Have you started thinking about your business resolutions for 2016?
Would you like to be more marketing savvy, start your own business or enhance your businesses creativity? If the answer is yes, then curl up by the fire and crack open one of these books to learn what you can do in 2016 to achieve your business resolutions.
MARKETING
Purple Cow by Seth Godin
This book is an easy read but powerful. It is all about discovering how you will differentiate your business and your product. I would highly recommend Seth Godin’s blog which he has published once a day for 12 years and still going.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Zero to One by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters
This book came out of the notes Masters took when Thiel (founder of PayPal, Palantir, Thiel Fellows and Clarium Capital and lead investor in Facebook) taught a Stanford University class on start-ups. The book title comes from the idea that “Doing what someone else already knows how to do takes the world from one to n, adding more of something familiar. But when you do something new, you go for zero to one.”
The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday
In the business planning process, it is easy to become risk-aversive. We may see the inevitable obstacles as roadblocks not opportunities. Learn how to think differently and find the opportunity that often surrounds that roadblock and move forward. Teach yourself how to pivot to a new future.
CREATIVITY
Thinkertoys: A handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques by Michael Michalko
Creating a successful business model requires both creativity and logic. Because the trends and technology change so quickly, a successful entrepreneur learns the ability to adapt, move and change direction. In other words, they have to be good at creative problem-solving. The ability to create can be learned and improved upon just like any other competency. There is an old adage “practice makes perfect.” Thinkertoys and its companion Thinkpak: A Brainstorming Card Deck, offers 33 different exercises and 56 cards that are designed to spark your creativity.
Need more tips. Check out these seven other important reads. Is your list for holiday reads piling up? Share with us your go-to business reading essentials.
Nancy Barnett is the CEO and co-founder of eL3, LLC and a business consultant for the Denver Metro Small Business Development Center.