As the summer heats up, what does your business schedule look like? Are you looking forward to spending some down time with a good book? For entrepreneurs, it can be hard to shut off completely, but you can use time away from working in your business to improving yourself by gaining perspective by reading one of more of these interesting books.
Once you have finished one of them, don’t keep your new impressions to yourself; strike up a conversation at your coworking space to see what your colleagues think about what you have found. You’ll be sure to have some interesting chats over coffee after you have checked out the books on this list.
Don’t Bring it to Work by Sylvia LaFair
If you have ever had to stop to pick your jaw up off the floor (virtually, of course) at the sandbox antics in the workplace, this book will explain why some people revert to patterns they learned on the schoolyard when they should be far more professional. Workplaces tend to be more like families than we realize, according to Ms. Lafair, and people fall into similar patterns. Find out how to spot dysfunctional ones and discover how to move into a more positive (and productive) pattern.
Crazy Bosses by Stanley Bing
This book focuses on the people who have made it to the top of the corporate heap. These darlings of the corporate press have certainly done well for their companies, but their success has come at a price. Stanley Bing takes a close look at the narcissism of the privileged few who have clawed their way to those highly-prized executive offices. Is being a psychopath a requirement for success at this level? You be the judge.
The Peter Principle by Laurence Peter and Raymond Hull
Most businesses are actively looking to recruit the best and the brightest candidates and to selectively remove mediocre performers from the company pool. Authors Peter and Hull point out that this strategy has a distinct disadvantage and that as a business grows and changes over time, everyone will eventually be in over their heads.
The Four-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss
To be an entrepreneur is synonymous with working long hours, isn’t it? Timothy Ferriss has a different take on the key to success on his book. He asks readers to reconsider what work means to them, and points out that the majority of activities that we spend time on may be unnecessary and holding us back from the kind of life we really want.
The No Asshole Rule by Robert Sutton, Ph.D
As much as we want to avoid them, some people are just difficult to get along with. The title of this book may sound a bit harsh, but it provides some great advice on how to deal with them while remaining relatively unscathed.
This summer reading list should give you some interesting food for thought that you can choose to digest on your own over the lazy, hazy days to come. And by all means, share your thoughts with us and others when you’re finished.
