Business Book Summaries.

Small and often insignificant things can and do influence (or ‘nudge’) behaviour.Context and Significance.Behavioral economics is a field that blends insights from psychology, judgment, and decision-making with the principles of economics. Unlike traditional economics, which often assumes that humans are fully rational actors making decisions purely based on logic and self-interest, behavioural economics recognises that […]

Introduction: Reimagining Success.In the introduction of “The 4-Hour Workweek,” Timothy Ferriss invites readers into a world where success is redefined, traditional workweek norms are questioned, and the pursuit of a life filled with adventure, freedom, and fulfilment takes centre stage. Ferriss introduces a concept that challenges conventional notions of work, retirement, and the “deferred life […]

Getting Things Done.“The Art Of Stress-Free Productivity”.“Getting Things Done” by David Allen is a productivity and time management book that provides a comprehensive system for managing tasks, projects, and commitments to reduce stress and increase efficiency. In a world characterised by constant change, relentless information flow, and mounting demands on our time, the need for effective […]

Robert Cialdini sets the stage for a deep dive into the mechanics of influence that are embedded in everyday interactions. Cialdini, a professor of psychology and marketing, draws upon his extensive research and hands-on experiences to unpack the complex dynamics of persuasion.

The Tipping Point: How little things can make a big difference.The Tipping Point is the “biography of an idea,”. That a good way to think of any number of [any] mysterious changes that mark everyday life is to think of them as epidemics. Ideas and products, messages and behaviours spread just like viruses do.There are […]

Trust me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator.Trust Me I’m Lying is an eye-opening book about how the modern media operates, the economics that drives it and how the system can be manipulated. Author Ryan Holiday details how he himself manipulated the media, by bribing bloggers, writing their stories, pretending to be other people […]

Delivering Happiness:  A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose.In Delivering Happiness, Tony Hsieh uses personal stories to recount his journey to becoming CEO of Zappos.com. He also shares insights on why you should have a passion for what you do, regardless of the amount of money you are making—or walking away from. From his childhood […]

The Direct Mail Solution: A business owner’s guide to building a lead generating sales driving money making Direct Mail CampaignFact: More commerce and wealth are created by direct mail than any other media. This was true before the internet…and is still true now. If you’re serious about growing your customer base, growing your revenue and […]

Think and Grow Rich. Napoleon Hill’s best-selling book is the most widely acclaimed, influential book on success ever published.If you’re serious about achieving success then Think and Grow Rich is a must-read.Think and Grow Rich has sold over 70 million copies since its publication, and has been ranked the sixth best-selling business paperback of the […]

Little Gold Book of YES Attitude. How to Find, Build, and Keep a YES Attitude for a lifetime of SuccessJeffrey Gitomer is one of the top authors in the world when it comes to sales training and personal development. ‘The Little Gold Book of YES Attitude’ has been a classic on my bookshelf for several […]

GOOD TO GREAT. Why Some companies make the leap and others don’t.In his previous bestseller, Built to Last, Jim Collins explored what made great companies great and how they sustained that greatness over time. One point kept nagging him, though — great companies have, for the most part, always been great, while a vast majority […]

The 80 / 20 manager: The secret to working less and achieving more.It’s easy to feel overwhelmed at times, as a business owner. Our inboxes are overflowing, we never see the end of our to-do list and we stay at work way beyond the notional 9 to 5 period. This leaves little time for anything […]

Positioning, The battle for your mind: How to be seen and heard in the overcrowded marketplace.Ries and Trout explain that the concept of positioning applies to products in a broad sense. Services, tourist destinations, countries, and even careers can benefit from a well-developed positioning strategy that focuses on a niche that is unoccupied in the […]

Psycho-CyberneticsThis book is a cornerstone of the self-help genre and is chock-full of big ideas that can empower you to create a happier, more successful life.The science of Cybernetics does not tell us that “man” is a machine but that man has and uses a machine. Moreover, it tells us how that machine functions and […]

HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE Everyone, and I mean everyone can learn something from “How to Win Friends & Influence People”. The Principles in the book are simple, but something a lot of us fail to use or remember. This book will help you to convince people of your way of thinking, avoid arguments […]

The Achievement Habit.Ask people to think about who stops them from accomplishing the things they want. It’s always entertaining to listen to them explain how their parents, spouses, children, colleagues, bosses — you name it — prevent them from reaching their goals. These perceived obstacles are simply excuses; in almost every case, when you really […]

Focus: The Hidden Driver of ExcellencePsychologist and journalist Daniel Goleman provides insight into the many ways attention and focus drive the success or failure of people in all walks of life. He maintains that successful people master three main types of attention:1. Inner focus attunes people to their intuitions, guiding values, and better decision-making. It […]

Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty is packed with anecdotes of American icons, from Billy Graham to Muhammad Ali. Comprising short chapters, this quick, entertaining classic offers a wealth of practical, applicable information on how to build a strong personal network. Mackay, a master networker and communicator, conveys his message without belabouring a point. With […]

Introduction to: What they don’t teach you at Harvard Business School.A business school can’t teach you how to be street-smart. You have to go out and get experience in the business world to start developing the ability to make the most of your business strengths. Business is a competition, and any high-level, sophisticated competition is […]

Introduction to Becoming a Category of One.What if you could completely eliminate your competition from your customers’ consideration — would you do it? Of course, you would. These days, so many companies strive to fit into a niche that they must elbow their way past a mass of competitors to do so. Why strive to […]

The Myth Of Multi Tasking.I have long been an advocate of ‘One task at a time’ and envied people who could multitask and seemed to do it well. That was until I read a book by Dave Crenshaw called ‘The Myth of Multitasking – How doing it all gets nothing done’  The book has the […]

