{"id":1940,"date":"2013-05-30T03:15:16","date_gmt":"2013-05-30T03:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.logomaker.com\/blog\/2013\/05\/30\/read-biographies-not-business-books-small-business-advice\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T00:49:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T00:49:12","slug":"read-biographies-not-business-books-small-business-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.logomaker.com\/blog\/read-biographies-not-business-books-small-business-advice\/","title":{"rendered":"Read Biographies, Not Business Books. Advice for Small Business Owners."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let&#8217;s say you&#8217;re a small business owner and want to learn more about leadership. Where do you go?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A lot of people would start with a quick search of Amazon&#8217;s leadership books. Or the business section of your local bookstore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That&#8217;s not a bad option. We&#8217;ve done it ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But here&#8217;s an even better idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Try the history shelf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;What?&#8221; you ask. &#8220;But I want to learn about leadership, not some boring history.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rather than reading about the theory of leadership, why not read about people who actually practiced it and learn how they did it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pick up a book on leadership and the author might suggest that you inspire followers with big ideas, or bold actions, or even an insightful vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pick up a history book (or three) and you will learn from someone like John F. Kennedy who inspired a nation with the big idea of putting a man on the moon. Or you could read about how George Washington built a fort around Boston in a single winter night to win a stunning defeat over the British. Now there&#8217;s a bold action. Or you could learn how Lou Gerstner set the long-term vision and strategy for IBM that saved the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There&#8217;s a fantastic little book called <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0310328624\/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0310328624&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=brandstory08-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" aria-label=\"(Opens a new window)\"><em>Humilitus: A Lost Key to Life, Love, and Leadership<\/em><\/a>. Read it and you&#8217;ll learn a lot about humility. But you could also pick up Doris Kearns Goodwin&#8217;s stellar book,&nbsp;<em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0743270754\/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0743270754&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=brandstory08-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" aria-label=\"(Opens a new window)\">Team of Rivals<\/a>,<\/em> and read about how Lincoln learned and practiced humility and accepted his defeats, then turned his competitors into friends and future backers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You could pick up a book like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1451648537\/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=1451648537&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=brandstory08-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" aria-label=\"(Opens a new window)\"><em>Steve Jobs<\/em><\/a> by Walter Isaacson and learn a lot about how <em>not<\/em> to lead a company (berating employees, lying, and playing politics) at the same time you might learn to appreciate how he practiced intuition and total devotion to creating great products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of course, biographies aren&#8217;t the only option. There are company histories as well. Instead of reading Seth Godin&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1591841666\/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=1591841666&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=brandstory08-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" aria-label=\"(Opens a new window)\"><em>The Dip<\/em><\/a> about fighting through the low points of a start-up, why not read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0786883561\/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0786883561&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=brandstory08-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" aria-label=\"(Opens a new window)\"><em>Pour Your Heart Into It<\/em><\/a> about how Howard Shultz fought through the dip to save Starbucks from failure. More than once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead of reading a book on strategy, why not read a book like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0470521163\/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0470521163&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=brandstory08-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" aria-label=\"(Opens a new window)\"><em>Behind The Cloud<\/em><\/a> which details Marc Benioff&#8217;s strategy for pioneering the software as a service model and marketing his company with unexpected and imaginative public relations ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The list goes on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While business books are great (we read a stack of them every year), you can learn even more from the people who accomplished great things, overcame long odds, and helped build the future we live in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Try it some time. Grab a history and see what you can learn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let&#8217;s say you&#8217;re a small business owner and want to learn more about leadership. Where do you go? A lot of people would start with a quick search of Amazon&#8217;s leadership books. Or the business section of your local bookstore. That&#8217;s not a bad option. We&#8217;ve done it ourselves. But here&#8217;s an even better idea. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,33,36,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advice","category-logomaker","category-small-business","category-success"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Read Biographies, Not Business Books. Advice for Small Business Owners. - Logomaker Blog||Read Biographies, Not Business Books. 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