Ryan DeissCo-Founder & CEO, The Scalable Company

Top books for biz ops

8 Oct 2026 · 2 min

Watch on YouTube

1:44

In this YouTube video, Ryan Deiss provides a concise, tier‑based review of ten popular business books, evaluating each for its relevance to building and optimizing business systems. He assigns each title an S‑to‑D tier and offers brief commentary explaining why the book either excels or falls short in the context of systematic business operations. The Goal (Eliyahu Goldratt) receives an S‑tier for its focus on the Theory of Constraints, while Work the System (Sam Carpenter) gets a B‑tier due to its heavy emphasis on SOPs. Atomic Habits (James Clear) is placed at D‑tier because it targets personal habits more than business systems. Built to Sell (John Warrillow) earns a B‑tier for its discussion of sell‑ready systems. Profit First (Mike Michalowicz) and Buy Back Your Time (Dan Martell) each receive A‑tiers for their practical cash‑flow and time‑management system insights. The Art of Profitability (Patrick Bet-David) is rated B‑tier, E‑Myth (Michael Gerber) gets a C‑tier due to over‑documentation concerns, and Traction (Gino Wickman) lands at D‑tier because of perceived shortcomings in its visionary‑integrator model. Throughout, Deiss maintains a conversational, informal tone, mixing enthusiasm for strong system‑focused books with critical remarks for those less aligned with his criteria.

Chapters

The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt. This is the ultimate book on business systems because it talks about theory of constraints, which is the ultimate business system. Definitely S-tier. Work the System by Sam Carpenter. It's really, really, really good, but it's just so heavy on SOPs and things like that. I'm gonna give it a B-tier. Atomic Habits by James Clear. It's good for personal systems, not as much for business systems. I like James and I think it's a great book, but I'm gonna give it a D-tier in terms of business systems. Built to Sell by John Warlow. It is a great book. It talks about the elements that need to be in place if you want to sell. Systems are definitely a part of it, but because it's not focused on business systems, I'm going to make it a B tier. Profit First by Mike Michalowicz. This is essential reading for any business owner. Is it exactly about business systems? No, but it is about cash flow systems, so I'm going to make it A tier. Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell. Buy Back Your Time is, I think, a quintessential read for any business owner who just wants to, as the name suggests, buy back their time. Definitely an A tier. The Art of Profitability. I love The Art of Profitability. This is one of my favorite business books. It doesn't dive deep into business systems themselves. I'm going to give it a B tier, but you should still read it. The E-Myth. The E-Myth is a classic. I think you should read The E-Myth, if only to say that you did. I just think there's better books about kind of the specifics around systems creation. I think it can also get you in a lot of trouble because it can have you believe that you need to document everything and you don't. So I'm going to say C tier. Traction. I'm sorry, I just— Traction is fine, there's lots of good ideas in there, it's a great book, but I don't like the visionary integrator thing, and I think there are so many more developed books on systems. Yes, I know that I am biased, but D tier.