A gangster, fitness pro and neuroscientist each write a book…No, it’s not the set-up to a joke. As an avid reader of business and personal development books, I am always on the lookout for entertaining, accessible and insightful reads. Here are three recommended reads and my favorite takeaways from gang member-to-CEO Ryan Blair, P90X creator Tony Horton, and neuroscience PhD Tina Seelig:
Nothing To Lose, Everything To Gain by Ryan Blair
A former gang member turned entrepreneur and currently CEO of ViSalus, Blair shares lessons he picked up from his various entrepreneurial ventures, as well as his hard-knock early days:
Specific questions are more likely to lead to specific answers.
Blair emphasizes the importance of networking in business success. He specifically recommends being prepared with intelligent enough questions to actually glean useful information and make an indelible impression on your networking contact. How much do you research in advance of networking meetings?
Don’t get emotionally attached to projects…The more things you say yes to or try to do, the less productive you are.
Blair offers a handy way to maintain your focus as tantalizing opportunities present themselves – turn “focus” into a four-letter word. So if someone asks you to participate in yet another activity or project, just say “What the focus are you talking about?” It’s a funny and useful reminder that saying No can be a good thing. When was the last time you pruned your To Do list?
If you feel confident that you can take on a business, where is your partner’s breaking point?
Blair calls out the shared risk and sacrifice that the whole family takes with an entrepreneurial venture. Have you discussed your next career moves with your family and enrolled their support?
I often jokingly explain entrepreneurship like this: you get to set your own hours – you pick the seventeen hours of the day that are best for you, any seven days of the week.
Blair reminds big dreamers that there is a significant time component to these dreams. Are you putting in the time? Have you cleared your calendar to work on that side business, career change, or other long-term goal outside your immediate career?
Be a good teacher and a better student.
This is one part of a list of key tenets Blair follows in hiring and managing his staff. The emphasis on both coaching others and continually learning yourself is critical to leaders for all types of businesses. Do you both teach and learn?
The Big Picture: 11 Laws The Will Change Your Life by Tony Horton
Tony Horton is the creator of workout phenomenon, P90X. He interlaces fitness tips with general success principles, sprinkled with funny anecdotes about his journey from actor/ sometimes trainer to owner of a multifaceted fitness enterprise, including a training facility, several books, products, clothing line and a healthy food delivery service.
Think creatively about creativity.
Horton points out you don’t have to be an artist to be creative. He gives examples about mixing up your training or your diet choices. How can you mix it up with your career efforts –attend a different networking group, expand your contacts beyond the familiar?
Don’t focus on the pitches you know you can knock out of the park. Instead, swing at the curveballs.
Horton shares how balance training on a slackline improved his skiing. Whether or not you ski, this notion of specialty training on your weak spots holds for careers. Do you have mentors to coach you where you’re struggling? In your negotiation prep or interview practice or presentation run-throughs, do you practice the hard questions, the push back, the places where you feel the most anxiety?
You’ve got to be consistent about being consistent.
Horton preaches consistency in fitness, but also relationships, work, and life skills, like good manners. Are you consistent and dependable to your colleagues? Are you working on your job search, career change, or business growth each and every day, rather than in fits or starts?
InsightOut: Get Ideas Out of Your Head and Into the World by Tina Seelig
Tina Seelig has a PhD in neuroscience from Stanford University Medical School and is an executive director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. In InsightOut, Seelig shares a 4-part model for how to bring an idea to life, with examples from various industries and countries all over the world. Each chapter also has suggested exercises to practice the concepts.
Imagination. Creativity. Innovation. Entrepreneurship.
Seelig’s four parts in the model break down into applicable steps four broad concepts that are sometimes used interchangeably and oftentimes referred to amorphously. As an entrepreneur myself I appreciate firsthand the struggles -day of juggling so much to do and needing to adapt to market conditions and launching new ideas from scratch. This model is incredibly helpful to assessing where to focus. Do you need to better identify where to focus your energies?
What does racecar driving have to do with imagination? Everything.
So opens the chapter on envisioning (the second part of the Imagination step). Seelig emphasizes the importance of visualization to overcome challenges and of “envisioning a bold future” to navigate the ever-changing world. Can you imagine a bigger business or bigger role? What does that look and feel like? What do you need for this stretch?
We make choices that give us a short-term win at the expense of long-term success.
This reminder is from the chapter on Focus, where Seelig talks about the importance of selecting a “significant long-term objective” and then working on it without cutting corners. Do you need to winnow down your significant career or business objectives? Are you consciously directing your time to the significant objectives?
As Seelig demonstrates with the diversity of her examples in InsightOut, business (and career) lessons can be found in various industries and roles, including venues like racing that are more sport than job for most people. Ryan Blair and Tony Horton give us books that pull lessons from gang life and fitness. Reading outside your normal area of focus is fun and critical to preventing insular thinking. What is the furthest afield industry you get information from? What is the best unconventional book you’ve read lately?
Caroline Ceniza-Levine is a career and business coach withSixFigureStart®. She has worked with executives from Amazon, American Express, Condé Nast, Gilt, Goldman Sachs, Google, McKinsey, and other leading firms. She’s also a stand-up comic, so she’s not your typical coach.
