By Index Staff—
If you’re looking for business inspiration or insights, don’t overlook books outside the business section. Some of the best books for business are not business books at all. Instead, they explore human nature, the way people think and behave.
Here are three non-business books that may help small business owners think differently about their businesses, their customers, and themselves.
If you’re looking for business inspiration or insights, don’t overlook books outside the business section. Some of the best books for business are not business books at all. Instead, they explore human nature, the way people think and behave.
Here are three non-business books that may help small business owners think differently about their businesses, their customers, and themselves.
1. “The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less”
By Barry Schwartz
Format: Print, e-book and audiobook
Buy: Amazon
Overview: We often assume more equates to better: if we have more options, we’ll make better choices. But Schwartz suggests the opposite is true, that too many choices can lead to paralysis, frustration, and stress. Schwartz’s book is a quick read with a counterintuitive message. It may help you increase customer satisfaction by limiting the number of choices your customers face.
2. “The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life”
By Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander
Format: Print, e–book and audiobook
Buy: Amazon
Overview: This book is about how to excel personally and professionally by looking more broadly at possibilities. Written by a family therapist and the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, it’s filled with funny, inspirational, and relatable stories that can help small business owners take a fresh look at their businesses, competitors, customers, and themselves.
3. “Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior”
By Ori and Ram Brofman
Format: Print, e–book and audiobook
Buy: Amazon
Overview: Why is it so easy to act outside our best interests by making decisions that contradict evidence and experience? What are the forces that sway our thinking? Sway helps the reader understand why people make seemingly irrational decisions. It will also help readers avoid falling victim to those forces themselves. The book may provide small businesspeople with insights into consumer behavior—and their own.
These books—and a host of other non-fiction, non-business books like them—can help small business owners better understand themselves and their customers, potentially improving their interpersonal skills and communication. Such books might stimulate creativity and inspire fresh approaches to problem-solving, product development, and marketing. And, of course, reading non-business books can help small business owners foster a habit of lifelong learning, which is needed to stay competitive.
Fortunately, these titles are available in audio, e-book, and print, making it easy to benefit from their wisdom while on the go.
For more recommended reads, check out “5 Best Reads For Business Owners.” And for tips on running and growing your small business, visit the Index Small Business Resource Center.
