MBA851 My Top 5 Books in 2016

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Hey welcome. Welcome to the $100 MBA Show. The best way to power up your day and your business every single day with our daily 10 minute business lessons for the real world. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher Omar Zenholm. I'm also the co founder of the Hundred Dollar mba, a complete business training and community online. And in today's episode I'll be sharing with you my top five books in 2016. This past year I've read 26 books on business, leadership and entrepreneurship. That's about a book every two weeks. And let me say it's been a great year in terms of the books I've read and today I wanna share with you the top five books that I read this year that has really changed things for me. They've really helped me see things differently, helped me become a better entrepreneur and a better thinker. I'll be sharing with you the titles as well as why they make my top five. The last couple years I've made a really dedicated effort to read more books and I'm really glad I made that promise myself because along the journey I read some amazing books including the five I'll be mentioning today. Can't wait to get into them. So let's get into it. Let's get down to business. All right. Let's get started. These top five books are in no particular order. They're not from number one being the best book I read this year or anything like that. But I have to say, it was really hard for me to choose five books. I read so many great books that I shared with you as must read episodes here on the 100 MBA show, but these ones really influenced me. They, they really made me think differently about things and they really actually changed me. They're inspirational, they're practical, they're really books you need to read as soon as possible. So let me start with number one. And when I wrote this list, this is the first book that popped in my mind. I could not ignore this book whatsoever. It has really shaped my year. And it's Elon Musk by Ashley Vance. If you're a listener of the show, you know that I'm a huge Elon Musk fan. I am just really inspired by his, you know, vision and the way he sees things, his innovative style and the way he's trying to change the world with his businesses. For those who don't know, Elon Musk is one of the founders of PayPal. When PayPal sold to eBay, he took his billion dollar payout and started a few companies, some might say risky companies. He started SpaceX, which is an alternative to NASA. Talk about being competitive, right? But if that's not enough, he started Tesla, Tesla Motors. Starting a car company with no automobile industry expertise or experience ever. And not only was he taking on the automobile industry, but these are electric cars, which means he is going up against the oil industry. You could say that Elon likes a challenge, right? And he also is a big part of SolarCity, which is a company that is a supplier of solar panels to homes. And the book's author, Ashley Vance, spends some really intimate time with Elon Musk to write this biography. They really start at the beginning, not only when Elon was young, but even the stories of his grandparents. So you kind of understand what family he's coming from, the kind of upbringing he had from his parents themselves, as well as his early struggles as a young man. So why was this book so impactful? Number one, Elon has suffered through so many challenges, so many failures in his business. He's now seen as some sort of like crazy inventor, playboy, Tony Stark, Iron man person. Right? But it wasn't always that way. He's had so many challenges and so many failures. He was a laughing stock a lot of the tech world for a long time, as well as the space Exploration world. I mean, SpaceX had some incredible challenges along the way. We're talking about millions of millions of dollars being wasted on mistakes, mistakes that sort of are unavoidable. You have to go through these things when you're creating businesses like this. So that's so reassuring and inspiring. But all in all, the book makes you. It forces you to think bigger, to think bigger about what you're building in your business. It's not just about the money, it's about the impact you make on the world. And that's something that Elon talks about a lot. And I think it's something that we all should meditate on for a little bit and think about as we're building our businesses. All right, so number one, Elon Musk by Ashley Vance. Number two, Shoe Dog by Phil Knight. Phil Knight, of course, is the founder and former CEO of Nike. And before I read Shoe Dog, I didn't know much about Phil Knight himself. I saw a couple interviews back in the day. You know, I am a customer of Nike. I've bought Nike shoes. I have Nike shoes as well as clothing. But I really didn't know the story behind Nike that much, or the man behind Nike, Nike as a corporation. And this book reveals it all. It's an autobiography, so Filma is actually the author, and he walks you through the inception of the idea all the way to the current day and talk about what a journey again, Lots of failure, a lot of challenges. But the one thing that really stood out is that Phil doesn't claim to be extremely talented or witty or, you know, some sort of genius. The one thing he really had going for him is drive. He had a lot of drive and determination and perseverance, just like we talked about in Angela Duckworth's book, Grit. So Phil had some major grit. I mean, he's starting a shoe company. He's not a cobbler. He doesn't come from a world of cobblers or anything like that. But he loved running and he loved sport. And when he quickly realized that he's not going to be a professional runner, even though he would love to and he tried to, he still wanted to be a part of sports. And that's why he started a sports company. I started a sports apparel and shoe company. In many ways, Phil Knight and Nike is synonymous with sport. I mean, it is sport, really. And some of his closest friends are those who work with him, like those who support Nike and are sponsored by Nike, like Tiger woods, like Michael Jordan, like Kobe Bryant. I mean, this guy was running on a shoestring budget at the start and now owns a company that's worth billions of dollars, that makes $30 billion in revenue every year. If that doesn't get you going, I do not know what will. So, number two, Shoe Dog by Phil Knight. Great book. I read this book or I listened to this book through Audible. Great narrator, highly recommend it. And when that book was over, when it was on the last chapter, on the last few minutes, I was really sad. I was like, wow, what a great book. Didn't want it to end. All right, number three. And number three is Zero to One by Peter Thiel. This is a short book, but Peter Thiel really brings home the goods with this book. This book is a definite mind shift and it makes you or forces you to think differently about business, about competition, about monopolies, about the way you position yourself in business. This is a book you must reread. Actually, as I'm speaking about it right now, thinking to myself, I think I want to read this book again tonight. It's inspirational and insightful. Peter is known for having controversial point of views. He very much goes against the grain. And for those who don't know, Peter Thiel is one of the founders of PayPal, one of the PayPal mafia, along with Elon Musk. Right. But he's also the first investor in Facebook, which makes him a mega billionaire. Right. But it's not about the money, it's about the insights that he shares in the book. I don't want to kind of give it away. There's a must read episode on it. But Zero to One is a definite must read. I mean, I remember finishing every chapter and saying, wow, that was a really insightful way of looking at things. I never thought of it that way. What an innovator. I had some real serious mind shifts in this book or while I was reading this book. So definitely pick up. 0 to 1 by Peter Thiel. Number four is the obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday. This book is a serious gut check for every entrepreneur. If you've been doing business for some time and having those ups and downs, that roller coaster ride of entrepreneurship, you have to read the obstacles away because it really emphasizes the fact that the obstacles that you're going through are the reasons why you're going to be successful. You how to use them to your advantage, to them, how to react to them the right way. Firstly, Ryan Holiday is one of the best writers I've come across in the past few years. In fact, Ryan spoils you. It's very hard for you to read other people's work after you've read Ryan's. But the book really inspired me and really gave me the tools to deal with adversity, to deal with problems, to deal with challenges in business. In fact, Nicole and I, as well as some of our friends like Jason Zook and Caroline Weingart, whenever we have challenges or hiccups in our business, we always tell each other, hey, the obstacle's away. It's a reminder that hey, this is part of what you need to do as an entrepreneur. This is the rite of passage and also reminds you, hey, how you're supposed to react, how you're supposed to deal with this challenge. This is a very practical book, something that you can use right now. So, so please, please, please make it a priority to read the Obstacles Away by Ryan Holiday Hey Fidelity, what's it.

