Brain Food for Founders
Want a better brain? Research shows that keeping your brain active and engaged not only prevents it from losing power, it increases cognitive stimulation. So, your brain will be stronger and healthier, and you’ll be smarter!
Here’s a list of our favourite brain food over the past couple of years.
Book List Download
Simply complete the form below, hit the button and you’ll receive a copy of our Book List within 10 minutes via email.
BUSINESS CREATION/INNOVATION
THE PERSONAL MBA – Josh Kaufman
FROM THE DUST COVER – Are you tempted to go to business school? Save your money and read The Personal MBA instead. This bestselling book gives you everything you need to transform your business and your career.
COMMENT FROM GRAHAM MCCORKILL – I love this type of book… No fluff! Everything in The Personal MBA is awesome information and worthwhile studying as you grow a business.
EXPONENTIAL ORGANIZATIONS – Salim Ismail / Michael S Malone / Yuri van Geest
FROM THE DUST COVER – In the past five years, the business world has seen the birth of a new breed of company – the Exponential Organisation. An ExO can eliminate the incremental, linear way traditional companies get bigger to achieve performance benchmarks ten times better than their peers.
COMMENT FROM GRAHAM MCCORKILL – From their extensive research, the authors identify ten attributes that allow some organisations to achieve true exponential growth. Understanding these attributes is essential for all business owners/leaders.
START WITH WHY – Simon Sinek
FROM THE DUST COVER – Sinek starts with a fundamental question: Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their success over and over?
COMMENT FROM GRAHAM MCCORKILL – Essential reading for all those starting a business… And knowing the answer to the fundamental question – “Why do you do what you do?” is imperative for all business leaders.
BUSINESS GROWTH
GOOD TO GREAT – Jim Collins
FROM THE DUST COVER – Can a good company become a great company, and if so, how? Based on a five-year research project comparing companies that made the leap to those that did not, Good to Great shows that greatness is not primarily a function of circumstance but largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.
COMMENT FROM GRAHAM MCCORKILL – An especially great resource for established companies in a competitive market.
GREAT BY CHOICE – Jim Collins & Morten T Hansen
FROM THE DUST COVER – Why do some companies thrive in uncertainty, even chaos, and others do not? Based on nine years of research, buttressed by rigorous analysis, and infused with engaging stories, Jim and coauthor Morten Hansen enumerate the principles for building a truly great enterprise in unpredictable, tumultuous, fast-moving times.
COMMENT FROM GRAHAM MCCORKILL – Great follow up to Good to Great.
10X IS EASIER THAN 2X – Dan Sullivan with Dr Benjamin Hardy
FROM THE DUST COVER – How world-class entrepreneurs achieve more by doing less. Between Dan Sulivan’s decades coaching tens of thousands of outlier entrepreneurs, and Dr. Ben Hardy’s background in entrepreneurial psychology, they provide a perspective of ’10X’ that’s unlike anything presented on this wildly popular and even more wildly misunderstood topic.
COMMENT FROM GRAHAM MCCORKILL – This is truly a watershed book. If you can embrace the concepts in this book, they will help you remove all limits on what you can achieve both personally and in business. My favorite book of 2023!
SCALING UP – Vern Harnish
FROM THE DUST COVER – Harnish and his team share practical tools and techniques for building an industry-dominating business. The goal of this book is to help you turn what feels like an anchor into wind at your back — creating a company where the team is engaged; the customers are doing your marketing; and everyone is making money.
COMMENT FROM GRAHAM MCCORKILL – Not a casual read… Every sentence seems profound and practical, so really needs to be studied… and the Gazelles system tools that you are given access to are awesome.
LEADERSHIP
THE 21 IRREFUTABLE LAWS OF LEADERSHIP – John Maxwell
FROM THE DUST COVER – In The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, John C. Maxwell combines insights learned from his 40-plus years of leadership successes and mistakes with observations from the worlds of business, politics, sports, religion, and the military.
COMMENT FROM GRAHAM MCCORKILL – John Maxwell has a great writing style – clear, simple yet packed with practical information. He is a pastor, so be prepared for Christian references, but certainly not over the top.
