By Wil Becker with Turning Leaf Solutions

I have several books listed on my Top 10 Book List… however, the first is Resolved: 13 Resolutions for Life by Orrin Woodward. The reason this book is on top of my list is because it cuts right to the quick. A person can only become as good as the principles they live by. Orrin outlines 13 Resolutions that we can use to make a better life for ourselves. He writes from years of experience leading organizations and mentoring others. He knows the results that come from years of personal development with persistent effort, one step at a time.

Orrin follows the long-standing examples set by Ben Franklin, Jonathan Edwards, and George Washington. Each of these men had written resolutions or guidelines that they strived to live by. Those resolutions shaped who they became and the influence that they had on the American colonies. Orrin frames this book to help each person that picks it up understand some keys to help them pursue their own goals and dreams!

It is his belief that when we grow and develop ourselves, we open the door to creating a life that is abundant and fulfilling. We empower ourselves to achieve our dreams and make a massive difference in our communities!! Orrin’s goal is to help 1 million people become financially free because he believes that when we reach that number, we can create a stronger culture of freedom and faith in a better world! Orrin believes that it’s our (yes, everyone’s) responsibility to work together and create a better and freer world.

It is his belief that has inspired me to work harder on myself and work to help others achieve their best self and their goals and dreams!

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By Suzy Rawlins with Roots and Boots with Suzy Rawlins

Leaders are readers!  I’ve heard this from so many business leaders in my world.  Regarding pleasure reading, I’ve never really enjoyed it, and I still don’t.  I prefer reading books about personal growth or business rather than fiction, such as mystery novels.

When it comes to business or leadership books, I have read many over the past fifteen years.  My favorite is The Compound Effect by Darrin Hardy. I have read the book at least seven times and listened to it on audible more than thirty times. It is an easy read, less than two hundred pages or four and a half hours on Audible. 

This book explains how small, consistent actions can lead to significant positive changes over time.  It emphasizes the importance of making small choices and taking consistent action toward achieving a personal and professional goal.  A quote from the book sums it up for me: “There is no magic bullet, secret formula, or quick fix.” 

At the beginning of the book, the author gives the example of “The Magic Penny.”  The basic idea is that choosing to take a penny that doubles in value each day for thirty-one days would be the better choice than taking a lump sum of money today.  This principle taught in this book is that small incremental steps daily add up to bigger results than a one-time big action.

Leaders read to gain knowledge, insights, and perspectives that can help them make better decisions, communicate more effectively, and lead more successfully. Reading also helps leaders stay informed about current events and trends and can inspire them to think creatively and innovate in their fields.

There are many great things to learn from this book, and I recommend it to everyone.  If you are a business owner, I think this is must read.  This book contains principles that can be applied in many aspects of your life. 

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By Sharon Loduca, Real Estate Professional in Ontario, Canada

At that moment, whatever book I’m reading happens to be my best book.  What makes them my fovourite is what I can learn from them, how they motivate me, how challenged I am to apply that knowledge, and how easy it is for me to understand. The most recent one was Your Next Five Moves by Patrick Bet-David.

I also believe that ‘business’ and ‘personal’ are intertwined. Mainly that’s because, whatever we offer in our business model, will still be infused with our individual make-up. It is what separates one business from another. It’s what allows our thumbprint to be on our business, sealing it as ours.

Patrick Bet-David flees the Iranian Revolution and lives for a time in a refugee camp en route to building his life in the US. You can be sure he learned a lot during that stage of his life. He starts his book with an understanding of chess players’ next moves. He quickly moves it from there to our next moves in life. our next moves in business. I know nothing about chess. I do understand that personal growth and business growth go hand-in-hand.  I need to understand tackling challenges and face fears and test solutions in my personal life in order to be able to apply them in my business strategies.

Bet-David’s five moves, you can read about for yourself, but here are the reasons why they connected with me:

1. Master Knowing Yourself:  This rings true to my understanding that our business strategies reflect who we are as persons.

• Master The Ability To Reason. Do you know where it is hard, really hard, to reason? Yes – in our personal life – with those who are close to us! But if we can learn to reason in our personal lives, what skills will we have acquired for business applications?

• Master Building The Right Team. It is imperative we have the right people around us to support us. We need the strength and support of our people. We will also find our best selves as we also learn to find our own strength and wisdom to support them. The right team reinforces us to be our best, strongest, wisest, brightest, and most authentic selves.

• Master Strategy to Scale.  What is this really, at its core? Learn to Grow. Then apply what you’ve learned to grow more.  In business we may hear those words as exponential growth, growth investment, raising capital, and creating systems. This can seem overwhelming and beyond our knowledge skillset, particularly as entrepreneurs. However, the first three moves above set us up well to tackle move #4

• Master Making Power Plays. How we “power play” will determine our reputation and future business. It’s how we build our name. It’s how we tell the public whether they can trust us to honour our word and to stand behind our product or service. It’s how we tell them about our reliability and our stability. 

A lot of this is played out today on social media. So please, always think about your post and how you will respond. Always be thinking about how it will reflect on you. If you can control your narrative, social media will reflect it for you, worldwide, forever out there. This is powerful.

So back we go to Move #1 and dig in a little deeper. And, always, love what you do.

