known Books That Helped Me Build My Basis For Entrepreneurship:
There are several books like “Good to Great”, “Zero to One”, “The Lean Startup”, “Start with Why”, “Steve Jobs Biography”, “Elon Musk’s Biography”, etc that helped me get inspired about entrepreneurship but there are few other less-known books that helped me gain the skills. I thought of sharing those books here:
How To Be Everything: Emilie Wapnick — This is a book on multipotentiality (someone who is interested in multiple domains and skills — passionate about getting deeper into those skills. This is the first book that I read that acknowledged that having an interest in multiple domains is an advantage. This book also clearly states how one skill from one domain can be leveraged for another completely different domain — providing you with this differentiator. Being okay with having multiple interests and learning to cross-link these skills — helped me to become a better entreprenuer.
Mastery: Robert Greene — This is another book that talks about how you can reach the peak in anything that you decide to go after. The strong lesson is that mastery doesn’t depend on whether you’re gifted or have in-born talents but it purely depends on the steps you take towards becoming the master. The three phases of 1. Apprenticeship 2. Creative-Active 3. Mastery — the journey across these stages, gives us the right process to become a master in any domain. Reading this book would help you realize the importance of the process. This book also helped me understand that it takes years to become a master at something.
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance: Angela Duckworth: The book talks about the importance of Grit (a combination of passion and perseverance). The author explains how perseverance can pave the way to success but passion can make it happen faster. The book has a strong point of view on the “Growth mindset” — working hard, believing that you can accomplish your goals, and being open to receiving support/ feedback would help us get closer to long-term achievements. This book exemplifies the importance of constantly learning and growing — a very critical skill to get better at entrepreneurship.
Measure What Matters: John Doerr: This is a great book on OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) system to manage the business and grow. This is a system followed by multiple companies like Google, Uber, etc. This book talks about 4 OKR superpowers- 1. Focus and commit to the priorities 2. Align and connect for teamwork 3. Track for accountability 4. Stretch for amazing results. The OKR rulebook in the book helps us define the right Objectives/ goals and set the right tracking metrics (Key Results) to measure the progress in the objectives. Implementation of OKR can be a game changer for a startup.
Power of Your Subconscious Mind: Joseph Murphy: This is a book that was published in 1963. This is a great book that talks in detail about our conscious and sub-conscious mind that influences our everyday life events positively or negatively. The surface of the Iceberg is the conscious mind and below the surface iceberg is the sub-conscious mind. Getting your mind right covers 50% of your execution to win.
Why What Makes Us Curious: Mario Livio: This book goes into great depth about curiosity and why certain people are more curious than others. Curiosity is the principle driver for any creation be it scientific research, music, or art. The books focus on “boundless curiosity” and how that can transform an individual. Entrepreneurship is filled with a ton of unknowns and uncertainty — curiosity is one key skill that would help navigate these situations.
The Magic Of Thinking Big: David Schwartz: This book uncovers the benefit of thinking big in any domain and how action can cure fear. The book discusses several practical steps to develop the power of belief and build confidence. Practicing adding value to things, people, and yourself — is critical for you to think big and execute the same.
Emotional Intelligence 2.0: Travis Bradberry: This book talks about the importance of Emotional Intelligence to become a leader. Emotional intelligence is your ability to identify and understand emotions in yourself and others and to use this awareness to manage your responses and relationships. Measuring the improving your EQ can help build and manage great teams.
These are some of the books that haven’t been spoken wildly in public but these books have provided tremendous value for me as an entrepreneur. I hope more people get value out of these books as well.
If you have any of the less-known book suggestions — share it in the comments.