The Winter holidays are approaching, which is a perfect time to relax and keep warm with a good book. It’s also a great time to reflect and set some goals for the new year. Whether you want to be generally more productive, want to kick a bad habit or you simply need some inspiration, here is some recommended reading by some successful entrepreneurs and celebrities that might wet your appetite over the festive season.
Winners: And How They Succeed – Alistair Campbell
Alastair Campbell knows all about winning. As Tony Blair’s chief spokesman and strategist he helped guide his party to victory in three successive elections, and he’s fascinated by what it takes to succeed
How do sportsmen excel, entrepreneurs thrive, or individuals achieve the ambitions? Is their ability to win innate? Or is the winning mindset something we can all develop?
In the tradition of The Talent Code and The Power of Habit, Campbell draws on the wisdom of an astonishing array of talented people―from elite athletes to media mavens, from rulers of countries to rulers of global business empires.
Black Box Thinking – Matthew Syed
Nobody wants to fail. But in highly complex organisations, success can happen only when we confront our mistakes, learn from our own version of a black box, and create a climate where it’s safe to fail.
If I Could Tell You Just One Thing – Richard Reed
Richard Reed built Innocent Drinks from a smoothie stall on a street corner to one of the biggest brands in Britain.
He credits his success to four brilliant pieces of advice, each given to him just when he needed them most. Ever since, it has been Richard’s habit, whenever he meets somebody he admires, to ask them for their best piece of advice. If they could tell him just one thing, what would it be?
Richard has collected pearls of wisdom from some of the most remarkable, inspiring and game-changing people in the world – in business, tech, philanthropy, politics, sport, art, spirituality, medicine, film, and design.
The Lean Startup – Eric Ries
Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched.
How to Make A Spaceship – Julian Guthrie
Alone in a Spartan black cockpit, test pilot Mike Melvill rocketed toward space. He had eighty seconds to exceed the speed of sound and begin the climb to a target no civilian pilot had ever reached. He might not make it back alive. If he did, he would make history as the world’s first commercial astronaut.
The spectacle defied reason, the result of a competition dreamed up by entrepreneur Peter Diamandis, whose vision for a new race to space required small teams to do what only the world’s largest governments had done before.
Zero to One: Notes on Startups or How to Build The Future – Peter Thiel
The great secret of our time is that there are still uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create. In Zero to One, legendary entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel shows how we can find singular ways to create those new things.
“Das Silicon Valley Mindset” (German readers)
“The Silicon Valley Mindset” describes why people and companies in the Silicon Valley are so highly innovative and are currently entrepreneurially superior to the rest of the world.
The Silicon Valley is an inexhaustible source of innovation that has a tremendous impact on business and society around the world. Many Europeans consider these developments to be skeptical and are encouraged by media and their experts, who are panic-stricken and predominantly dangers and risks. Dr. Mario Herger gets things right and shows: The innovation mentality from Silicon Valley is learnable. Using interviews and step-by-step instructions, this insider book shows how the Silicon Valley mentality can be combined with its own strength
Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days
Entrepreneurs and leaders face big questions every day: What’s the most important place to focus your effort, and how do you start? What will your idea look like in real life? How many meetings and discussions does it take before you can be sure you have the right solution?
Now there’s a surefire way to answer these important questions: the sprint. Designer Jake Knapp created the five-day process at Google, where sprints were used on everything from Google Search to Google X. He joined Braden Kowitz and John Zeratsky at Google Ventures, and together they have completed more than a hundred sprints with companies in mobile, e-commerce, healthcare, finance, and more.