Commit Action Book Recommendations
Our founder Peter Shallard regularly recommends books to CA clients for guidance through specific business and life challenges.
After decades of reading and research, here is a list of some of his most-recommended volumes, arranged by topic.
Business Strategy
You won’t find many “7 tactics to start a business” type books in this strategy section. Nor will you find any “books-that-could-be-a-blog-post” from professional authors who’ve never actually built anything themselves. Instead, this is a list of time-tested ways of thinking about business, from the sharpest actual operators and researchers in the business world who’ve proven their ideas with concrete results.
Zero-to-One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
As one of the sharpest entrepreneurs and VC investors in the world, Thiel is the undisputed don of The PayPal Mafia — the network of entrepreneurs behind dozens of legendary fast growth startups. This book is a guide to thinking about genuine innovation for entrepreneurs looking to change the world with something altogether new. If you’re a lifestyle designer looking to make easy money to live the good life, skip it. If you want to spend the next 5-10 years building something big that changes the game for everyone… This is the strategy guide you need.
The Origin of Wealth: The Radical Remaking of Economics and What it Means for Business and Society
Want a crash course to understand economics, what the field historically got wrong (a lot) and where the cutting edge is now heading? This book presents all that in just the preamble to its presentation of what is perhaps the most powerful theory of economics, business and innovation ever described: That economic and business activity are downstream consequences of the evolutionary nature of life itself. Readers of this book will understand what Complex Adaptive Systems really are, and how these heady ideas connect down to the detailed world of business building, developing ideas into products and leading teams of people to execute business plans.
The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail
This book explains how business works. That’s it. It’s also one of the few books cited as important by Steve Jobs. Fundamentally, reading this will teach you how and why innovation happens, the life cycle of innovative businesses from early stage startups to becoming industry giants and what business leaders get right and wrong. If you can understand the broad strokes of how disruption and innovation happen in every industry, you’ll be able to apply those ideas in yours. S no matter what phase you’re in, if you want to build innovative ideas you need to read this book.
The Obstacle Is The Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph
This is the book I recommend to entrepreneurs when the shit hits the proverbial fan. Holiday has written the Bible on turning lemons into lemonade, by presenting a modern take on Stoicism that the reader can use to not just reframe challenges but to actually find greater opportunities through actively seeking difficulty. This book is a bit lighter going than others on this list but earns its place through the timelessness and sheer practical value of its core idea. It’s one you need on your shelf and to revisit time and time again when the going gets tough.
Meaning & Purpose
You won’t find fast tactics for easy wins in this section, but you will find powerful explanations for what life is about and why we do what we do. The truth is, these books have been more influential in both my life and business than any others. They give you the map and compass to chart your own path, figure out what really matters and ultimately create huge value and satisfaction in life and business.
You’ll notice that many of these books present the author’s singular grand unified theory of everything. The best ideas humans have discovered tend to connect with (and explain) all facets of reality, even though there are several different such ideas. I encourage you to treat each idea as another lens for viewing existence through—and the more lenses we have, the richer and deeper our understanding becomes.
The Denial of Death
Winner of the 1974 Pulitzer for nonfiction, Becker’s masterpiece gets as close to explaining the meaning of life as is perhaps possible. Building on a lifetime of research and thinking in psychology and philosophy, Becker updates Freudian philosophy by reframing human motivation as rooted in our denial of our own mortality. Sounds dark, but don’t fear; this book actually shines a remarkably optimistic light on how to live a good life. If you want to understand what fundamentally drives you (and others) in good and bad ways, you need to have this on your bookshelf.
Man’s Search for Meaning
This book perhaps needs no introduction, but for the uninitiated: Frankl was both a psychiatrist and a survivor of the horrors of the Nazi death camps. His experience directly informs his revolutionary approach to psychotherapy, detailed in this book. Frankl’s theory is that man’s primary motivational force is his search for meaning. The power of this idea is that finding meaning can help us reframe and transcend suffering, transforming the negative into a rich and ultimately fulfilling experience. This perspective is essential for entrepreneurs who aim to pour sweat, blood and tears into something bigger and more meaningful than they are.
The Book on The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
Alan Watts was a British American philosopher who played a huge hand in importing and popularizing eastern mysticism to the west. This book explores the core idea at the root of the eastern philosophic tradition: That our existence itself is a manifestation of the divine infinite, that our lives are a game being played by the one thing that is. A profoundly reassuring idea that actually encourages—unlike many approaches to eastern philosophy—wholehearted engagement with the world rather than a retreat into introspection. This book offers a perspective on what you and the universe really are that you’ll never be able to forget.
Mental Models, Optimization & Wellbeing
Those who are lost in the fog of self-deception suffer as they grapple with a world they can’t make sense of. Meanwhile, those who see clearly can get what they want easier and faster… and they tend to become better people too.
