On building and running a business

Books on building and running a business.

'Surely someone's written a book with all the answers of how to run an organisation?'

This was the question I asked myself when starting my first.

And of course, there are gazillions of books on how to run a business – but there aren't any books on how to run your business, your way.

These are some of the books I have taken repeated inspiration from, whether considering a business of one, or one hundred.

Traction.
Gino Wickman.

Frameworks and templates can be very useful. Guide rails that give you an overall structure or 'best practice', but leave you to fill in the gaps. Traction is the closest I've found to a one-stop shop to creating clarity and momentum, through to the rhythms and disciplines that actually create that momentum and drive progress – whatever the mission. I often lean on some of it's principles in my consulting work today.

Nugget:
”Long-term predicting is not really about foretelling what will happen; it’s making a decision about what you will do tomorrow based on what you know today.”

Creativity, Inc.
Ed Catmull.

Pixar have been seen as a powerhouse of creativity for many years. I first picked up 'Innovate the Pixar Way' during the early days of building our creative culture at The Neighbourhood, and I found it helpful in trying to reconcile the sometimes apparently incompatible forces of creativity and commerciality. Ed Catmull's own book a few years later really lands some of his leadership and management philosophies that helped Pixar to protect their creative process, and create amazing success.

Nugget:
”We start from the presumption that our people are talented and want to contribute. We accept that, without meaning to, our company is stifling that talent in myriad unseen ways. Finally, we try to identify those impediments and fix them.”

See also:
The Responsible Company ➜

Creating Effective Teams.
Susan Wheelan.

Principles like "work hard and be nice to people" as Anthony Burrill famously illustrated are inspiring and crucial. But this perhaps unglamorous book, introduced to me by the brilliant minds over at Hyper Island, is simply the best book on teamwork I've ever read. Now in it's fifth edition, this book first introduced me to the stages of forming, storming, norming, and performing. It's an incredibly useful field guide and workbook for understanding the team dynamics in any organisation, and practical insights into how to positively influence them.

Nugget:
”A work group becomes a team when shared goals have been established and effective methods to accomplish those goals are in place.”

The Decision Book.
Roman Tschäppeler and Mikael Krogerus.

When trying to lead change of any kind or in any context, 'decision fatigue' can come into play. At The Neighbourhood, I would sometimes find myself procrastinating over decisions. A mentor once said to me 'your only job around here is to make decisions and get as many of them right as you can – 70% is good.' This super helpful book encourages you to stop circling, and start deciding. It has given me a helpful nudge into interrogating options and taking sometimes uncomfortable decisions on many occasions.

Nugget:
“ ‘I’d rather regret the things I have done than the things that I haven’t.’ Lucille Ball.”