#87 - The Books That Successful Business Leaders Read

One of the most requested Barbell Logic topics has been reading recommendations, specifically for books on business and investing. Today Matt and Scott lay out their favorite business books, readings that helped shaped their values, operations, and interactions in their own businesses.

 

Matt is an entrepreneur, running Starting Strength Online Coaching, as he frequently references in the show, and a former owner of STRONG Gym in Springfield, MO. SSOC has grown rapidly since launching in early 2017 and now generates over $1M in revenue. Matt frequently references Michael Gerber's The E-Myth and its role in shaping his business acumen. The E-Myth focuses on building systems and operating procedures to allow business owners to deliver consistent results to their customers and start working "on" their business, rather than in their business.

 

Scott has been an entrepreneur for most of his adult life -- as he described in Episode #36 Hambrick's Story -- although he prefers the term "business optimizer." Scott currently owns Data Storage, a company providing (you guessed it) records management, digitizing, and other data solutions for businesses. He also recently launched Online Great Books, an online education service guiding readers in small groups through the progression of Western thought as written by the Greeks, Romans, and others. Scott advocates a daily reading habit, starting with the finance and business portions (skip the human interest and politics) of The Wall Street Journal and The Economist.

 

Books referenced in the episode:

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When the Stakes Are High by Patterson, Granny, McMillan, Switzler My Years at General Motors by Alfred P. Sloan Jr. Poor Charlie's Almanack by Charles Munger The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger by Peter Bevelin Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder Letters The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank The Effective Executive by Peter F. Drucker The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hshieh Harvard Business Review How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie Radical Honesty: How to Transform Your Life by Telling the Truth by Brad Blanton For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand by Ayn Rand The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics by Henry Hazlitt

 

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