Stephen Kelly recommends Work Rules, Google's book on disruption, and points to Jeff Bezos founding Amazon as a model for entrepreneurs. He stresses forging your own identity over copying others, trusting your instincts, and using customer research and social media feedback to iterate fast.
Nathaniel's asking, hey Evan, can you ask Stephen Kelly what books he recommends or suggests about taking risks in business? Thank you.
I've read a load of books, and I would say actually now a lot of it is they come back to the basics of trust or instinct, and they all say the same thing. So Whether it's, um, I read the Google book Work Rules pretty recently. That's pretty cool, uh, around disruption. And also, you know, how Bezos started at Amazon. That's pretty cool as well. But I think, you know, what you need to do in all these books is say, yeah, what does that apply to me? But, but also, you don't want to be a clone. You don't want to follow in someone else's shadow. You want to be your own entrepreneur. You want to be your own You want to have your own moon mission. You want to take moonshots, and that's what makes you special, and that's what makes you different. And I would say it comes back to a lot of it. Trust your instincts. Do your research around customers, and it's so easy through social now to get amazing feedback in nanoseconds about your product or your service. And listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, and then change, evolve, and then you will be a world beater. You'll grow fast.
What's your favorite book of all time?
Right, love this, but it speaks to— I just love disruptors. I love people who are not happy with the status quo. To Kill a Mockingbird. Huh, it's my favorite. To Kill a Mockingbird. And, uh, it speaks to everything that, you know, even if, um, whatever you are, what, 50, 60 years ago, and all the great changes through through the civil rights movement that have changed the world a little bit. But I think all of us entrepreneurs not only want to pursue our passions, but if we can challenge inequality and injustice, then wow, it's not about just building a great business and blocking out the rest of the world. We've got to be part of the world. We can't exclude ourselves from the world.
