Introduction
Adhering to the theme of Greek mythological codenames, Prometheus is my newest project. Prometheus was born out of the fiery ashes of The One Hundred Book Challenge, and is intended to serve as the canon of essential books for the modern, millennial entrepreneur. Prometheus covers a selection of nine critical topics:
- Alternative Business
- Case Studies
- Communication
- Creation
- Leadership
- Learning
- Marketing
- Mindset
- Startups
Prometheus was the Titan of foresight. As such, the books in Prometheus are intended to bestow upon the aspiring entrepreneur the skills, techniques, and requisite foresight in order to succeed in the world today.
You can find a PDF copy of Prometheus here.
Alternative Business
The Four Hour Workweek, by Tim Ferriss
Tim Ferriss’ work is polarizing and rather controversial. On one hand, he generalizes a lot of his advice and believes that every single person in the world could implement his principles and techniques, which I disagree with. However, he did single-handedly invent and pioneer “lifestyle design,” and has self-tested years’ worth of implementable strategies. Read his work and find out what you think of the man’s ideas.
The Personal MBA, by Josh Kaufman
If you could only read one business book in your lifetime, Josh Kaufman’s work would be my choice — hands down. The idea is that this book should substitute a real MBA education from an elite institution like Stanford, without the fluff and huge dent to your wallet. And while this book might not teach you how to create complex financial analysis models and whatnot, it does contain an absurdly comprehensive amount of practical knowledge that you can use to create and maintain a successful business.
The $100 Startup, by Chris Guillebeau
The main idea behind The $100 Startup can be summarized as follows: 1. Find the intersection between your “expertise” (note: not your “passion” necessarily) and what others will pay for; 2. Profit. However, Guillebeau’s book includes fifty other case studies of ordinary people leveraging this core tenet; mind you, they are not creating huge amounts of wealth, but they are achieving financial independence. I also include this book on this list as a catch-all for all of Guillebeau’s work, which is also intriguing to read (check out his website here).
Case Studies
How Google Works, by Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg
As a 21st century entrepreneur, there are two companies with which you must be intimately familiar with. One is Apple, and the other is the global behemoth that started out in a small office in Stanford, the brainchild of Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Google’s — or is it Alphabet’s — rise has been meteoric, and it has a distinctive and deliberately designed culture that fosters the innovation that it is famous for. There is no better book to learn about this journey and evolution than from the mouth of Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt.
Insanely Simple, by Ken Segall
How does Apple do it? Every single time it seems like it is on the precipice of death, it claws itself up from the abyss and bounces back with a vengeance. Ken Segall is an ad agency creative director who helped resurrect Apple, participating in the “Think Different” marketing campaign and even helping name the iMac. His book gives you an inside look at Apple’s modus operandi as well as interactions with Steve Jobs, and highlights the Apple obsession with simplicity.
The Hard Thing about Hard Things, by Ben Horowitz
Contrary to popular business books, it is not an easy feat to start a company — otherwise, I daresay there would be more successful companies in the world. Ben Horowitz is the co-founder of Andreessen and Horowitz, an immensely successful venture capitalist (VC) firm, and is a successful businessman in his own right. Horowitz’s book — rather humorously — narrates his adventures in nightmare scenarios that would crush most business leaders, allowing an aspiring startup leader to prepare his mind, body, and soul for the hellish assault they are to face.
Communication
Crucial Conversations, by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler
Crucial Conversations are “defining moments that literally shape our lives, our relationships, and our world.” Crucial Conversations is not one of those revelatory books per se; it does not blow you away with elegant writing or present a ground-breaking new thesis. Instead, it is a well-written collection of not-so-common “common sense” advice for building strong and lasting relationships in all fields of life — not just in business. What makes the book special is its comprehensive coverage of nearly all situations when connecting with other people is critical, all in encompassed within one simple book.
Pitch Perfect, by Bill McGowan
In an increasingly connected world, communication skills become more and more crucial — and for some reason, people become less and less adept at expressing their ideas diplomatically and elegantly. Pitch Perfect is aimed at remedying this issue. Bill McGowan is a journalist by training, and presents his plethora of knowledge, ranging from acing interviews and constructing conversations, to crafting eloquent speeches and conveying delicate information.
Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman
As a decision-maker, it is important to understand that humans are not as rational as we think, and there are a multitude of biological and psychological reasons explaining why. Daniel Kahneman’s book presents a whole new way of classifying thinking (System I and II; fast and slow respectively) and regales us with tales of human fallibility. It is important to understand the enemy, which in this case, is your own mind, and Kahneman’s work — while lengthy and detailed — provides the perfect avenue for exploration and discussion.
Creation
InsightOut, by Tina Seelig
Tina Seelig has written an excellent book about what she coins the “Innovation Cycle,” which consists of Imagination, Creation, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship. It is a similar model proposed by Eric Ries in his Lean Startup methodology; however, Seelig’s book is much more digestible, efficient, and entertaining. She supplements her philosophy with well-chosen, applicable case studies, which adds greatly to her message. Another plus was her astute chapter on how to tell a story. Too many books emphasize the importance of stories, but stop short of providing a way to do so; she actually provides a framework for doing so.
Steal Like an Artist, by Austin Kleon
Perhaps art is not as spontaneous as we once thought? That is an implication of Austin Kleon’s work, that the creative process can — more or less — be distilled to a process, and is really much more scientific and logical than people believe. Kleon also provides various tidbits on his artistic journey, ranging from advice on implementing interesting side projects and effective methods for sharing your work (so that other artists can steal from you too!).
Essentialism, by Greg McKeown
Essentialism is a very well-done book by Greg McKeown. True to its name, Essentialism is a short and concise book dedicated to the art of rigorously eliminating extraneity from life to amplify your work. Everyone can benefit from cutting the fluff from their lives, and McKeown provides a pragmatic and rousing guide to accomplishing just that. As McKeown aptly states, “If you don’t prioritize your own life, someone else will.”
Leadership
Strengths Based Leadership, by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie
In Strengths Based Leadership, Rath and Conchie use the work of thousands of case studies conducted by Gallup scientists to identify the three most important attributes of effective leaders. However, by far the most valuable part of this book is the comprehensive strengths assessment, which will help identify your top five strengths in the four leadership domains: Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and Strategic Thinking. As the world becomes increasingly connected and team-oriented, it becomes even more important to understand each individual’s greatest strengths in order to optimize the final product.
Global Dexterity, by Andy Molinsky
One of the prerequisites for the millennial entrepreneur is what Andy Molinsky aptly calls “global dexterity.” How we communicate with a Japanese worker differs greatly from the type of personal interface expected in the German workplace. Molinsky’s work investigates the noncognitive social factors involved when working with an international workforce, shedding light on a topic that is becoming increasingly important as the economy shifts ever closer to global interdependence.
Work Rules!, by Laszlo Bock
Laszlo Bock is the famed Head of People Operations at Google, and he writes a book that reveals the “secrets” behind constructing Google’s famous and quirky atmosphere. Bock separates his book into a multitude of chapters, each dedicated to a different aspect of forging a strong company ethos. His advice ranges from practicing transparency and letting your employees own their work and results, to paying workers unfairly (after all, performance is not normally-distributed, but rather follows a power law). His book is a fascinating read for anyone who wants to understand and craft a powerful and transformative business culture.
Learning
How to Learn Anything in 20 Hours, by Josh Kaufman
Josh Kaufman has as particularly well-done TED talk on the exact same subject (probably more visually engaging than the book), but his book provides a comprehensive methodology and set of case studies. Disclaimer: Kaufman does not promise mastery in 20 hours — that would be absurd and impossible. Instead, he provides a framework for turbocharging skill mastery: deconstructing a skill, learning enough for self-practice, removing barriers to practice, and practicing critical subskills.
Deep Work, by Cal Newport
Cal Newport is back at it again, this time espousing the benefits of deep work. Deep work (contrasted with shallow work) is “cognitively demanding activities that leverage our training to generate rare and valuable results, and that push our abilities to continually improve.” Today, people dedicate too much time to shallow work — tasks that almost anyone could do (creating reports, answering emails, scheduling meetings, etc.). In his book, Cal presents his argument for dedication to deep work, claiming that those who have the ability to perform deep work, will have an insurmountable advantage over their peers.
How We Learn, by Benedict Carey
We’re inundated with a plethora of advice regarding learning, much of which is often contradictory — study in groups, chunk information, study in quiet isolation, cram for optimizing score to time spent ratio, etc. Benedict Carey dives into the intricacies of the brain and decades of psychological studies about human learning to reveal the truth. Carey’s book is an entertaining, anecdote-filled book exploring learning science that can be applied to anyone’s life to amplify their learning.
