Books that have deeply influenced my business life (Part 1)

A slight warning, I am a voracious reader. One of my favourite topics is Business and in particular, biographies. There are a lot of well-deserved books that don’t make my list. I wish I could make this “My list of Top 100 books” Or “My list of Top 500 books”. Unfortunately, that might bore most of you. Let’s get down to the list, shall we?

1.         Maverick

If there is a book about culture, empowerment, and doing the unthinkable with your company, then this is it. Ricardo Semler went to Harvard, he came out and restructured his family business to become one of the largest businesses in South America. He did this by relying on people. Cutting them loose, enforcing transparency, empowered decision making, and ownership. I haven’t seen an organization anywhere close to what Maverick detailed and it’s been 15 years since I started an ardent study of companies and cultures. Pick it up and you will have no regrets for even a page. Please don’t forget to send me a thank you cheque in the mail.

2.         Liars Poker

  Michael Lewis is a refreshingly funny character. Not the Wall Street type funny (If that type exists!). This book detailed the life of a young college graduate’s transition from a young trainee at a reputed firm back to jumping on the bond trading gravy train. You have a lot of the usual excess that you associate with high finance - greed, frat boy mentality, insecurities, deception, etc. My guess is any young MBA wanting to amass a great fortune through capital or bond markets, might have kept Liars Poker under their pillow many a night.

3. Who says Elephants Can’t Dance?

It was very interesting that I picked up this book during the first year of my first job. And since I was in the IT services industry during that time(2000/01). Interestingly IBM and the likes had not scaled up on the India story back then. Well, Louis Gerstner came into IBM to save it from the brink and he has never gone near the technology business at all. Hard times call for hard measures and the approach of knowing what’s important, slashing costs, and business that doesn’t make sense has kept the company alive and allowed it to bloom in the services area. This gem is for anyone aspiring to run a division of a technology company or wanting to build a technology company. Order your copy today!

4. Made in Japan

  I never started off being a Japanophile. But I remember being a Sonyophile from my early days. Whether it was the VCR, Walkman, CD player, etc. Sony was a cut above any other consumer electronics company in the world. This run lasted till the mid to late 2000’s. Japan post WW2 had nothing and Morita San’s determination and ingenuity coupled with the hard work and determination of the Japanese people built this globally admired powerhouse. I still use a nice set of Sony headphones!

5. Losing my Virginity

Outrageous. Creative rocket. Bold. Super funny. These are some of the terms fellow entrepreneurs would use to describe Richard Branson. It’s astounding how a lad who slept/lived on a boat went on to create a 400+ business globally across very diverse fields. Like Semler, one of the hallmarks of Branson’s style is the ability to find the right people, empower them, and have a complete de-centralized operation.

Talking about all of these incredible business minds and books has made me crave a dive back into several of them as soon as i can. I look forward to writing the follow-up article which will unravel more such gems to you. All the more reading power to you.....