by Patrick Lencioni  He tells the fictitious story of how an executive gives up his corporate job to own and manage an Italian restaurant in Lake Tahoe. It’s a simple story, but it illustrates brilliant points that helped me recognize if my job needed restructuring or if I’m fairly managing my expectations of someone over me.

8. 5 Signs of a Miserable Job

Peterson's book 12 rules for life should be a welcomed read to someone who didn't grow up with a good relationship with their parents. "pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient."

12. 12 Rules For Life

by Luke Sullivan  This is about how to write advertisements. It’s a jaunty book about moving people to buy with words and images (i.e., storytelling).If you write emails, CTAs, or social copy, you could probably benefit from the lessons in this book.

5. Hey Whipple, Squeeze This

Stanley's book, Visioneering, taught him about Goal-Setting. He says you should always be shooting for something bigger and better. But don't let a process dictate the future. This creates shallow, sedentary thinking and Close-Mindedness. He says it instilled in him the value of setting a goal and taking action to achieve it.

11. Visioneering

Ron Willingham's ad is one that connects the buyer’s exact need to the seller’s exact product or service. If what you’re selling isn’t genuinely helpful to someone’s life, you are making one of three mistakes: 1) you are selling a thing to the wrong person, 2) you shouldn’t be selling the thing, or 3) the thing shouldn’t be sold at all (i.e., it’s a bad product or service)

7. Integrity Selling

If you consider yourself ambitious, this book will help you assess the size of your ambition and how it is probably not — nor should it be — the size of someone’s like Steve jobs. If left unchecked, it can ruin the delicate balance of life satisfaction. Knowing my role in life and recognizing what it is and what it is not, helped me be at peace with tougher decisions.

10. Steve Jobs Biography

Robert Kiyosaki grew up with a "poor dad" and retained the poor dad mindset through college. He realized that money can be managed to grow wealth and increase opportunities.

2. Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Six years ago, this book took the enigma of management and clarified it for me. It's the antidote to micromanagement and frees a manager and an employee to do their best work. One management strategy that stuck with me is the "one-minute Praisings".

1. One Minute Manager

Nassim Taleb's Antifragile put words, data, stories, and brilliance to something I've sensed at a gut level but was never aware of. It Concretized this way of thinking: always be open to change by challenging everything.

3. Antifragile

Austin Kleon paints a portrait of how secrecy kills a project and how opening up the creative journey is a powerful marketing strategy. "if you build it they will come" is out, replaced with "as you build it they will come"

9. Show Your Work

Runaway millionaire is a novel about a family broken by greed, ambition, betrayal, and lust for power and restored by an unexpected, Transformative love. In retrospect, I think I saw myself as the son and God as the father character.

Bonus: Runaway Millionaire

by Mason Currey  This book eloquently and efficiently describes specific examples of famous creative people from history who remind me that I’m not batshit crazy for trying to create or do something out of the ordinary.

4. Daily Rituals

Our best work comes from our basest desires. People do what they feel like doing. Strip away the fake morals, the shallow altruism of “second-handers,” and the prison of caring what people think you should do with your life and let yourself (and others) do your best, most authentic work. True impact and lasting goodness come from a central purpose in the individual.When working with people, discover their most core desires and liberate them to create. As a result, they will do their best work, they will love it, you will love it, and it will be beautiful, and everyone will love it.

6. The Fountainhead

This short list of books may not impress you — some of the books may even seem basic — but they were formative in my development as a person throughout my late teens, early twenties, and recent…

5. Hey Whipple, Squeeze This

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#5 Journal It Out

A note from this article's author: Don't get lost in this book