Someone asked me this morning about business/motivational books that I've read recently so I thought I'd put together a quick list of the books I like and the ones I intend to read soon.

Here's my book hall of fame:

• The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It
   - Unquestionably my favorite book about the E(ntrepreneurial)-Myth that a person who is good at creating widgets will also be good at a business involving them. Should be at the absolute top of any entrepreneur's book list
• Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't - Jim Collins and team studied, in amazing depth, 11 companies that traditionally were extremely mediocre that jumped to superdom while their competitors stayed stagnant. Really enjoyed it.
• Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing - As a web development company, so much of what we sell is not tangible. This book does a great job talking about what you're really selling when what you deliver is a service.
• The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything - I wish I had read this book before we started the Angel Investor process. Great insight into the venture and angel funding process as well as branding, speaking and more. 
• Maverick: The Success Story Behind the World's Most Unusual Workplace - Interesting book that has a number of great thoughts on how to engage your employees as part of the decision making process in the company
• Marketing Outrageously: How to Increase Your Revenue by Staggering Amounts! - Really entertaining book about how to be different in your marketing. Really makes you think about how to more wisely spend your money on advertising when you don't have a big budget.
• Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach To Customer Service - We gave a copy of this to every employee in the company. GREAT book about customer service and doing the right thing by your customers
• How to Win Friends & Influence People - Classic book that still rings true. My favorite part is showing respect to a customer by asking what they think is fair when there is a disagreement. Really good stuff.

I tend to start a lot of books and keep them in progress for a while. Here are the books that I'm reading presently:

• Who's Your City?: How the Creative Economy Is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life
• The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
• Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (Voices That Matter)

I'll add some more in a later post...