5 book recommendations
Brick by Brick: How LEGO Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry By David Robertson, Bill Breen
Brick by Brick takes you inside the LEGO you’ve never seen. By following the teams that are inventing some of the world’s best-loved toys, it spotlights the company’s disciplined approach to harnessing creativity and recounts one of the most remarkable business transformations in recent memory. Brick by Brick reveals how LEGO failed to keep pace with the revolutionary changes in kids’ lives and began sliding into irrelevance. When the company’s leaders implemented some of the business world’s most widely espoused prescriptions for boosting innovation, they ironically pushed the iconic toymaker to the brink of bankruptcy. The company’s near-collapse shows that what works, in theory, can fail spectacularly in the brutally competitive global economy.
It took a new LEGO management team – faced with the growing rage for electronic toys, few barriers to entry, and ultra-demanding consumers (10-year old boys) – to reinvent the innovation rule book and transform LEGO into one of the world’s most profitable, fastest-growing companies. I found this book very interesting; I never realised the journey Lego has gone through. The battles it has faced and how close to going bankrupt it was. This book shows that with determination and good leadership, anything is possible.
Zero Negativity: The Power of Positive Thinking By Ant Middleton
There are times when life feels like it has you cornered: financial difficulties, relationship issues, work problems, all of the above. Every one of us, at one time or another, will have to face up to the challenges that come our way. And there are two ways of meeting them: negatively, where blame is the answer, where other people are at fault, where you haven’t been treated fairly. Or positively, where you own the situation, learn and grow from it and become a better person at the end of it. Letting you into areas of his life he’s never talked about before, in Zero Negativity, Ant will show you how to embrace failure and use it to your advantage, how to see change as the foundation of your future success, how to develop resilience, how to deal with bullies, what it means to be a positive role model and how to live a life with no regrets.
This book will not tell you who to be, where you should live, or what job you should do. That’s up to you. What this book is for, however, is to give you the tools you need to become the best possible version of yourself, to own who and what you are and live your life with Zero Negativity. If you find it hard to always stay positive this book will help, it gives you tools to overcome hard times and challenging tasks. I would recommend this book to anyone who wishes to stay focused and not get disheartened by the knocks of life.
Pour Your Heart into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time By Eric Conger, Howard Schultz, et al.
The success of Starbucks is one of the most remarkable business stories in decades. Since 1987, the coffee merchant has grown from a single retail store on Seattle’s waterfront to a company with more than 1,000 stores nationwide and a new one opening somewhere every business day.
According to Fortune magazine, Starbucks “has changed everything…from our tastes to our language to the face of Main Street.” In Pour Your Heart Into It, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz shares the passion, values, and inspiration that drive this fascinating company. Placing as much importance on employees as on profits, paying as much attention to creativity as to growth, motivated by enduring principles including “Don’t be threatened by people smarter than you”, and “Everything matters”, Starbucks is living proof that a company can lead with its heart, nurture its soul, and still make money. It is so interesting to hear how Starbucks started off as a bean roasting company, and then grew into the company we all know now. I am a fan of Starbucks, so reading this helped me understand how it got to be so good at what it does and what it takes to get there.
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
Why are some people and organisations more inventive, pioneering and successful than others? And why are they able to repeat their success again and again? Because in business it doesn’t matter what you do, it matters why you do it.
Steve Jobs, the Wright brothers and Martin Luther King have one thing in common: they started with why. This book is for anyone who wants to inspire others or to be inspired. Based on the most-watched TED Talk of all time. This book really inspired me, it made me think about what it takes to lead a great time, who you have to be and what it will take to be saucerful. It shows that people will follow you if they know why and believe in your cause.
Awaken the Giant Within By Tony Robbins
“I know that no matter where you are in your life, you want more! No matter how well you’re already doing or how challenged you now may be, deep inside you there lies a belief that your experience of life can and will be much greater than it already is. You are destined for your own unique form of greatness.”
Tony Robbins
Anthony Robbins has already unlocked the personal power inside millions of people worldwide. Now, in this revolutionary new audio production based on his enormously popular Date with Destiny seminars, Robbins unleashes the sleeping giant that lies within all of us, teaching us to harness our untapped abilities, talents and skills. The ultimate program for improving the quality of every aspect of your life (personal or business, physical or emotional) Awaken the Giant Within gives you the tools you need to immediately become the master of your own fate. Excellent book if you are looking to get motivated, build action plans and also make changes to your life, career and business.
