Reading List

These are some of the books I highly recommend.

Business Management/Personal Finance

The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio by William Bernstein

There are plenty of good financial management books out there, and many more bad ones. If I had to recommend one, it would be this one. Straight forward, no BS information. It will help you build a globally diversified portfolio across many different asset classes. Most of all, it will tell you how much you need to save. The suggested reading at the end of the book offers up plenty of titles to keep you busy and I would recommend all of them as well.

Break From the Pack: How to Compete in a Copycat Economy by Oren Harari

This book is full of insights into how you need to differentiate your company from “the pack”. This book may be geared towards larger companies, however, even if you are not going to be the next “Google” there are many solid principles that apply to smaller companies as well. An inspirational read.

The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries

Eric Ries takes the methodology of Lean Manufacturing, modifies and applies it to start-up companies. Primarily applied to  start-up software companies, his ideas are applicable to other industries, large and small, as well. The advice is practical and implementable. This is not “I wish I could do that” type of book. It is full of practical ideas that you can apply immediately to your business. Primarily, your customers know what they want more than you do. A must read.

Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting out of the Box by Arbinger Institute

I cannot count how many times I find myself thinking about the ideas presented in this book. For that reason alone, I recommend it. It really gets you to think about yourself, and how you create conflict in a self-justifying way (i.e., Self Deception). Read this book and your life will be better.