‘Eat that Frog!’ by Brian Tracy is a well-written and easy-to-digest list of 21 tips to help you stop procrastinating and get more work done. This is a great guide for anyone who feels overwhelmed with work and doesn’t know where to start. Brian Tracy shares different methods for planning and prioritising, shows you how […]

‘Selling The Invisible’ is a highly readable, enjoyable, and very insightful book about all aspects of service marketing. Harry Beckwith is the founder of a marketing and advertising company located in Minneapolis and has advised several Fortune 500 companies, as well as many small and medium-sized service-oriented businesses.Beckwith’s style is to present essentially mini-essays ranging […]

Introduction. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.In The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Covey says that our character, basically, is a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconscious patterns, habits constantly express our character and produce our effectiveness – or our ineffectiveness. In the words of Aristotle, “We are what […]

The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone in a Nutshell.Cardone says the secret to extraordinary success is to put in 10 times the relevant effort than most people and to condition your mind for success. You also have to recognise that with the increased efforts, increased obstacles will confront you, and you have to work your […]

In 1926, George Samuel Clason published a series of pamphlets written in parables that were set in the ancient city of Babylon.  The book became known as The Richest Man in Babylon and has become a classic in financial literature.  When I first read this book I was blown away by the simplicity of the story…

The Main Idea of this book is that Price is never one-size-fits-all. If you think that way, you’re leaving money on the table in the form of hidden profits you can and should access to grow your business. Instead of looking for the “perfect” price where consumer demand is optimized and your profits are maximized, try a more …

This is a great read for anyone who is interested in psychology and processes of thought. Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman analyses two modes of thought; “System One” is fast, instinctive and emotional; “System Two” is slower, more deliberative, and more logical.It examines emotional thought versus more logical thought.  

The Paradox of Choice – Why More is Less – by Barry Schwartz:  Buy on AmazonWe are faced with many options or decisions in our lives.  This book will change the way you look at them. We feel worse when we have too many options. With limitless choice, we produce better results with our decisions […]

Fisher and Ury explain that a good agreement is one which is wise and efficient, and which improves the parties’ relationship. Wise agreements satisfy the parties’ interests and are fair and lasting. The authors’ goal is to develop a method for reaching good agreements. Negotiations often take the form of positional bargaining…

The Magic of Thinking Big contains the secrets to getting the most out of your job, your marriage, and your family life. The book illustrates how you don’t need to be incredibly intelligent or unique to have the success you want, you simply need to think in a way that cultivates success.

Introduction.Harry Beckwith is the best-selling author of ‘Selling The Invisible’ and ‘The Invisible Touch’, like all of his books these are marketing classics, and although they were written nearly 20 years ago, these books and this one are as relevant today as then.   The opening lines of this book set the tone for the […]

There are leaders and there are those who lead. ‘Start With Why’ is about a naturally occurring pattern, a way of thinking, acting and communicating that gives some leaders the ability to inspire those around them. The more organisations and people who learn to also start with ‘WHY’, the more people there will be who […]

J. Edward Russo and Paul J.H. Schoemaker Order on AmazonIn Decision Traps, the authors revealed that most decision-makers commit some kind of error with pretty much every decision they make. They explore the components of these errors and the steps to rectify common mistakes in decision-making. The authors drill into the key characteristics of decision-making […]

The Sticking Point Solution. 9 ways to move your business from stagnation to stunning growth in tough economic times.By Jay AbrahamClick here to buy on Amazon.The simple fact is that businesses can plateau, or stagnate. Without the owners or key persons realising it. The purpose of “The sticking point solution” is to help entrepreneurs and […]

Buy on AmazonSummary.The high-tech marketing guru (and principal of The Chasm Group marketing consultants), Geoffrey Moore offers time-tested insights into the problems and dangers facing growing technology and software companies a blueprint for survival. This classic book (first published in 1991) is widely accepted as “the bible for bringing cutting-edge products to progressively larger markets.For […]

“The power of Habit. Why we do what we do in life and business.“By Charles DuhiggBuy Here on Amazon.Written by Charles Duhigg, the  2012 New York Times bestseller The Power of Habit boasts a ubiquity on recommended book lists that few works from the past few years can match.The Power of Habit recounts a number of useful illustrations […]

Goldratt, E. M. and J. Cox. 1986. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement.Buy on AmazonThe Goal is a very compelling novel. A novel, yep a novel, whoever heard of a novel about a production plant? Well, Eli has made the production managers have quite an epiphany. In one book he might have changed the […]

Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You.By John Warrillow.This summary provides a snapshot of the critical concepts and strategies detailed in “Built to Sell.” Reading the full book will provide a more in-depth understanding and practical examples to help apply these principles.Introduction: Designing a Scalable & Sellable Business.John Warrillow, leveraging his […]

Book Summary: The Challenger Sale: How To Take Control of the Customer Conversation by Matthew Dixon and Brent AdamsonIntroduction:The Challenger Sale, authored by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson, reshapes our understanding of the most effective sales practices. Contrary to the popular belief that the best salespeople are relationship builders, this book presents evidence that “Challengers” […]

SPIN SELLINGThe best-validated sales method available today.By Neil RackmanBuy here from AmazonSPIN Selling: Situation, Problem, Implication, Need-PayoffSPIN Selling was published in 1988, and at that time it was considered to be the most heavily researched book on sales ever created.  The research was compiled over 12 years and 35,000 sales calls, and 1 million dollars […]

Book Summary: “Leaders Eat Last” by Simon Sinek“Leaders Eat Last” by Simon Sinek explores the profound impact of leadership on individuals, teams, and organisations. Drawing from biology, psychology, and real-world examples, Sinek presents a compelling argument for leadership that prioritises the well-being and success of its people. The book dives into the concept of “the […]