“What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.” – Mark Twain

Each year I read approximately 30 books for the pure pleasure of creating in my imagination the sights and sounds and smells of the world that the author has created in the pages of his book. I enjoy fiction and non-fiction alike.

I also read around the same number of “educational” books each year. I read these to challenge myself out of complacency and to spur growth, to resist stagnation and to broaden my horizons.

In 2019 I was fortunate to have read many compelling and thought-provoking books. Here are five that I found particularly noteworthy. In fact, I’ll likely revisit each of these again in the future – they are that good.

1. Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits by Greg Crabtree

Owning and running a small business can be rewarding, fulfilling, and even energizing if it is aligned with your passions and personality. But it can also be nerve-racking and anxiety-producing, often requiring you to make important decisions based on imperfect and incomplete information. When should you hire your next team member? Should you reinvest your profits? Are you even profitable to begin with? How can you be sure?

In Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits: 4 Keys to Unlock Your Business Potential, Greg Crabtree offers succinct and clear guidance for running your small business. As an accountant and Entrepreneur Operating System (EOS) implementor, this book is concise and well-written. Not a word is wasted. There’s no fluff.

Some of the gems of this book include:

• Use a forecast, not a budget
• Know your salary cap for your labor force
• Monitor your Labor Efficiency Ratio
• Pay yourself a competitive wage or your financials are misleading.

If you own/run a small business, this should be required reading.

2. Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller

As a young entrepreneur, I was confident in my abilities and astute in my observations. I could quickly recognize a potential client’s primary challenge and chart a path to overcome it. I could see where others could not. In short, I could be the hero I thought they needed.

Now, some twenty-plus years later, I realize that I was fortunate to have survived that period. That approach didn’t help me to connect with my potential customers. It placed me in the limelight and ignored their real needs. I slowly learned this the hard way by trial and error. Well, it was mostly by error.

I wish Donald Miller had written Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen sooner. It could have saved me from many of those errors.

Miller draws parallels between marketing and storytelling and shares how everyone, from a giant corporation to a small solepreneur can create a meaningful brand that connects with customers.

3. Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss

“Never talk about money, politics, or religion.” Many of us were taught this principle as a kid. Talking about these, especially money now feels wrong and uncomfortable. But, when you run a small business, you must learn to talk about money early and often.

In Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It, former FBI Hostage Negotiator Chris Voss shares principles he and his team learned while negotiating some of the most extreme and contentious scenarios imaginable. The book is replete with concepts and tactics, including:

• Negotiation is not an active battle; it’s a process of discovery. The goal is to uncover as much information as possible.
• “No” is the start of a negotiation, not the end of it.  It seldom means, “I have considered all the facts and made a rational choice.”
• You are not going to logically convince someone that they are safe, secure, or in control.
• The more a person feels understood, and positively affirmed in that understanding, the more likely they are for agreement and change.

Whether you’re an accomplished and skilled negotiator or someone who actively avoids negotiations because it creates stress and conflict, you’ll likely find this book helpful.

4. Spy the Lie by Philip Houston, Michael Floyd, and Susan Carnicero

You’re sitting across the table from some who keeps touching his face and covering his mouth as he speaks. He doesn’t make consistent eye contact with you. He’s obviously lying to you, right?

Conventional wisdom holds that he is being deceitful. The facts are not his friend. But, wouldn’t someone who is lying also know the conventional wisdom and make a gallant effort to overcome the traditional indicators? So maybe it’s the person who keeps his hands on the table and stares unrelentingly into your eyes that is lying?

Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception tackles this question head-on. The three former CIA officers share their experiences in detecting deception and spotting lies. They offer proven techniques for asking questions and observing responses that will help to uncover when a person is being forthright and when she is avoiding an uncomfortable truth.

In my 27-year career, I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve worked closely with trustworthy colleagues and clients who earnestly seek to do the right thing. Nevertheless, I found this book insightful and engaging. It’s a good read.

5. The Only Sales Guide You Will Ever Need by Anthony Iannarino

Much has been written in the technical world about the “Accidental DBA,” that unfortunate IT Professional who is deeply skilled in one area such as System Administration or Application Development yet finds herself also responsible for keeping the SQL Server databases running. (In fact, our business is predicated on helping companies with Accidental DBAs.)

I am not an Accidental DBA. I’ve doing DBA work professionally for over 20 years. But I am an Accidental Sales Professional. I’m not particularly skilled in sales, yet it’s an integral part of any business, including The SERO Group.

Anthony Iannarino’s book The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need was written for people like me. It’s for honest people who truly want to help other businesses succeed. There are no manipulative tactics or unscrupulous presentations described. Rather his approach is one of learning to listen to your potential customer to determine if your product or service may help them reach their goals.

I’m not a connoisseur of sales books. I’ve only read a few. But this one has proven helpful to me.

A Few Honorable Mentions

There were many other books I read in 2019 that I’d recommend adding to your list. In most any other year, these would have made my Top 5 List.

• The Dichotomy of Leadership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
• Hit Refresh by Satya Nadella
• The Go-Giver by Bob Burg
• Creativity, Inc by Ed Catmull
• Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, Alan Eagle

I’m always looking for suggestions for books to read. Let me know if you’ve found a book particularly compelling.

The post 5 Books I’m Glad I Read in 2019 appeared first on The SERO Group.

It’s what you learn after you know it all that really counts. – John Wooden

As an avid reader and life-long learner, this quote by Coach John Wooden really speaks to me. I don’t want to wax too philosophical here, but life is a journey and we owe it to ourselves and those we influence to stretch ourselves and continually renew our minds so that we can be our best with our God-given talents.