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180 days all right, my fifth book. Let's just recap real quick. Number one Elon Musk by Ashley Vance number two Shoe Dog by Phil Knight number three Zero to One by Peter Thiel number four the Obstacles the Way by Ryan Holiday and number five Total Recall by Arnold Schwarzenegger. I'm going to be completely honest, I didn't have any expectations about Arnold Schwarzenegger's autobiography before I read it. And honestly, if you told me it was gonna be one of the top five books that I read this year before I read it, I would've told you really? Are you serious? But, yeah, it makes my top five. First of all, it doesn't matter if you're a fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger or not. There's plenty for you to learn as a business owner, as a person in life, through his story. It's a tremendous story of drive. The guy has endless drive. I mean, I shared this in a must read. But he grew up in a small town, small village, in a poor family in Austria. He didn't have running water growing up. His first shower, a cold shower, let alone it's not even a warm shower, was when he was 18 at the first gym he was working at. He went from that to being crowned Mr. Olympia seven times. Probably recognized as one of the most successful bodybuilders of all time. When he was finished with that challenge, he became the highest paid movie star of his time, getting paid $30 million a movie. He became the biggest action star of his decade. And then when he was finished with that challenge, he became the governor of California, one of the largest economies in the world, if you take California as a sovereign government. So a poor immigrant from Austria accomplishing all that, there's got to be something to learn. And his story is fantastic. Now, the book is not flawless, and nor is Arnold. Arnold is not a flawless guy. He has his flaws, he has his mistakes, and that's what makes it so special. He shows you that he's not perfect and that he's made mistakes in his life, and he shares those with you. And to me, that was really meaningful because it made you feel like, hey, what he has accomplished is attainable. I'm not talking about Mr. Olympia or being a movie star, but being able to defeat odds, to be so determined, to be able to do what he can do. And in fact, before he even got into movies, he was a millionaire because he was a great business person in real estate. So that's even like a side story that you get a glimpse of in the book. A lot of great stories shared on movie sets, as well as backstage at bodybuilding competitions, as well as the governor's office. The book is really about success and what it takes. And this is why I had to put it in my top five for 2016. Mind you, it's a long book. It's seriously long. I listened to it on Audible and it was a great read, great narrator. So you may want to do that, because I think on Audible, it was about 20 hours long or 22 hours long. But the point here is that it was worth it. And I was just listening to it as I was going to the gym and working out and I really looked forward to it. One of my favorite parts of the book is the end of the book where Arnold outlines his 10 rules that he lives by and he recommends these things to you. Fantastic read. Alright guys, those are my top five books for 2016. If you read any books this next year, I would recommend you read these five. There's so much to learn in each of them and I guarantee you they'll make a shift in you. They'll really make you start seeing things in a different way and that's a good thing. All right, that wraps up today's lesson. Thank you so much for listening. If you love the show, if you love what you hear every day, leave us an iTunes rating and review. We really appreciate it. We read every single review. It helps others. Check out the show and read what you think of the show and hit subscribe. Speaking of hitting subscribe, if you haven't hit subscribe yet, do so now to make sure you get all our episodes automatically. That way, when you wake up every morning, a fresh new episode is waiting for you right on your device. Alright, that's it for me today guys. But before I go, I want to leave you with this. If you're not a reader, if you feel like I'm not really into reading, know this. I thought the same thing about myself growing up as a young boy, I wasn't a big reader. I was into sports and playing outside. I really didn't read as many books as I should have. But around 21 I started to pick up books because I used to get gifted books from my uncle. And I just started reading and I started to fall in love with it because it's just something that I grew to love. So give yourself a chance. Choose one of these books and start reading. See how you feel if you're one of those people. If you are a reader, dig in, enjoy and thank me later. All right, I'll check you in tomorrow's episode. I'll see you then. Take care.

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