Develop your business by developing yourself

John Thacker, Director of Clark Brownscombe, tells us about his favourite personal development books.

If we are going to develop our businesses we need to be developing ourselves.

Here are my top 10 books on this subject (in no particular order):

1. StrengthsFinder 2.0 (Tom Rath) – there are lots of books on personality assessment, knowing your talents, but this is my favourite. Plus, there is a free online assessment you can do that goes with the book. (My top 5 strengths are Learner, Analytical, Responsibility, Intellection, and Input – hey, I’m an accountant who loves to read…)
2. On Form (Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz) – managing energy, not time, is key to high performance, health and happiness.
3. Mindset (Carol Dweck) – having a growth, not a fixed, mindset, and encouraging self-control, not self-esteem, is key to fulfilling your potential.
4. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Stephen Covey) – a classic book (though a bit long), worth reading to understand and implement the seven key principles.
5. Give and Take (Adam Grant) – one of my all-time favourite books, demonstrating powerfully that it is better to give than to receive. Powerful and counter-intuitive (well, maybe…)
6. Make Today Count (John Maxwell) – covering 12 areas, there are some excellent principles on how to build good practices and habits into each day.
7. Boost! (Chris Wisdom) – Brighton-based author and business coach Chris Wisdom shows how you can boost your performance by working on yourself, your relationships, and your skills.
8. How To Win Friends and Influence People (Dale Carnegie) – another classic, which sometimes gets a bad press (by people who haven’t read or properly understood it?). Excellent lessons on how to relate better, but which only work if you are genuine in your care for and interest in other people.
9. Confidence (Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic) – competence, not confidence, is key to success. Great book.
10. How to be a Complete and Utter Failure in Life, Work and Everything: 44 1/2 Steps to Lasting Underachievement (Steve McDermott) – using humour and reverse psychology, this book can show you how to succeed. This book helped me hugely and set me on a path of ongoing personal development. I have a spare copy of this book and a CD talk by the author which I shall gladly give away. Come and talk to me when you see me at the next Chamber Breakfast meeting that I attend (probably July).

And I’d love to hear your favourites.

If you have any questions for John, or if you would like to share your favourites, send him an email at johnt@cbhove.co.uk. 

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