Running a small business is challenging. It not only requires business acumen, but also a likeable personality on the part of the owner. Small and medium-sized business (SMEs) owners must contend with groups with diverse business prospects. This includes customers, suppliers, service providers and the like. It is important that SMB owners have a good personal attitude to meet these challenges.
Below are the top five books that can help SME owners develop their personality and run a business to achieve better results.
1. How to win friends and influence people – through Dale Breckenridge Carnegie
This is one of the first best-selling self-help books ever published. The core principles in the book tell the basic techniques of dealing with people, ways to make people like you and win them over to your way of thinking, transforming people, stirring up resentment as a leader, and achieving wondrous results with letters.
This book will help you to improve your personality as an entrepreneur. It is very important for a small business owner to break out of a mental rut and develop new ambitions, vision and thoughts to keep the business going. Making stakeholders friendly quickly and easily will help keep operations running smoothly. The book provides guidelines on how to do this.
2. How a person thinks – James Allen
This is only a 40 page book and may prove more valuable than a 300 page book. It is easy to read in one sitting. The main theme of the book is that you can control your circumstances by controlling your thoughts. It looks easy, but it is the most difficult task to accomplish. This book does not give you any specific exercises. It inspires you to find your own way to control it. Right thinking is helpful in making wise decisions. It also reflects your style of leadership.
3. Outlier: The success story – Malcolm Gladwell
The book explains the factors that create successful people. The author emphasizes hard work, knowledge and skills as necessary elements for success. The environment is another factor that influences one’s success. Essentially, this means you need to look beyond individual merit. These are cultural legacies, place of birth, community, upbringing, parenting, friends and family. Understanding these can be helpful when recruiting new employees for your company.
4. Think and get rich – Napoleon Hill
The title expresses what this book is about, how to get rich. This book is the result of research on a large number of people who have attained great wealth over the course of their lives. The explanations of philosophy discussed in this book can help you succeed in any field of work. The main themes of this book explain desire, belief, autosuggestion, special knowledge, imagination, organized planning, decision, perseverance, power of the mastermind, subconscious mind, brain and the sixth sense.
5. Personal development for intelligent people – Steve Pavlina
The author explains seven universal growth principles. They all apply independently and are all interconnected. These can relate to areas of life such as spiritual development, health, relationships, finances, career, habits and others. The book is divided into basics and practical applications. The basic principles are truth, love, power, unity, authority, courage and intelligence. The practical applications are habits, career, money, health, relationships and spirituality.