DEVELOPING THE LEADER WITHING YOU 2.0 – John C Maxwell
FROM THE DUST COVER – Current culture tells us leaders are born, but John will explain through 10 critical components of authentic, personal leadership how leaders are made.
COMMENT FROM GRAHAM MCCORKILL – Clear and concise, this is one of my favourite leadership books. There is no fluff, so the lessons are simple to apply.
DEVELOPING THE LEADERS AROUND YOU – John C Maxwell
FROM THE DUST COVER – Supremely practical, this book is crammed with strategies that help you effectively transform your dreams into reality by building up your people. Emphasizing that your organization can’t grow until its members grow, Dr. Maxwell encourages you to identify and train potential leaders.
COMMENT FROM GRAHAM MCCORKILL – You probably get the idea that I am a fan of John Maxwell’s books… I am! Developing the Leaders Around You is a great follow-up book to Developing the Leader Within You.
THE COACHING HABIT – Michael Bungay Stanier
FROM THE DUST COVER – The Coaching Habit gives you seven questions and the tools to make them an everyday habit. Master them, and you’ll be able to work less hard and have more impact.
COMMENT FROM GRAHAM MCCORKILL – Awesome system for anyone in a position of leadership that is one-on-one coaching your team. His system cuts through the bullshit and gets results.
MARKETING
PURPLE COW – Seth Godin
FROM THE DUST COVER – In Purple Cow, marketing guru Seth Godin urges everyone involved in creating, designing or selling to think in new ways about their market. By adopting alternative approaches to your business, you and your company will survive to innovate another day.
PERMISSION MARKETING – Seth Godin
FROM THE DUST COVER – The era of mass market advertising as a primary marketing strategy is over. Permission Marketing teaches you how to market your offerings in a fundamentally different and more sustainable way: by “Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customers.”
PRESENTING / PITCHING
PITCH ANYTHING – Oren Klaff
FROM THE DUST COVER – According to Klaff, creating and presenting a great pitch isn’t an art – it’s a science. Applying the latest findings in the field of neuroeconomics, Klaff describes how the brain makes decisions and responses to pitches.
COMMENT FROM GRAHAM MCCORKILL – One of the great books on pitching. Many of the principals from Pitch Anything are incorporated into our own Pitch Creation methodology. Klaff gives great insight into why his approach works.
HOW TO GET YOUR POINT ACROSS IN 30 SECONDS OR LESS – Milo Frank
FROM THE DUST COVER – How to Get Your Point Across in 30 Seconds or Less will show you how to get your listener’s attention, keep their interest, tell a wonderful story, ask for and get what you want – all in 30 seconds.
COMMENT FROM GRAHAM MCCORKILL – It’s an oldie but a goody… and only around 100 pages! These principals are timeless and can be used in emails and marketing pitches in addition to face to face.
HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE – Dale Carnegie
FROM THE DUST COVER – How to Get Your Point Across in 30 Seconds or Less will show you how to get your listener’s attention, keep their interest, tell a wonderful story, ask for and get what you want – all in 30 seconds.
COMMENT FROM GRAHAM MCCORKILL – A real classic… One of the first self help books about interaction and negotiation. Still all relevant and applicable today! Also, worth reading for the stories of early 20th century business and world leadership in the US.
PRODUCT CREATION/DEVELOPMENT
THE LEAN STARTUP – Eric Ries
FROM THE DUST COVER – The Lean Startup isn’t just about how to create a more successful entrepreneurial business, it’s about what we can learn from those businesses to improve virtually everything we do.
COMMENT FROM GRAHAM MCCORKILL – Essential reading for anyone starting a new business or project or division, especially if involved with technology… These methodologies are critical to minimising big mistakes and maximising success.
THE STARTUP WAY – Eric Ries
FROM THE DUST COVER – Eric Ries reveals how these entrepreneurial principals can be used by businesses of all kinds, ranging from established companies to early-stage startups, to grow revenues, drive innovation and transform into truly modern organisations.
