Books to Give to the Business Owner

Give the business owner you know a bit of inspiration – whether it stems from innovative ideas or long-accepted axioms. Either type can be found in any of these best-selling books, which have been ranked by the New York Times, Amazon.com, Business Week, and Forbes. Retail prices are listed:

• The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life, by Alice Schroeder, $35
  Over the past five years, this book became Schroeder’s means of exploring the many paradoxes that she found in Buffett: a rich man who did not spend, a man raised Republican but voted Democrat, and even a rich man who supposed taxes for the rich. The final product is a comprehensive and candid portrait of someone who everyone knew simply as the great American investor.
• The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures, by Dan Roam, $24.95
  How can the back of a napkin communicate a business idea? According to Roam, anyone can convey this through just one picture – and with this, four steps of visual processing, five questions to consider, and six ways of drawing. Bottom line, if such pictures could help Roam run a Russian marketing communications company – when he did not speak any Russian – then they can help anyone.
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey, $39.99
  While Forbes once ranked this the most influential business book of the 20th century, Covey’s principles are not based on economics. Rather, all seven habits can read habits that anyone can adopt, to do anything (and yes, that includes maintaining a successful business). Though first published 15 years ago, the book still ranks as No. 3 in the New York Times Paperback Business Best Sellers list.
• A Sense of Urgency, by John P. Kotter, $22
  This Harvard Business School professor has long suggested that when a crisis rises, so may an opportunity. In this book, he teaches readers how to implement this sort of thinking throughout their companies, with clear objectives that address the crisis and convey how it can directly change business as usual.
• The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell, $25
  Here, Gladwell takes the term ‘epidemic’ out of its usual medical context and applies it to clearly explain how social phenomenons and business booms form. Among other topics, this New Yorker writer discusses how Sesame Street became a source of infection, "spreading" literacy teachings now common in children’s television programming. "This is not an abstract, academic book," he said. "It’s very practical. It’s very hopeful. It’s brain software."

Other notable titles:

• Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, by James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras
• The Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers, and the Great Credit Crash, by Charles R. Morris
• Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert Kyosaki with Sharon Lecter
• Hot, Flat, and Crowded, by Thomas L. Friedman
• Now, Discover Your Strengths, by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton

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