These books will help you form broad, rich, clear and—above all—useful maps of the world around you. By updating your mental models, you’ll optimize your psychology and improve your wellbeing. The human brain is subject to all sorts of biases and blindspots, but by improving your understanding of yourself (and how you perceive the world) you can willfully have closer contact with reality and enjoy the results.
The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life
Simler and Hanson’s book dives deep into the human mind to explore the hidden motives that shape our behavior, with a focus on understanding the self-deception that often obscures them. By dissecting our true motivations in social situations, politics, and even our daily interactions, this book helps the reader gain a better understanding of themselves and others. If you want to get an edge in optimizing your mental models and wellbeing, this book is a must-read. As an entrepreneur, it offers a great lens for understanding consumer behavior as well as your own.
The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety
In this profound work, Watts argues that the root of human anxiety lies in our desire for permanence and security, while the reality of life is inherently impermanent and uncertain. By embracing the present moment and understanding the nature of change, readers can experience a sense of freedom and tranquility. This is a great book to counterbalance the entrepreneurial urge to deny entropy. It delivers a healthy reminder to high achievers that life—and our serious goals—are all part of a bigger game.
Ego is the Enemy
In this powerful work, Holiday explores the destructive nature of ego and its ability to hinder personal growth and success. Drawing from a wide range of historical and contemporary examples, he offers practical strategies for overcoming the pitfalls of ego and fostering humility, self-awareness, and open-mindedness. Ego is typically one of the biggest existential risks to entrepreneurs, often by imperiling past wins by ever increasing demands for new success. Ryan Holiday’s writing is rooted in stoicism and provides a clear path to tame your ego and become a successful warrior monk of life and business.
Seven Ways of Looking at Pointless Suffering: What Philosophy Can Tell Us about the Hardest Mystery of All
Samuelson delves into the age-old question of suffering, presenting seven different philosophical perspectives on the topic. By examining the ways in which various thinkers have approached the subject, he encourages readers to reconsider their own beliefs and develop a richer understanding of life’s challenges. This is the number one book Peter recommends to entrepreneurs going through the worst valleys-of-despair possible, particularly when life throws curveballs that are pure bad luck. If you need a mental model to make sense of senselessness, and move forward not just in spite of it… but because of it… this is the one.
Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization
Psychologist Scott Kaufman presents a groundbreaking exploration of self-actualization, building upon the work of Abraham Maslow and integrating contemporary scientific insights. This book provides a roadmap for personal growth and self-improvement, helping readers to optimize their mental models, foster wellbeing, and achieve their fullest potential. At Commit Action we consider this book the definitive guide for figuring out personal purpose and vision after your initial entrepreneurial goals have succeeded. Consider it a roadmap to not just good mental health, but truly ideal mental optimization.
Marketing, Sales & Growth
Ask a random entrepreneur what they want from Santa this year and “The Secret to growing my business” won’t be far from their mind. There are so many resources on the internet for turning strangers into customers that the challenge isn’t where to find the answers, but how to filter them.
Commit Action’s recommendation list is therefor high level, heavily weighted towards the classics: Perennial ideas that you’ll keep coming back to again and again. Read these for the fundamental TRUTHS of business growth that you can filter all other strategies, tactics and ideas through.
Scientific Advertising
This classic work by advertising pioneer Claude Hopkins provides a timeless guide to effective direct response copywriting and marketing strategy. Despite being written nearly a century ago, its principles remain relevant and applicable today. If you want to write the next great pop-music hit, you need to study the Beatles. If you want to create winning advertising, you need to read Claude Hopkins. This is also a fabulous book for conditioning yourself to avoid getting distracted by bright, shiny “latest thing” objects, because it will remind you that the fundamentals of marketing never really change.
Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behavior
In this “grand, unifying, theory of everything” book, evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller sets out to explain why all human behavior—and particularly the things customers buy—is motivated by sex and something called “fitness signaling”. If that sounds ridiculous to you, then you need to read this. Every business owner needs to understand the deep evolutionary roots of human desire and motivation. Master this psychology and you’ll craft better products, better marketing strategies and enjoy bigger faster growth. Like many authors with a grand theory that explains most of everything, Miller does start straying into politics and “what-I-would-do-if-I-were-in-charge” towards the end. Feel free to skim those parts.
The No BS Guide to Marketing to the Ultra Affluent
Kennedy, a renowned copywriter and “yellow highlighter” marketing guru of The Old School, spends the first third of this book making the case that most entrepreneurs ignore the massive opportunity that is the luxury segment of their market. He lambasts the reader with statistic after statistic detailing how vast the ultra affluent segment of society is and what an opportunity it represents. This is a huge wake-up call to every entrepreneur who desperately needs to reconnect with their sense of self worth and increase their prices. This book sells you on why you’re crazy not to and shows you how to do it. Feel free to skim the final chapters where he starts ranting about politics.
Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customers
The original breakout book from The Godfather of marketing himself. This book is significant because of how old it is—Seth Godin predicts the entire concept of “permission marketing”, anticipating the digital attention economy several years before it really happened. He nailed it so perfectly and the principles of this book are so timeless that a Gen Z Tik Tok’er would find value and tactics for monetizing their following today. If you want to understand how to build trust and attention—and why it’s increasingly all that matters in business—do not skip this.
Ogilvy on Advertising
Legendary ad man David Ogilvy shares his wisdom and experience in this comprehensive guide to the world of advertising. This is one of those bibles that every serious marketer has on their bookshelf. Understand the timeless tactics that made the great Ogilvy campaigns work and utilize them in your business. Every serious student of brand, advertising and marketing has studied the master. Now it’s your turn.
To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others
This is the book for the reluctant salesperson or entrepreneur who struggles to ask for what they’re worth. Daniel Pink breaks down the often overlooked art of persuasion and its relevance to all aspects of our lives, reframing the reader to understand the truth: We’re all selling all the time, but some of us are better at it than others. By understanding the science and psychology behind selling—ultimately really effective communication—you can let go of any inhibitions or hang ups and enjoy easier business growth.
The One Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, and Stand Out from the Crowd
An old friend of Commit Action’s Allan Dib provides a simple, yet powerful framework for creating a highly effective marketing plan on just one page. This is the ultra tactical guide for the product-focused entrepreneur who is overwhelmed by the challenge of bringing their thing to market. If you’re new to marketing and want a step-by-step guide you can trust… you cannot not succeed if you execute Allan’s plan.
Creativity & Productivity
At Commit Action we don’t generally advise people to read about how to be more productive or creative, but prefer people to learn by doing. This is a list of exceptions that have earned our respect. These books teach you how to think about producing great work. They contain ideas so powerful and effective that they’re not merely worth reading just once, but should be kept handy and regularly revisited.
The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
In this thought-per-page manifesto of inspiration, Pressfield explores the mental obstacles that prevent us from producing creative work. His martial, stoic approach to treating the production of art as a serious profession busts through writer’s block and eliminates all excuses. If you want to become a powerhouse of output—of any creative kind—get this on your shelf now.
The Flinch: The Only Thing Holding You Back
Smith’s book is a powerful manifesto calling the reader to identify their base, animal instinct to shy away from opportunities they unconsciously perceive as dangerous. A filch works by short circuiting the conscious mind. It allows you to pull back and avoid danger faster than you can even imagine it’s there. But what if danger is exactly what you need? What if facing the flinch is the best way to get what you want? Entrepreneurs working on big goals that their monkey mind (or lizard brain) is fearful of would do well to read this one.
The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)
Another recommendation from Godin (we’re huge fans at CA!) deals precisely with that familiar place that every high achiever knows well: The valley of despair. What do you do when a good idea proves harder than you thought it would be? Do you know when to quit or stick? Godin writes a perfect guide for the entrepreneur in that dark space, providing tactical guidance for precisely what to do with a reassuring and inspiring dose of why you ought to do it. If you’re going through a tough time in business, reach for this one.
168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think
This is a scientific challenge to the common idea that you’re too busy to pursue your biggest goals. Vanderkam unpacks a ton of data about how people use (and waste) their time, then provides detailed tactical exercises to improve your efficiency. Read this to analyze the way you unconsciously allocate your time then learn how to make conscious choices to change it for the better. This is an unlock for the hidden reserves of productivity we all have available to us.
Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life
Another friend of Commit Action, Nir Eyal offers a comprehensive guide to overcoming distractions and reclaiming your focus in an increasingly connected world. Our work environment has been utterly transformed by technology, but our brains are unchanged for hundreds of thousands of years. This is the fix. Eyal proves step by step strategies to manage your attention and prioritize what’s truly important, you can boost your productivity, creativity, and overall quality of life.
Money & Investing
Entrepreneurship and financial acumen aren’t necessarily the same thing, as many successful entrepreneurs have painfully learned. Once you start making good sums of money, developing the knowledge and skills to optimize it can be the difference between achieving total freedom or self sabotaging your own success. Think of the books in this section as a one-two punch starting with how to be a better CFO of your own business, and then what to do with all the money you make as a result.
Financial Intelligence for Entrepreneurs: What You Really Need to Know About the Numbers
The best entrepreneurs have a sharp mind for product-market fit and sales or marketing. Some are lucky enough to have a financial wizard as a mentor… for everyone else, there’s Berman & Knight. Level up your acumen so you can speak to your numbers confidently. Master reading balance sheets, cash flow and income statements and ultimately learn to use financial intelligence to drive important decisions in your business. This is mandatory reading for anyone who wants to maximize profitability and secure long-term success.
The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness
This is THE book Commit Action’s founder recommends to entrepreneurs who are winning big and making stacks in business. It breaks down the truth about the complex relationship between money and human behavior. Housel delves into the psychological factors that influence our financial decisions, shedding light on why we do what we do with our money. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that a win in entrepreneurship makes you a genius investor (it doesn’t) — read this to understand the real dynamics behind investing strategy and wealth preservation.
