Leaders are readers, or so the saying goes.  I frequently get asked what books I would recommend to improve the skills of founders of creative service firms. These are my typical recommendations.

E-Myth is the classic work on running a small business.  Michael Gerber has some crucial insights about how to structure and organize your small businesses to so that you can run your business instead of having it run you.  If you feel like the whole business depends on you, and you can’t get your employees to take responsibility this book has the answers.

Jim Collins is my #1 most favorite business author.  Built to Last & Good to Great are must read books for every leader in business.  I think that Built to Last is the best of his books, it’s clear and actionable, and holds terrific insights into how you can create an enduring great company. There’s also a great monograph, Good to Great for Non-Profits, highly recommended after you’ve read the books themselves.

David Maister is the unchallenged guru of professional service firm management.  As with Jim Collins it’s hard to pick favorites, but I find clients are most often impacted by the business development lessons in The Trusted Advisor.  True Professionalism can be a terrific book to take younger professionals through to help them to orient themselves to what the job of a “professional” is.  Managing the Professional Services Firm is a more advanced work, more applicable for larger firms, but with lots of meaty lessons. These books are must reads for my team members.

Vern Harnish’s The Rockefeller Habits, has a great structure for how to run a business well. He has the best system for reporting and a meeting rhythm to keep all the parts of your business connected and well fed with information.  It’s short, but packed with practical information.

Lastly, Crucial Conversations by Patterson et al is a terrific book about how to have conversations when the stakes are high. So many of our conversations with employees, partners, prospects and clients get emotionally charged.  Each person is bringing in their own story about what’s happening and what should happen.  This book can help you to keep a clear head and communicate effectively even when others can’t.

Lastly, there are a number of Harvard Business Review articles that have been as useful and powerful to me as any book, Who’s Got the Monkey for managing tasks with your subordinates, Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time is important work for keeping you fueled, and energized for the long haul.

This is quite a reading list, and of course it’s not exhaustive, just my favorites.  What books, articles or Web sites keep you up to date and growing?

---

Brad Farris is a small business advisor with Anchor Advisors, Ltd. in Chicago, Il. Since 2001 Anchor Advisors has been helping creative professional firms to grow, by helping them clarify their purpose, get the most from their people, keep their eye on key performance measures, and implement consistent processes.