Business lessons from non-business books: A curated reading list
Confession: My to-be-read pile is enormous. And it’s not because I don’t devote enough time to reading – ask my family. It’s because my neighborhood is full of Little Free Libraries, and my neighbors are generous with amazing books. And I am, apparently, a hoarder.
Most of these books are fiction; some are memoir and historical non-fiction. None of them (except for Marc Cox’s book, The Business Case for Love) are business books.
I have found, though, that lots of ideas in novels and nonfiction have helped me do my job better. I especially liked The Oregon Trail by Rinker Buck. In it, two early 21st century retiree decides to cross the Oregon Trail like the original pioneers, with mules and a covered wagon. Challenges and life changes ensue. My team and I were deep in a new web site build and to a large degree kept figuring it out as we went along. I kept telling them, "Let's get to Oregon!"
I put this out to my network on LinkedIn a few weeks ago: tell me a decidedly not business book that has given you some good business/work/career lessons. Here are some of the suggestions I got back. Maybe you’ll add something to your to-be-read list!
Life priorities
Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner. Anne Thompson says, “The book tells the story of a friendship between two couples, both of which included a writer. It's a little melancholy I suppose, but remembering it always reminds me of how different we each are and the futility of comparison; which does carry over well into the corporate / business world.”
Brian Huss recommends a book by his friend, mentor and manager, Peter Stathopoulos. Peter wrote Traveling with the Fates: Vignettes from a trip to Greece about his last trip to Greece with his kids shortly after being diagnosed with ALS in 2016. H recently passed away, so the book was very top of mind for Brian. He says, “His writing is powerful and a lasting gift. One business lesson I'd take away? Perspective. Keep your work/career in perspective...prioritize the time you have with family and friends.”
Jessie Coan re-reads Tuesdays with Morrie every few years, and Ellen Osthus reminded me of the power of anything by Brene Brown. Both suggestions seem helpful at keeping good perspective on your life and work’s place in it, as well as reminding us to be compassionate with ourselves and others.
Empathy
The Authenticity Project and The Sober Diaries by Clare Pooley, covering addiction, mental health, and recovery. Steven Brantner says the stories are well written and powerful as people around us may be struggling with mental health but pretending that everything is ok because they don't feel safe sharing. A great lesson for this time.?
Tyler McKinley recommends the Netflix documentary Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond about Jim Carey's experience playing Andy Kaufman in the 90's biopic "Man in the Moon." “Carey recalls as a struggling comedian, laying in bed, asking himself, ‘what do people want? what do they want? what do they want?’ and then sitting up in the middle of the night, out of a sound sleep, with the answer: ‘People want to be free from concern." And it's true. Our customer, employees, boards, and leadership teams all want to be ‘free from concern.’”
Professional skills
You are Not So Smart by David McRaney (also a podcast). The book explores the cognitive biases and logical fallacies all human beings experience. Crissy VanGuilder-West says, “It has helped me craft meaningful content and learn how to work within teams by recognizing the lies we tell ourselves, most unconsciously.”
Beth M. Naffziger recommends Black Buck, a sort of dystopian view of a start-up sales environment, through the eyes of the one African American employee. Beth says, “It had a lot of sales tips and a very interesting story! I highly recommend it.”
Ethics
Noelle Campbell recommends Glass House, which looks at a small town devastated by “financial engineering” by Wall Street. Tyler McKinley recommends this one too, saying “I think our grandchildren will look back on this era of financial engineering (say, 1980 onward), shocked that such ‘business’ methods were ever legal.”
Casey Hall recommended The Circle by Dave Eggers, which touches on surveillance, privacy and technology. It’s a novel, and there’s suspense and stuff, but it looks like it gets at the question of what can we do versus what should we do when it comes to technological capabilities. For that reason, I’m putting it under Ethics. And I’m putting it on my to-read list. Can anyone lend me a copy?
Leadership Memoirs
Marc Cox points us to Richard Branson’s Losing My Virginity. Marc liked reading about Branson’s “creation of Virgin Records and his dealings with the recording artists such as Mike Oldfield of Tubular Bells fame.”
Erica Holthausen points us to Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child. Erica says, “Julia Child was an absolutely brilliant businesswoman and this is a book that I think every business owner and marketer should read.” Erica covers specific business and marketing lessons in her blog post about the book.
Mark Capalidini liked Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales. The book “profiles those who survived life-threatening situations in a wide variety of circumstances. None of the typical expected success factors made a difference — preparedness, physical condition, experience, technical knowledge, etc. Attitude and determination were the keys.”
Tina Rexing suggests Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike.“It’s a borderline business book, but it was a good read.”
I don’t have a sales pitch to sign off this post. But let me know if you want to talk books sometime!