“The only thing separating us from greatness is a vision and a plan for achieving greatness. When you’re fighting for a cause, a dream, something greater than yourself, you will find the enthusiasm, passion, and joy that make life a great adventure. The key is identifying your cause and knowing who you want to be.” ~ Patrick Bet-David

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By Cheryl Clark with Clark Strategies

This question is not an easy one to answer.

My first thought is boy there are so many, but the truth is – there are so many pieces and parts of a multitude of books.  I don’t recall a whole book and the learning it provided, but I absolutely do retain a bit from here and there and can bring it forward when my brain needs to reflect on it.

With that being said, let me share two books.  Book #1 – I have read several times and I use what I learned in this book DAILY.  Book #2 – I have read maybe twice and can not directly recall quotes and sayings from the book, but the overall principal and thought process I try my best to follow, and love the energy behind it all.

Book #1 – The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman.  If you KNOW me – this will not be a surprise.

Book #2 – The Go Giver by Bob Burg.

Have you ever had that one client that just seems to always be asking for something ‘more’?  Or how about a client that seems so unsure of themselves and is needing reassurance that they are making the best decisions for their business?  Maybe you have a client that always seems to want just a ‘few minutes’ of your time for a chat?  I am telling you, my friends, the book The Five Love Languages ROCKS for understanding people!  People in general – partners, friends, and clients!

This book is a game changer in allowing us to understand how others receive and feel ‘loved’.  Let’s change that ‘love’ word to validated, cared for, acknowledged, important, valued, and seen.  All our clients want to feel and believe they are validated, cared for, acknowledged, important, valued, and seen – right?  I mean think about it – you want that business-wise and personally, as well.

When we know how others receive and feel – we can speak to them in a way they can understand and get what ‘they need’ from our interactions!

That person needing reassurance of their decisions – positive affirmations is their love language. 

That person needing a quick meeting here and there – quality time is their love language. 

The one soul who is always asking for something more – gifts and or acts of service may be their love language. 

Understanding the person – meeting their needs and talking their language – will take your business to a whole new level, and I don’t just mean monetarily.

Which brings me to book #2 – The Go Giver!

Fourminutebooks.com summarizes The Go Giver with these words, “The Go-Giver teaches a pattern for becoming a better person and seeing more success in business and work by focusing on being authentic and giving as much value as possible.”  See how this all ties in now!  I promise I didn’t do this intentionally but as I started to write this blog I thought wow.  Give value – be authentic, be a better person – see success. 

People are the root of our success – without people, we will never achieve it.

My two favorite business books!

Love people how they need to be loved, give them the love, and the ripple returns right back to each of us in so many ways, not the least of which is through us being a better person and our business seeing success.

For the record – my love languages are physical touch and quality time – oh, there’s nothing like hugs and time together. They feed my soul.

Grateful for this blog prompt!  The reflection on these books did my soul good!

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By Jamie Allen Bishop with Jamie Allen Bishop Coaching

How do I choose one favorite business book?

It seems unfair to choose just one. As someone who often has more than one favorite, this question is like asking me to choose my favorite animal or kid or food. When I think about my favorite… anything, I am unreasonably indecisive and prefer to think my love for each has different reasons, all those reasons being equally important.

Let’s start with an important definition.

fa vor ite
/’fāv(ә)rәt/
adjective
preferred before all others of the same kind

With this definition in mind, I am fully aware that my business exists in large part because of the personal and professional development insights, all of which I’ve learned from hundreds of different authors. I enjoy the lessons learned from books, and the volume at which I consume books is massive.

Before I share my favorite, here is a list of ten books that have had a profound impact on me:

1. Florence Scovel Shinn’s (1926) The Game of Life and How to Play It;
2. Dale Carnegie’s (1936) How to Win Friends and Influence People;
3. Napoleon Hill’s (1937) Think and Grow Rich;
4. M. Scott Peck’s (1978) The Road Less Traveled;
5. Stephen R. Covey’s (1989) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People;
6. Robert T. Kiyosaki’s (1997) Rich Dad Poor Dad;
7. Spencer Johnson’s (1998) Who Moved My Cheese?;
8. Stephen M.R. Covey’s (2008) The Speed of Trust;
9. Brian Tracy’s (2010) No Excuses!; and,
10. Matthew McConaughey’s (2020) Greenlights.

…and there are hundreds more in my collection that are worthy of mentioning. If you are looking for recommendations, this list is a lovely place to start a personal/professional development journey.

What makes a book special to me, however, is when I read the book and feel like I know the author. I walk away from that experience with an emotional attachment and personal connection to the book itself, making it much easier to recall and reference. That’s how my favorite business book felt to me: personal.

This book had great advice, logical and legitimate insights, as well as heart-centered storytelling that made me know I could be this author’s friend. The way this book was written was vulnerable and relatable. It was a fabulous book with brilliant awareness to share, and I recommend all entrepreneurs read it as soon as possible.

In fact, if it’s on your list of books to read, I invite you to join us for Book Club in July 2023 to read Jen Sincero’s (2017) You Are A Badass At Making Money.

When I meet Jen, I fully expect to become friendly enough to invite her to join me on my yacht.

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