At first, I listened to the audiobook, then I bought the hard copy and find myself referring to it frequently. I find that there’s plenty of materials on how to start up. The next phase is where leaders need help and this is as good of a field guide to leadership as I’ve seen. I’ve bought the book for several executives and would prescribe it to anyone who wants to improve their business leadership skills.
Hi, this is Ahmed again coming from the mountaintop or middle of the mountain. It’s been a while since I’ve recorded one of these. Mainly because I’ve been so focused on building my next venture which is Yobi. It’s a unified communication so a little bit of shameless plug in my book reviews. So, if you get a chance, check it out.
It’s trying to revolutionize digital communications or actually communication for business. Today, speaking of business there is a specific book that comes to mind that I think is an iconic book and is going to become a classic someday and for business folks. It’s a book called Entrepreneurial Leadership by Joel Peterson.
Now, the first time I found out about this book was when I learned that Joel Peterson was the chairman of JetBlue and I actually worked at a company that was acquired by JetBlue and I remember the culture of JetBlue just being an amazing culture where people were proud of working for JetBlue and I hope to build a company like that so I figured why not check out this book by Joel Peterson. Started reading it and I then, I started realizing this was, this was an extra ordinary work. Having been in business for a while, having learned some of the lessons the hard way, one of the things that a lot of people don’t tell you there’s a lot of advice how to start up. I can probably repeat them verbatim to you from different books that I’ve read, different courses that I’ve taken but the problem comes when you’re trying to grow a company, when you’re trying to scale, when you realize that the lead, the problem is you. I came to that point in my career as an entrepreneur when I realized it’s not a competitor that’s slowing me down it’s my lack of business knowledge or it’s my lack of leadership knowledge or you know something else that I didn’t have.
So, I spent a good amount of time focusing on myself, focusing inward I started reading a lot of books because it’s lot easier to read books and learn than to fail and learn because that’s another way that you can learn and I learned by failing and learning at first and then I started reading books.
So, I would highly recommend Entrepreneurial Leadership where Joel Peterson actually distills his years and years’ worth of business experience and gives you a road map on how to navigate your way around leadership such that you’re a better business person, you’re a better leader, you’re a better dad even he actually talks about his family and how he approaches the world. It was a refreshing read, it wasn’t cutthroat it was about how you could be a nice person, a good person, and win.
One of my favorite parts of the book is this part called firing with compassion it’s about people you know people as people are the hardest thing in business at least for me but in people hiring people, recruiting, motivating and then firing. Firing sounds like a really terrible thing but you can fire with compassion and that and that’s when you understand the other person is. And you can be a leader who at the end of your career are not hated. You people look back at you and go that guy he was an awesome guy; he took care of me or awesome guy or gal. right? Took care of me, helped pay my rent, helped pay the bills and genuinely cared so, it’s been a very influential book for me personally, I’ve taken a lot out of it I’ve actually implemented some of the HR parts out of the book.
I’ve made sure to take some advice for myself give myself time. One of the reasons I’m back on the hike again is because it shows the importance of having mental clarity as a leader. I would highly recommend this book. I’ve actually gotten about 10 copies of physical book after I listened to the audiobook because it was that good and I sent it to all of the executives that work for me or work for one of the companies that I have ownership interest in. And I recommended it to just about everybody that I meet who’s in a position of leadership and in a time like 2020 you know when there’s all this craziness happening all around I think it’s even more important book because when else did the world require leadership of us than now?
Now, is the time to lead not just in business but in life and volunteering and helping our neighbors and just being a decent good person. If you are in that position in your community like take that on and I look forward to being a leader not one that feels like oh I have all these minions but rather I get to serve in this way that I understand that I know I can get people to collaborate.
Again, that book is Entrepreneurial Leadership by Joel Peterson I highly recommend it one of the best business books that I have ever read. It’s not the densest books and places like there are certain chapters where you can find other books that elaborate on it you know at great length but if you wanted to go through and touch upon all the important things that you need to have to be a well-rounded leader, this book’s got it all. So check it out, let me know what you think. Until next time, bye.
