Inspiration & AdviceOur Summer Reading List for Entrepreneurs

Summer no longer holds the same promise of freedom as it once did, particularly for the entrepreneur who often works through weekends and vacation days. But warm, long afternoons do encourage us to slow down a bit.

For those occasions when lounge chairs and iced beverages beckon, you need to make sure you have some enlightening reading material on hand. But type “entrepreneur” into Amazon Books and you get over 19,000 results. Yikes!

To help you hone your summer reading list, we asked our network to name the top 1-3 books they consider required reading for the budding entrepreneur. We got dozens of stellar recommendations, but to avoid overwhelming you, we’ve whittled them down to 10:

Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure

“Helps you understand how to iterate from success and ignore the failures.”

– Luke Kanies, Founder of Puppet Labs

Agile Selling

“If we are entrepreneurs, we are all selling. I love Jill Konrath’s writing style and great advice.”

– Susan Finch, Strategic Content Creator, Social Media Strategist, & Web Developer

The Breakthrough Company

“For entrepreneurs striving to grow their business into an organization that is significant, lasting and influential, this book does a great job at identifying key strategies to evolve a company from a leader-centric organization to one that is organized around a vision.”

– Jean Roque, HR Partner to Start-Ups & Growth Companies

Get Lucky

“Interesting and fun read on ‘creating serendipity’ in your organization.”

– Peter Herring, Co-founder of trovi & Shareconomy

The Hard Thing About Hard Things

“Both insightful and interesting – a must read for entrepreneurs!”

– Staff of RelianceCM

Oh, The Places You’ll Go

“This book is brilliant. It’s imperative to know that your life is a journey of ups and downs, but you can ‘do it’ if you believe in yourself and keep moving forward. This book also doubles as a great bedtime story for those fellow parent-entrepreneurs who are looking for ways to multitask.”

– Molly Lindquist, Founder of Consano

REWORK

“REWORK is a great, inspiring book that can get you unstuck.”

– Dave Barcos, Creative Director at Remedy Design Group

Start With Why

“I am convinced many businesses fail exactly for the reason they cannot figure out what their ‘why’ is… A must read.”

– Karina Mayner, CPA, Small Business Tax Service

Strengths Finder 2.0

“Teaches you how to hire and manage and develop people. Focus on strengths, not weaknesses. Changed how we approach our people.”

– Emma Mcilroy, Co-Founder of Wildfang

The Three Pillars of Zen

“If you aren’t losing sleep or mentally spiraling much of the time, then you probably aren’t an entrepreneur. My Zen practice makes a very positive difference in how I interact with others and in my own peace of mind.”

– Sean Beers, President of Portland Product Werks

What must-read book do you recommend for entrepreneurs?