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4 Books about Business and Entrepreneurship You Should Read

Among other things, “lifelong learning” is a core value of my alma mater, and what better way is there to learn than to read the personal accounts of today’s preeminent entrepreneurs and businesspeople. Read about Eric Ries’ lean manufacturing approach to managing a startup, Tim Ferriss’ collection of business tips and lessons from other innovators, and more from Adam Grant and the the Gaineses from HGTV’s Fixer Upper.


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Inspired by lessons from lean manufacturing, the Lean Startup approach “relies on ‘validated learning, rapid experimentation, as well as a number of counter-intuitive practices that shorten product development cycles, measure actual progress without resorting to vanity metrics, and learn what customers really want… The Lean Startup offers entrepreneurs–in companies of all sizes–a way to test their vision continuously, to adapt and adjust before it’s too late.”

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In his eponymous podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show, Ferriss has interviewed over 200 world-class performers, guests ranging from celebrities, athletes, Special Operations commanders, and black-market biochemists. His goal: to collect their tips and life lessons with actionable details. “For example: What do these people do in the first sixty minutes of each morning? What do their workout routines look like, and why? What books have they gifted most to other people? What are the biggest wastes of time for novices in their field? What supplements do they take on a daily basis?”


“In Originals [Adam Grant] again addresses the challenge of improving the world, but now from the perspective of becoming original: choosing to champion novel ideas and values that go against the grain, battle conformity, and buck outdated traditions. How can we originate new ideas, policies, and practices without risking it all?… Learn from an entrepreneur who pitches his start-ups by highlighting the reasons not to invest, a woman at Apple who challenged Steve Jobs from three levels below, an analyst who overturned the rule of secrecy at the CIA, a billionaire financial wizard who fires employees for failing to criticize him, and a TV executive who didn’t even work in comedy but saved Seinfeld from the cutting-room floor. The payoff is a set of groundbreaking insights about rejecting conformity and improving the status quo.”


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Chip and Joanna Gaines, stars of HGTV’s Fixer Upper, share stories about their renovation projects, childhood memories, and how their serial entrepreneur personalities garnered the attention of a television producer.

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