100 books like I Paint What I See

I enjoyed Alan Weiss’ book, Million Dollar Consulting, for its refreshingly hard-nosed look at dealing with clients. A business can’t exist without them, but contrary to conventional wisdom, the customer isn’t always right. They’re often difficult, stubborn, and think they know more about a given subject than the expert staring them in the face. Weiss’ book is a practical course on landing and working effectively with clients, especially getting paid what you’re worth. If your business model includes working with high-end clients, this book is a treasure map for growth.

This is the “playbook” for commercial real estate. Even though Robert Ringer wrote this book in 1973 he absolutely hit the nail on the head.

He teaches you “straightforward, easy-to-understand terms, how to defend yourself against the intimidators of the world.” Robert Ringer even identifies the “intimidators” and in a humorous and entertaining way.

The most amazing part is that once you have read the book, you will instantly recognize the characters from the book in your daily life.

Successful companies almost always struggle to deal with the threats posed by new technologies. They fail to recognize the dangers posed by new entrants, and they are slow to move to the “next big thing.”

I think Christenson wrote THE seminal book on this topic and gave me the tools to understand this from both a theoretical and practical perspective. 

Jay Conrad Levinson is one of my heroes. His first book, Guerrella Marketing, released when he was in his 50s, and went on to sell more copies than any other marketing book in history. A legendary creative genius from the ad world, he was teaching a class on impromptu, clever marketing tactics when his students (which included Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison) begged Jay to write the book that became the bestseller. Jay’s amazing book shows what’s possible when you apply lots of creativity and audacity to any marketing challenge. If you’ve read my earlier book, you’ll see plenty of Jay’s influence, starting with his foreword.

There are a lot of Halloween-themed anthologies out there, but none feature as many horror heavyweights as this must-have classic. Dean Koontz, Peter Straub, Ray Bradbury, Richard Laymon, Jack Ketchum, Ramsey Campbell—they’re all here and they’ve brought plenty of spooky friends. Packed with short stories and novellas revolving around the scariest night of the year, this collection also features amusing and nostalgic anecdotes about the authors’ favorite Halloween memories. If you’re a fan of Spooky Season, grab the candy corn and a steaming cup of cider because there are more treats here than a Halloween sack spilling candy down a darkened lane.   

I love this book because it nails the essentials of entrepreneurship. The author is a serial entrepreneur, venture investor and philanthropist who has set up and scaled up enterprises in Silicon Valley and India. He presents a set of principles, values and strategies to help entrepreneurs gain a lasting advantage – as opposed to a temporary one. He writes in simple English without resorting to jargon. The fact that he delivers his wisdom in nuggets makes it engaging and useful for the reader. At a time when most of the world merely skims the surface of anything, Desh Deshpande advocates depth — a philosophy I follow, too.

Due to a mania for metrics, in recent years educators have been pressured to focus on answers rather than exploring the significance of questions. This imbalance can be very damaging. Students who are only motivated by the questions their teachers pose never become intellectually independent and are unable to fully cultivate their creativity.

A More Beautiful Question tackles this problem head-on and offers an informative and engaging analysis of different types of questions and their uses. I was surprised to find gems in every chapter, even those directed at businesspeople. I often recommend this book to other college professors and those who have read it have found it transformative.

My dream job description is: to do what I want...when I want...how I want...where I want...if I want!

Do you know what you want? Too many people spend their life chasing things that don't actually make them happy! 

In Anything You Want, Derek Sivers makes the case that, as a small business owner, you get to make a little universe where you create all the laws. It's a really nice short read, about 90 minutes, and contains 40 short chapters, packed full of insights, and "aha!" moments.

Real Artists Don't Starve challenges the popular belief that artists must sacrifice financial stability in order to be true to their craft. The author argues that creativity and commerce can coexist, and uses examples from history and contemporary culture to prove his point. What I liked most about this book was learning about the great artists of the past, like Michelangelo, who was not only talented but also a great businessman who made a lot of money from his art. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to make a living from their artistic passion and believes that being a true artist and wanting to make money aren’t mutually exclusive. Goins offers practical tips and inspiration for artists looking to build a successful and sustainable career and provides a fresh perspective on the age-old debate about the relationship between art and commerce.

My favorite business school professor gave me this book on a whim that I might be interested in the work of What If? I took it home and devoured it in a matter of hours. It’s captivating in its accessibility to normal people and probably more relevant today than it was twenty years when it was published as creative catalysts and design thinkers refocus on behaviors over process and habits over tools. By adopting the six creative behaviors outlined in the book: freshness, greenhousing, realness, momentum, signalling, and courage, innovators can increase their creative capacity and even more importantly, their creative confidence.