There are a lot of ways to do that. One is to read voraciously. Each year I try to read or listen to at least 50 books. Some books I read for fun and entertainment. Many I read to learn something – how to be a better speaker, how to learn a new outdoor skill, how to better hobby farmer, and yes, how to be a better leader in my business.

Recommended Reading

I’m often asked to recommend books on specific topics. That’s why I created a Recommended Reading list. Each year I add a book or two to the list. 2018 was a banner year for my reading; I added four books to the Recommended Reading list. If you only read a few books each year, read these.

• It’s Your Ship by Capt. D. Michael Abrashoff. The United States Navy doesn’t have a monopoly on the highly-regimented, top-down leadership style. In fact, many companies still have this corporate culture. In It’s Your Ship, Abrashoff recounts how he was able to take a below average ship and turn it into one of the best ships in the Navy. His crew developed a sense of ownership and pride in their work. His bosses recognized Benfold’s accomplishments and rewarded the crew with additional liberty and flexibility. Abrashoff’s approaches work in the corporate world as well. This book is a must-read for leaders.
• Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. In the book, Jocko Willink and Leif Babin share some of the leadership lessons they learned on the battlefield where a minor mistake could have grave and lasting consequences. They distill the lessons into principles and share how they can be applied to business and everyday life. This book should be required reading for all high school seniors and business majors.
• The Like Switch by Jack Schafer. Jack Shafer spent years with the FBI, preparing spies for their missions and helping to recruit spies from other countries. During his career, he developed strategies for reading people, building trust, and developing long-term relationships. This is not a book about deceitfully manipulating people. This book shares how to build better and stronger relationships.
• Permission to Screw Up by Kristen Hadeed. Many business and leadership books are sanitized and polished. The authors share their successes without revealing the many painful mistakes and setbacks that plagued them along the way. This is not one of those books. In her book, Permission to Screw Up, Hadeed shares how she inadvertently started and grew a business hiring only millennials. She tells her engaging and personal story in an entertaining and thought-provoking way. In the end, the leadership lessons she shares seem more real and less academic, more applicable and less theoretical, more heartfelt and less boastful. Entertaining and informative, this book will help you build a better team.

Other Books Worth Your Time

I also read a lot of books that narrowly miss being added to the list. They are really good books but just don’t quite make the “hall of fame.” Here are the Top 5 Books I read in 2018 that didn’t quite make the Recommended Reading list but are still worthy of your time.

1. Crucial Confrontations by Kerry Patterson, et al. The authors provide sound tactical advice for handling difficult situations with others. They explain why these conversations are important to have and offer guidance on how to approach them.
2. Leadership and Self-Deception by Arbinger Institute. Written as a fable, the book illustrates how we frequently trap ourselves in a “box” of self-justification. We create an internal narrative that places blame on others and blinds us to what is really happening.
3. Finish by Jon Acuff. According to the author, 92 percent of New Year’s resolutions fail. Many people start something, a personal goal at home or a professional project at work, but tend to lose interest or find it too challenging to finish. In this humorous book, Acuff shares ways that he’s found to finish what you’ve started.
4. Essentialism by Greg McKeown. I’ve read a lot of books on productivity over the years looking for how to accomplish more in a shorter period of time. McKeown contends that this is the exact wrong approach. We should focus on getting only the right things done and eliminate everything else.
5. The Bullet Journal by Ryder Carroll. For years I’ve searched for a way to manage my To Do list. I’ve tried paper-based systems (ala Getting Things Done), electronic methods, and everything in between. I’ve written about my attempts in the past. I’ve finally found a system that works for me – The Bullet Journal.

No matter your superpowers, you can always learn something new. And these books can help.

What about you? Read any good books lately?

The post The 9 Best Books of 2018 appeared first on The SERO Group.

The journey would difficult at best. Yet now let’s throw in one more twist, a restriction that no seafaring traveler from old would agree to. Let’s say that you could only take one bearing during the trip. You could only consult the stars with your sextant but once, only at the very beginning. You cannot check your progress. You have no way to determine what adjustments must be made to your course to successfully complete your journey. You are, in effect, sailing without any feedback.

How do you think you’d do? Would you reach your destination? Or would the imprecise reading at the onset of the journey leave you hundreds of miles off course? Would you sail safely into the New World? Or would the unpredictable events during the year-long adventure affect your ability to succeed?

Of course, the likelihood of actually arriving your destination, of achieving your goal, would be near zero.

Yet, as leaders and managers, this is what we frequently do to our teams. We set their destinations (performance goals for the year) and expect them to accomplish them without any feedback from us throughout the year.

We withhold the frequent feedback that will help them to do their jobs better, that will help them to make the micro adjustments along the way to improve. Then once a year we unleash a barrage of shortcomings during their annual review. And they never see it coming.

If anything you say during an annual review is a surprise to a member of your team, the failing is not theirs. It’s yours. You didn’t give them feedback, important feedback, during the year to help them do their jobs. You didn’t help them to make the adjustments required.

Were they habitually late to meetings? You didn’t tell them that was unsatisfactory. Were they consistently blaming others when they missed deadlines? You didn’t help them to own all aspects of their projects. Were they having interpersonal issues with other departments? You didn’t provide the feedback so they could adjust.

If the feedback is important, if it’s worth dinging them on an annual review, why would you withhold it until the annual review? Why not give them the gift of feedback regularly?

Learn to give feedback. It’s not hard. It doesn’t have to be stressful. And your team will appreciate it.

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