Gumie Pick: Five Books You Should Read
Currently, the world belongs to learners prepared to acquire more knowledge and wisdom to continuously stand out in their daily activities and manage their lives. However, it is not enough to know the necessity of reading for development; selecting the books to read is equally important. Reading the right books which can help in your area or life is important in gathering the information you need to ignite your thinking in the right direction.
As I have earlier shared, starting work as an analyst at Gumi exposed me to a world I was somewhat unfamiliar with and I had to be brought up to speed with the terminologies and activities as well as learn business comportment (all of which I am still engaged in now). Most of the books I will be sharing with you were shared with me by my colleagues at Gumi and they helped me a great deal.
Before you conclude that this post is not for you since you are not just coming into the business arena, these books could also help expand your thinking boundaries, introduce you to a new line of thought and help you improve in your daily activities.
Business Model Generation:
As I was learning to be a consultant, find out clients’ problems and create solutions, this book was key. The impact of the business model canvas in the analysis of any business is immense and the book explains each element of the canvas as well as how to apply them. The book brings exposure to the practice of being able to understand how a business works and how to provide solutions to identified problems or discover an improved way to carry out activities.
Business Model You:
I thought Business Model Canvas was the most awesome book until I got this one. If we could analyze businesses to examine problems and provide easy solutions, why can’t we do it for ourselves? This book is useful in mapping out a self-canvas which can aid the understanding of your roles and activities personally, and at work as well as point out areas open for improvement.
The Tipping Point:
Malcolm Gladwell emphasized the ability of small things or situations to create a big effect. Through this book, I realized the power of little things as well as the three different kinds of people one can meet: the Mavens, the Connectors, and the Salesmen. The Mavens are those who have a deluge of knowledge and can patiently explain processes and steps to anyone available to listen; the Connectors have a vast link of networks and can connect any person to another; the Salesmen can convince almost anyone to make a purchase or sales decision (turns out I am a Maven😁).
Zero to One:
“Every moment in business happens only once. The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won’t make a search engine. And the next Mark Zuckerberg won’t create a social network. If you are copying these guys, you aren’t learning from them” says Peter Thiel.
Peter Thiel stresses creating your idea and not merely copying the idea of another. He outlines seven questions every startup must answer:
- Can you create breakthrough technology that is at least 10x better?
- Is now the right time to start your business?
- Are you starting with a big share of a small market? Think monopoly.
- Do you have the right team?
- Do you have a way to not just create but to deliver your product?
- Will your market position be defensible 10 or 20 years into the future?
- Have you identified a unique opportunity that others don’t see?
I recommend this book to anyone who wants to start a business or any organization seeking the next step seekingseeking the next step to take to establish its future.
The Elements of Style:
This book is short 81 pages. Although this is not a business exegesis, it is extremely useful for improving communications. At initial look, you would think it was a regular English textbook, but trust me it is way more. Written by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White, this book provides a relaxed and fun manner of correcting or improving the grammar of its readers.
Each of these books has a plethora of wisdom for the entrepreneur and business executive; if you find at least one of them interesting, I hope you will help yourself to the wisdom in them and also adapt them to your life.
“Think before you speak. Read before you think.”
― Fran Lebowitz, The Fran Lebowitz Reader
Muse Toluwalase
Fun Trivia: It would take 60,000 years to read all the books in the world😃
