Book review i wrote for Intelligent SME magazine

4 books i reviewed for a magazine. This will be a regular feature now. These books are recommended as must reads for CEOs and senior management.

1. Think and grow rich- Napolean Hill

This is the Bible for every entrepreneur and the great grandfather of all motivational books. The original
was written in 1937 but the laws of success outlined are timeless. Think and grow rich is a
culmination from a lifetime of research by Napolean Hill who dedicated his life unraveling the science
of wealth. Andrew Carnegie, billionaire and philanthropist, inspired and initiated the idea and also
opened doors for Napolean Hill to connect and study successful businessmen across America. This
book is really the father to hundreds of modern day books on success that use the core idea from the
findings of Napolean Hill as the core ingredient.
Think and grow rich explains every aspect and element that constitute success. From his
conversations and observations of eminent billionaires of the time like Henry Ford and Thomas Alva
Edison, he outlines and breaks down the science of wealth. The book touches upon every aspect that
constitutes a mind set for wealth drawing constantly on examples and anecdotes. Each of the chapters explains a principle and Hill peels away in detail every layer of success. The book delves into the softer aspects of the mind like your sixth sense, intuition, imagination and persistence. Hill throws light and inspires mindset shift, spurs you to understand the importance of a mastermind. If one was to have a single motivational book in your library with the mindset for success and wealth this is it!

2. Unlimited Power- Anthony Robbins 

Anthony Robbins Unlimited Power is a workbook for life and a blueprint for excellence. He breaks down every aspect of excellence from mindset, language, relationships, food, health, vision and any other aspect that can spur one to excellence. He simplifies the laws of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming developed by Richard Bandler and John Ginder) into simple concepts and ideas with innumerable assignments and to dos. You can hear his voice through the book egging you on and pushing your limits. Read the book with a notepad by your side and religiously do every assignment, reflect on the learnings, discuss it and share with friends and family and imbibe the same. This book can change your life in business, self awareness, relationships, health and mastery in excellence. I also advise buying the audio book and listening in the car or at the gym to deeper embody the philosophy of the book. At 421 pages it isn’t intended to be a light read, but its difficult to put down.

The concepts explored and shared by Anthony Robbins is the new science of personal achievement.
This is arguably his best book (his other book is ‘Awaken the giant within’) and its a culmination of his
various experiments and studies. Interesting concepts to build rapport with people, methods of modeling excellence of successful people, conquering phobias and fears and exploding self limiting beliefs that hold you back. This is a book I gift to friends, individuals who are starting out in business and people whose life I would love to touch and inspire for accelerated achievement.

3. Rework – Jason fried and David Hansson

Rework is a thought provoking book that turns many myths of business upside down. Its a manifesto
for doing business with your heart and becomes even more relevant in the post recession model of
entrepreneurship. This is an extremely enjoyable book written from the heart by the founders of
37 signals. Its one of those rare business books that you will probably smile and grin while reading. Its
a book that rolls a hand grenade gently into the board room and explodes the typical. Within its pages
are nuggets of wisdom not written by academicians nor research specialists but sharing of learnings
from entrepreneurs who have grown a start up into one of the fastest growing firms in the world and
still run in with passion, humility and fun. The concepts shared makes you stop and think and radical ideas are disseminated at every page. Chapters share ideas that challenge and implore you to stop planning, avoid getting caught in the quest for growth for the sake of growth, questions the need for workaholics, asks you to avoid investors and outside money, teaches you to stay lean always, tells you not to try and make the product perfect and settle for good enough and many more such compelling arguments. Rework is one of those rare gems that you chance upon like a good friend who shakes you up from your daily grind and leaves you thinking. Seth Godin couldn’t have said it better with his quote on the cover of the paperback “Ignore this book at your own peril!”. I concur.

4. Outliers – Malcolm Gladwell

Gladwell’s latest book is yet another stroke of genius from an author whose books blend research,
date, history and facts to highlight his arguments with passion. The author of titles like “Blink” and
“Tipping point” analyses success and argues that it is not the brightest who succeed nor is it the sum
of the decisions and efforts we make. He says it is rather a gift. Outliers he says are those who have
been given opportunities and have had the presence of mind to seize them when they came
knocking. He narrates many success stories and weaves it with circumstances that led to their success.
Gladwell introduces a concept of 10,000 hours and links that as the tipping point for success. He
outlines the tale of Bill gates as a young programmer and how he evolved because he had access to
a computer club that no other high schools had. How Gates had 10000 hours of programer
experience by the time he was 20 which was almost impossible at the time. In the initial chapter,
Gladwell explains success based on birth days and gives hockey as an example sharing how most of
the payers were born in the first 3 months of the year. Like his earlier works, this book is a great read
and Gladwell’s innovative method of looking at theories makes you ponder.
The book is a delight and will make you think about success and its parameters in a completely
different light.