Marketing
Never Eat Alone, by Keith Ferrazzi
Keith Ferrazzi provides an excellent read that provides a guide to “neo-networking” and teaches how to truly develop meaningful relationships. Although the book has a touch too much subtle self-promotion for my taste, Ferrazzi provides a plethora of tips for implementation and engaging audiences. Side note: the first few chapters are much more useful than the later ones. The core tenet behind Ferrazzi’s work is his adherence to authenticity and warmth — a far cry to the fundamental superficiality of traditional networking.
All Marketers are Liars, by Seth Godin
Perhaps Seth Godin has not stumbled upon a new and original idea, as we know that people love stories, but he is the first author that I have read that provides a comprehensive and concise work that connects this idea with business, and provides several practical case studies implementing his ideas. I have always found that Godin is a phenomenal business author who is very talented at crafting an engaging story (ha!) to present his thesis, and this book proves no different.
Hooked, by Nir Eyal
Nir Eyal wrote Hooked with the expressed intent of guiding product managers, designers, marketers, start-up founders, and anyone who seeks to understand how products influence the behavior of consumers. Eyal presents a four-step process (the “Hook Model”) baked into the products of successful companies, which allow them to subconsciously encourage repeated consumer consumption. In his book, Eyal crafts an answer to the question why some products are able to capture the attention of audiences and keep them coming back for more.
Mindset
Mindset, by Carol Dweck
Mindset is undoubtedly one of the most influential books written on learning science and cognitive development theory. Carol Dweck’s work provides a large amount of scientific studies to back her points and highlight her validity, but is balanced so that it is not too technically heavy. Dweck’s seminal work is also where she introduces the now-famous “growth mindset” and “fixed mindset,” both extremely pertinent ideas in the world of education, but also surprisingly applicable to the modern professional atmosphere.
The Happiness Advantage, by Sean Achor
In the midst of the chaos that is life in the 21st century, people struggle to find the time to practice mindfulness and restorative introspection. Sean Achor’s book focuses on this disconnect between happiness and perceived success, arguing that it is not success that engenders happiness, but instead the other way around. The Happiness Advantage is a collection of seven principles combined with a multitude of case studies that allow us to improve our performance — all by the simple change of thinking happy.
Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell is another author with a series of polarizing works. Love him or hate him, he has incited numerous conversations and intellectual discourse with Outliers. There are a few nuggets of gold in Outliers, like his exposition on the Ten Thousand Hour Rule and some other stories (I certainly will not spoil them all). Outliers is Gladwell’s most well-written piece in terms of continuity and “curiosity-piquing,” and is definitely a perspective-shifter.
Startups
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future, by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters
Crafted by none other than the legendary Silicon Valley visionary, Peter Thiel, Zero to One is truly the penultimate work when it comes to startups. Thiel claims that we actually live in an era of technological stagnation (do not let the iPhones fool you!), but remarks that innovation is actually still possible. To be successful, Thiel presents this fact: “Monopoly is the condition of every successful business.” However, this is not advocating for the construction of the traditional railroad or banking monopoly, but instead of innovating to the point that there is no other competition in the same stratosphere (the 10x rule). Just read this book. You’ll thank me.
The Lean Startup, by Eric Ries
The “Lean Startup” method relies on ideas taken from Japanese “lean manufacturing,” such as rapid scientific experimentation, short product development cycles, and extensive iterations of idea generation; ultimately, this approach allows companies great flexibility to pivot directions. Ries’ book is loaded with information and case studies as how to implement this methodology, as well as a straightforward, scientific process for innovation. One especially cool part is Ries’ especially refreshing and fitting definition of a startup: an organization dedicated to creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty.
The Seven Day Startup, by Dan Norris
The Seven Day Startup provides a lightweight, quick method for starting from nothing and then launching a product. Though the title may be a bit misleading, the general premise is correct: you must launch quickly. Norris emphasizes the idea of creating a minimum viable product (MVP), and includes step-by-step instructions on how to launch. It is a very short read, and while not the best book for launching larger, more ambitious start-ups, his book does tackle the core tenets of start-up businesses.
Notes
- All photos from Amazon.com