Business owners can certainly learn a lot from reading books penned by those who've come before. Reading texts written by successful entrepreneurs is a great way to learn important lessons, find new strategies and get advice regarding management and leadership skills. The world's most dynamic business leaders make it a habit to read daily, and in fact, credit this practice with helping them achieve success. Below are three business books that we've ranked among the year's best.
Connecting the Dots by John Chambers
Cisco has become a major player in the router market. Joining Cisco in 1991, John Chambers was largely responsible for the tech giant's leap into the forefront of its industry. In this book, Chambers offers insight into how to identify the next big tech trend, how to properly scale your business for future success as well as how to build a dynamic company culture.
Blitzscaling by Reid Hoffman
Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, sets out in his book to explain this idea of Blitzscaling as it pertains to giants such as Amazon and Airbnb for instance. Blitzscaling is about raising massive amounts of money and optimizing speed—loss isn't necessarily a consideration for such companies. With Blitzscaling, companies seek to rise to the top of the market fast to squeeze out competitors. Bill Gates wrote the forward for this book.
Alpha Girls by Julian Guthrie
Julian Guthrie revisits the venture capital industry in Alpha Girls. Around since the 70s, unfortunately, VC culture is still largely about white males. Guthrie thus shares stories of prominent women figures throughout VC history. Women such as Magdalena Yesil, Mary Jane Elmore, Theresia Gouw and Sonja Hoel. These were venture capitalists who had a huge hand in launching some big-name companies, to include the likes of Facebook, McAfee, and Trulia. In her book, Guthrie also delves into her struggles thereby personalizing the narrative all the more.
Books are a great way for small business owners to gain knowledge and improve business. First Union Lending has the business funding you need to take your business to the next level. Let's discuss your business funding options!