World Business

Classic management texts. Inspiration and self-help. And a primer on—farming? That’s what we originate when we asked entrepreneurs the kind of they’re reading this summer. Below, a few suggestions for your beach bag

by Louise Lee

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David Rudes/BW

I plan to read The Future of Management by Gary Hamel. Part of being a young entrepreneur—I’m 24—is that I’m prejudiced in modern views on management. I’m less into, “I’m the manager, so terminate what I say,” and more willing to employment a team approach. — Vanessa Johns-Webster, owner of the 20-person Blue Ribbon Cooking School in Seattle

I presume there’s a lot in How to Have Confidence and Power in Dealing with People by Les Giblen that could help me. Before I got into this business, I was the wallflower. I’m making progress, but I want to work on my confidence. — Lee Bowling, owner of On Doody, a five-person pet-waste cleanup benefit in Memphis

Randy Pausch’s record, The Last Lecture, is a figment of inspiration and motivation. Pausch is a Carnegie Mellon professor who has cancer, and he’s all about time management and how you need to movement out in the world and do grand things. He’s knows he’s going to die, but his mental outlook is unbelievable. — Rob Daley, CEO of Thorley Industries, a 10-person Pittsburgh assembly that designs and markets children’s products

L. Muhlbach’s Frederick the Great and His Court ties together all the magnificent families at the proper time, and that’s fun. Also, studying battles can help you in business. You see strategies, you learn about being prepared, and you learn not to underestimate your enemies. — Diane Ranger, CEO of 100-person Dana Point (Calif.) cosmetics maker Colorescience

The Warren Buffett Way by Robert G. Hagstrom shows how Buffett catapulted himself ahead by sticking to his philosophy and missing the Internet boom. He shows that you should give credit to in your own ideas and not follow each unused manufactured paradigm. — Steve Wasserman, CEO of 50-person Tealuxe, a Franklin (Mass.) company that operates a chain of cafés

Food is my object of passion. I have a garden; I sell cheese; I used to be a chef. So I’ll read Joel Salatin’s You Can Farm: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Start and Succeed in a Farming Enterprise. It’s concerning farming organic, healthy fodder. — Hugh O’Neill, founder of St. Kilian’s Cheese Shop, a two-person company in Denver

I want to read Timothy Keller’s The Reason for God not thus plenteous for his religious philosophy as to see why his approach is generating in the same manner much interest. Our small company is trying to grow, so I’m looking to men who have had good fortune. — Richard Ekstrom, CEO of Proteopure, a Pittsburgh biotech company by four employees

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, by means of Chip Heath and Dan Heath, is all over condensing ideas and making them punchy. It’s important to make ideas into stories, so people remember them and spread them. — Tom Loveland, CEO of Mind Over Machines, a 50-person consulting firm in Baltimore

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