COMMENT FROM GRAHAM MCCORKILL – A follow up to The Lean Startup, Ries shows how the principals from his first book and his entrepreneurial management thinking can be utilised by any size organisation to innovate and achieve sustainable growth.
THE LEADER’S GUIDE – Eric Ries
FROM THE DUST COVER – Whether you’ve just discovered The Lean Startup, are a practitioner who wants to dive deeper, or work at a company trying to incorporate it at scale, The Leader’s Guide is the ultimate master class in successfully implementing Lean Startup methodology at your organization.
COMMENT FROM GRAHAM MCCORKILL – Only available in audio format. This is an awesome guide, incorporating all Eric Ries’s experience helping organisations implement the Lean Startup Methodology since writing his first book… I love this audio book!
THE LEAN PRODUCT PLAYBOOK – Dan Olsen
FROM THE DUST COVER – How to innovate with minimum viable products and rapid customer feedback. It describes the Lean Product Process: A repeatable, easy to follow methodology for itterating your way to product-market fit.
COMMENT FROM GRAHAM MCCORKILL – A really valuable how-to guide for creating products that users love. For founders and/or product owners of a digital product (app or saas or other software product), this is a must read!
PRODUCTIVITY
SMARTER, FASTER, BETTER – THE SECRETS OF BEING PRODUCTIVE – Charles Duhigg
FROM THE DUST COVER – A fascinating new book that explores the science of productivity, and why, in today’s world, managing how you think—rather than what you think—can transform your life.
COMMENT FROM GRAHAM MCCORKILL – Some really great insights in this book split into 8 key concepts.
18 MINUTES – Peter Bregman
FROM THE DUST COVER – How ofter do you get to the end of another long and frantic day and wonder why so many important things didn’t get finished? 18 Minutes shatters the myth that you can get it all done and instead provides solutions to the problems we face every day.
ATOMIC HABITS – James Clear
FROM THE DUST COVER – Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results. An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. – This is a revolutionary way to get 1% better every day. These small changes will have a transformative effect on your career, your relationships and your life.
COMMENT FROM GRAHAM MCCORKILL – James Clear simplifies the system for setting up your daily process (habits) to achieve way more every day… Both personally and in business. It will change the way you approach you goals. My favourite book for 2022.
SALES
PREDICTABLE REVENUE – Aaron Ross & Marylou Tyler
FROM THE DUST COVER – Discover the outbound sales process that, in just a few years, helped add $100 million in recurring revenue to Salesforce.com, almost doubling their enterprise growth… with zero cold calls.
COMMENT FROM GRAHAM MCCORKILL – Some really great principals that can be applied to email and LinkedIn campaigns. Not everything is made completely clear however and so promotes their services.
WORDS THAT SELL – Richard Bayan
FROM THE DUST COVER – The Thesaurus to Help You Promote Your Products, Services, and Ideas. More than 6,000 words and phrases that make the difference between “yadda-yadda-yadda” and copy that sells.
COMMENT FROM GRAHAM MCCORKILL – A great resource to have at hand when writing marketing copy, emails, blogs and anything you want to engage your audience.
SELL LIKE CRAZY – Sabri Suby
FROM THE DUST COVER – Sabri Suby, founder of Australia’s #1 fastest-growing digital marketing agency, KING KONG, reveals his step-by-step formula for growing the sales of any business, in any market or niche!
COMMENT FROM GRAHAM MCCORKILL – This is a must-read for anyone involved in sales/marketing, especially if you’re marketing your business online. (The book’s landing page gives a great insight into Suby’s style).
SELF DEVELOPMENT
THE ONE THING – Gary Keller with Jay Papasan
FROM THE DUST COVER – The ONE Thing is the New York Times bestseller which delivers extraordinary results in every area of your life – work, personal, family and spiritual.
THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE – Stephen R Covey
FROM THE DUST COVER – The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, has been a top-seller for the simple reason that it ignores trends and pop psychology for proven principles of fairness, integrity, honesty, and human dignity.
COMMENT FROM GRAHAM MCCORKILL – Worthwhile re-visiting this book every couple of years. The link here (MORE INFO Button), takes you to the late Dr Covey’s site where you can get a summary of the 7 habits and more.