Books That Will Bring Out Your Inner Entrepreneur

A couple of weeks ago, I challenged you to start evaluating your candidates from an entrepreneurial perspective.  If you missed this discussion, here are a couple of links (1,2) that will get you up to speed.

The line of reasoning in these previous discussions was…if a person approaches becoming a real estate agent from a traditional job perspective, they will not be well-equipped to make the sacrifices and overcome the obstacles to be successful under the current marketing conditions.  The solution?  Find and/or inspire candidates to think like entrepreneurs. 

As I continued to noodle on this topic, it occurred to me that many hiring managers in the real estate industry may be a little rusty on this topic.  While many managers went through a start-up phase when they first became agents, for most that was many years ago.  And while most managers are successful day-to-day business operators, a large majority are running mature offices that are beyond the start-up phase.

So, could you use a little brush-up on what goes through an entrepreneur’s mind?  If so, I would suggest taking a look at the list of books below.  This list was put together by Aimee Groth and Kim Bhasin—both staff writers for BusinessInsider.   

They qualify their selections by saying, “ …we go through dozens of books each year here at Business Insider's War Room.  Many aren't worth a second glance, but there are some every business owner should read.  So, we've put together a list of the best books for entrepreneurs — either from our own recommendations or touted by big-time VCs, CEOs and startup founders.”

Here's the list:

1. "Predictably Irrational," by Dan Ariely
2. "The Four Steps To The Epiphany," by Steve Blank
3. "How to Change the World," by David Bornstein
4. "From Resource Allocation To Strategy," by Joseph Bower
5. "Losing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, And Made A Fortune Doing Business My Way," by Richard Branson
6. "How To Win Friends And Influence People," by Dale Carnegie
7. "The Zigzag Principle," by Rich Christiansen
8. "The Innovator's Dilemma," by Clayton Christensen
9. "Good to Great," by Jim Collins
10. "The Startup Game," by William H. Draper
11. "Innovation and Entrepreneurship," by Peter Drucker
12. "The Ascent Of Money: A Financial History Of The World," by Niall Ferguson
13. "Never Eat Alone," by Keith Ferrazzi
14. "The World Is Flat," by Thomas Friedman
15. "The E-Myth Revisited," by Michael E. Gerber
16. "Outliers," by Malcolm Gladwell
17. "All Marketers Are Liars," by Seth Godin
18. "The 48 Laws of Power," by Robert Greene
19. "Delivering Happiness," by Tony Hsieh
20. "Steal Like an Artist," by Austin Kleon
21. "Founders at Work," by Jessica Livingston
22. "How Successful People Think," by John Maxwell
23. "The Smartest Guys In The Room: The Amazing Rise And Scandalous Fall Of Enron," by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind
24. "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," by Robert Pirsig
25. "The Lean Startup," by Eric Ries
26. "Start With Why," by Simon Sinek

No doubt you’ve probably read some of these books already, but I would guess that there are at least a few that are new to you.  As a summer reading project, I suggest selecting at least five books from the list that you’ve not read yet, and try to get through them by Labor Day. 

Doing so will help you increase your own entrepreneurial skills, and will enable you to better connect with candidates who would make good entrepreneurs in your office.

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.