
Ask HN: What are your favorite management books? - zaidf
I am curious about how companies scale from a start-up stage into sustainable multi-million dollar businesses. So far I've found Richard Branson's autobiography to be very informational in learning about scaling and expanding a business. What other books are there that provide good stories OR methods of growing a business?
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mooders
Three books that really show the good, bad and ugly about building businesses
from scratch and scaling them to significance:

1\. How to Get Rich (<http://bit.ly/xGdV8>)

2\. Small Giants (<http://bit.ly/WpvGa>)

3\. The Knack (<http://bit.ly/OcKa9>)

[no affiliate links]

A warning though - many 'start-up to success' books are, in my view, hampered
by what I consider exceptional circumstances in the story. So you'll find a
sentence/paragraph/page that basically says "so then I managed to raise
$350,000 from XYZ to get me started", or "then I got stuck in a lift with Jeff
Bezos for 72 hours and managed to convince him to invest". Which is great for
their story, but it may or may not reflect your story.

So if you are going to try to learn lessons from the stories of others, and
just to be clear let me say I believe this is a good way of learning, make
sure you understand the differences between their story and yours and how
those differences change the dynamics of starting and scaling a business.

~~~
idiopathic
Thank you for this list - I liked reading The Knack so will explore the
others.

I disagree with you about your examples of exceptional circumstances. Anyone
can raise 350k or be stuck in a lift with Jeff Bezos if they do the hard
around it. Focus on building something amazing and you can build your own luck
around. For example, 18 months ago I did speak to Bezos - I did not have
anything to talk tom about (apart from asking him sign my Kindle!) so nothing
happened. But this year I really do so I will find another way to talk to him
(and everyone else).

That is not to say that are not exceptional circumstances. For example, only a
handful of people around the world in the 1970s had the priviliges of Bill
Gates, ie a childhood growing up in a school with a mainframe. But it is not
worth worrying about such things - each of us has to look for the unusual
advantages we have and work with those. In my case I have a genetic illness
which meant most of my childhood was spent ill or in hospital. I survived long
enough to train as a physician and a programmer so this year I founded a
company that builds software to help patients work online with their
clinicians.

------
liangzan
I really like the books from the personal mba reading list

<http://personalmba.com/best-business-books/>

Joel Spolsky's reading list is pretty good too. But the titles are old. Its
not been updated with newer publications

[http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/FogCreekMBACurriculum...](http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/FogCreekMBACurriculum.html)

~~~
salvadors
I blogged some additions to Joel's list a few years ago:
<http://nothing.tmtm.com/archives/2511>

I should really get around to updating that...

------
lionhearted
My favorite is Michael Gerber's "E-Myth Revisited". It lays down the
foundation of a good business in a way most entrepreneurs connect with. Very
well-written, simple, gets points across concisely, very valuable.

[http://www.amazon.com/E-Myth-Revisited-Small-Businesses-
Abou...](http://www.amazon.com/E-Myth-Revisited-Small-Businesses-
About/dp/0887307280)

(no affiliate link there)

Great book - my most highly recommended and most frequently gifted business
book.

------
khandekars
"Founders at Work" by Jessica Livingston. Full of good stories.

"My years with General Motors" by Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. How he built the
organization is quite an interesting read.

------
jbr
Let my people go surfing -- Yvon Chouinard

<http://amzn.com/1594200726>

The seven day weekend -- Ricardo Semler

<http://amzn.com/1591840260>

Getting Real

<http://gettingreal.37signals.com/>

\--

Also, help flesh out the list of books for startups I just created for HN on
my site:

<http://www.stormweight.com/lists/books-for-startups?p=OyAXcZ>

------
dantheman
I'll throw this one out there, it's a little less well known, but I found it
fascinating. "One From From Many, VISA and the Rise of Chaordic Organization"
by Dee Hock. I can't recommend it more highly.

[http://www.amazon.com/One-Many-VISA-Chaordic-
Organization/dp...](http://www.amazon.com/One-Many-VISA-Chaordic-
Organization/dp/1576753328/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245043220&sr=8-1)

~~~
salvadors
I don't suppose you've also read "Birth of the Chaordic Age"? The Amazon blurb
makes it sound like they're remarkably similar - so much so that I wondered if
"One from Many" was just an updated version of the same book.

~~~
dantheman
Yeah, it's the same book. I don't know what the differences are between them;
it may just be a name change.

------
dejan
I still have to come across better book than Tom Peters - "ReImagine". It's
amazing look at markets that are under-served, problems that need to be solved
in B2C and B2B environments, managing talents, creativity and innovation..

Trust me, besides that the book is colorful and everything but a typical
business book, it is an insight in what will happen. These are all opinions of
Tom, and a book doesn't get more personal than this. A load of startup ideas
as you turn pages.

[http://www.amazon.com/Re-Imagine-Business-Excellence-
Disrupt...](http://www.amazon.com/Re-Imagine-Business-Excellence-Disruptive-
Age/dp/078949647X)

~~~
salvadors
Seconded. From his earlier books, I've also always been a big fan of "The
Pursuit of Wow" and "The Pursuit of Innovation". Not quite as colourful, but
still fairly non-typical as business books go.

<http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0679755551>
<http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0340717211>

------
mkuhn
Images of Organizations by Gareth Morgan. ([http://www.amazon.com/Images-
Organization-Gareth-Morgan/dp/1...](http://www.amazon.com/Images-Organization-
Gareth-Morgan/dp/1412939798/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245049030&sr=8-2))

It looks at organizations with the help of different perspectives. Definitely
an enlightening experience to read it and very helpful later on.

------
wheels
_The Mythical Man Month_ is an IT management classic that's worth its time,
though I can't say that I've read a dearth of management books.

------
jbrett
"Winning" by Jack Welch <http://budurl.com/vsz3> One of the best books I've
ever read about business. The ideas presented work well in startups or larger
corporations. The section about "candor" fantastic.

------
digamber_kamat
"How the guys screw up things" by Monk Elvis Adam

------
sarvesh
Wealth of Nations, although it won't teach you anything directly about
management it is good introduction to economics which is essential in any
management role. Best of all it is free!

