Scaling Up Magazine Scaling Up Magazine April 2018 | Page 6

MUST-READ BOOKS: 2018
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8
SPRING 2018
MUST-READ
BOOKS FOR 2018
By: Verne Harnish
LOOKING TO scale your business
exponentially? Then you’ve got to out-read
the competition. In more than three decades
of advising growth companies, I have learned
that the most successful leaders are readers.
In addition to the books written by our
speakers, here are eight of my favorite
books from this past year, covering each
of the four critical decisions in the Scaling
Up system that all growing companies
must get right: People, Strategy, Execution,
and Cash. (Because there is such a dearth
of great books on Cash, I’ve focused that
section on favorite business biographies
by entrepreneurs who have generated
tremendous wealth.) Add these eight to your
must-read (or must-listen) list or—hint—
divide them up among team members in
related roles and have them report back on
what they’ve learned.
The Master Coach: Leading with Character, Building Connections, and Engaging in Extraordinary
Conversations by Gregg Thompson
As we transition to a world where work once done by managers is being taken over by technology, we still
need leadership. To be effective in this new environment, managers need to pivot from command-and-
control to coaching. Thompson will help you master the mental and psychological aspects in one of the best
books I’ve seen on the art of coaching.
Life’s a PIC/NIC…When You Understand Behavior by Aubrey C. Daniels and Alice D. Lattal
Great coaches learn how to identify the specific motivators for each of the people they lead and know how
to use that knowledge to drive performance. In his latest book, Aubrey Daniels—the world’s leading expert
on applying behavioral science to business—along with co-author Alice Lattal will show you how to deploy
what they have learned to truly motivate your team so you can replace misguided employee-of-the-month,
review, and bonus programs that do more harm than good.
Jobs to Be Done: A Road Map for Customer-Centered Innovation by Stephen Wunker, Jessica Wattman,
and David Farber
If you don’t get your strategy right now, you’re going to spend the next year executing a mess. This book will help you
avoid going down the wrong path by focusing you on the single most important strategic question ever created: what
is the job done by your product or service? The authors’ deep dive into a topic Harvard Business School professor
Clayton Christensen—Wunker’s colleague—popularized will give you a roadmap to discern exactly what your
customers really need done and to create the right products, services or solutions to keep them coming back.