Business books that you likely don’t need to read
In the business world there are certain rights of passage often promoted as being “required” of entrepreneurs and business owners who want to be successful.
From business books, to hustle culture mentalities, to marketing yourself in specific ways, you’ve likely felt pressured in some way or another to conform to a certain way of being in order to get your business out into the world.
And while there are plenty of “successful” people advocating for these very restrictive entrepreneurial guidelines, I appreciate when people push back on some of the widely accepted narratives and approaches to business with:
A voice that lets you know that you don’t need to burn yourself out in order to create your vision.
A voice that lets you know that marketing is never one-size-fits-all.
And a voice that shows you that not all business book recommendations should be promoted in the ways they are.
So, let’s talk about some folks that aren’t in this category and why they shouldn’t be considered essential reading.
Here’s a list of business books that are constantly recommended but probably shouldn't be.
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Chances are you’ve read Think and Grow Rich yourself, or have been told by someone that it’s a “must-read” business book.
The “self-help” book by Napoleon Hill was popularized due to his alleged associations with the popular businessman and philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie (he’s also one of many in his time who are considered to be robber barons who used philanthropy in an effort to cleanse their reputation of exploiting people and resources to enrich themselves … so, he’s not a great guy either).
While Carnegie is still highly regarded for his work helping to expand the America steel industry, his business books and advice, and for his generous donations, Hill’s alleged interviews and meetings with Carnegie have no evidence to support them.
In fact, many of the people that Napoleon Hill claimed to meet and interview for Think and Grow Rich cannot be validated.
Coffeezilla on YouTube does a great job dismantling the unbelievable life of Napoleon Hill, as does this article by Matt Novak.
Both of these analyses outline a few key red flags from Hill’s supposed accounts, teachings, and past. These include the fact that:
Napoleon Hill claims to have met Carnegie in the early 1900s, but didn’t start talking about their meetings and relationship until after Carnegie passed away.
The “proof” of his meetings with Carnegie were supposedly documented in letters which were conveniently destroyed in a fire.
Hill claims to have been asked by Carnegie to pass along his teachings, but Carnegie wrote multiple books himself, bringing up the question: why did he need Hill to record his beliefs when he already did so himself?
When you compare Hill’s accounts of Carnegie with Carnegie’s own writings, many of the lessons and beliefs seem to contradict each other.
Hill also claims to have met Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Alexander Graham Bell, but there is also no evidence of these meetings.
Hill was involved in numerous other scams throughout his life. One of the biggest examples of Hill’s constant reinvention to try and achieve success was through an automobile college that promised paying students they would learn “on the job.” From newspaper articles at the time though, it’s clear that his college was actually a way to get free labor for building cars. After the car company he had partnered with declared bankruptcy, and graduates of the program were alleging fraud, he pivoted, stating that, “his college would no longer put an emphasis on teaching students to build cars. Instead, he’d teach people how to sell them.” The students became sales agents, earning commissions for cars sold and for each person they signed up for this scheme. Essentially – an early form of multi-level marketing.
Hill spent much of his time running from the law.
Despite apparently having these “secrets to being rich,” it’s believed that Hill died broke.
If all of this insight into his life isn’t enough, the entire premise of the book should also send up some red flags.
Hill is responsible for many of the core ideas that have created the entire self-help and business coaching communities. Namely, that your mindset is solely responsible for your success and wealth (or lack thereof). While I believe these things do matter, I think it leaves out many other more critical factors that have an impact.
The steps to riches as outlined in Think and Grow Rich include things like starting with a strong desire to achieve a specific goal, having unwavering faith in yourself and your abilities, using positive self-talk and affirmations, using your imagination to visualize your goal, making a firm decision to follow through on your plan, and tapping into the power of your subconscious mind.
While there are mentions of also needing to create a plan and acquire knowledge and skills to see success, the vast majority of the book revolves around your thoughts and mindset, outlining that in order to become rich you just have to really want to be rich, and that if you aren’t rich, you aren’t thinking about it enough.
Not only does this ignore any concept of inequality or privilege, it also glosses over all of the actual work, time, resources, and persistence that accompanies success.
No amount of thinking and believing can bring wealth to you, unless it’s also combined with tangible goals, strategy, action, talent, circumstance, some luck, and a lot of hard work.
Granted, there are some elements in Hill’s book that are innocuous and many find them helpful, such as a positive mindset, healthy self-talk, and belief that you can achieve your desires will likely support you on your business journey.
But we also should also be aware of the limitations and realities behind books like this that claim to have the answers. Personally, I prefer more pragmatic books like Savy Leiser’s #Savvy Business Owner.
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Another highly popularized book, The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell is often highly praised by marketers. The book outlines the “magic moment” at which an idea, trend or behaviour crosses a threshold and spreads like wildfire.
This spread is supported, according to Gladwell, by 3 variables which determine whether “the tipping point” will be achieved, and when it might be. The variables include:
The Law of Few, which suggests that there are certain people with particular “social gifts” that get involved with spreading the new trend or idea. They are the mavens, connectors, and salesmen of society.
The Stickiness Factor, which describes that a trend or slogan needs to be catchy and memorable enough to stick in people’s minds, and
The Power of Context, which refers to the environmental or historical moment at which the trend is introduced, stating that it needs to be the correct timing for specific trends or changes to take place.
Critics of Gladwell, and his Tipping Point premise however, accuse him of both oversimplification as well as imposing complexity on common sense.
Often, he also fails to have enough sound data to support his conclusions.
For example, to illustrate the “Power of Context,” Gladwell discusses the fact that the crime rates in New York City dropped when the city made small changes to the context of the subway system – removing graffiti from the trains and chasing down people who jumped the barriers in the subway station to enter for free.
Sociologists, however, have pushed back on his example, citing that there were a number of socio-economic factors that influenced this change, and that his explanation was far too simplistic.
On the other end of the spectrum, Gladwell often comes up with new words to describe already widely believed concepts or common phrases, and has been known to elevate minor happenings into more dramatic instances than they need to be – a common method of pop social science.
“In its most decadent and easily marketed form, social science specializes in taking axioms known to every 19th-century schoolteacher and duding them up as heuristics or effects or biases.
Believing that “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” thus becomes loss aversion. “Counting your chickens before they’re hatched” gets the fancy treatment as projection bias…
Gladwell is both a sucker for and a master of this kind of obfuscation…In addition to the tipping point, he’s given us connectors, mavens, stickiness, and the law of the few. And the 10,000-hour rule, of course, which taught us that greatness in art was reachable after we had practiced our craft for 10,000 hours—a “rule” so riddled with obvious exceptions and provisos that it can scarcely be called a rule, even metaphorically.” – Andrew Ferguson
While there might be truth to Gladwell’s writings, more often than not his work comes down to storytelling.
Gladwell is not formally trained in any sciences (and doesn’t claim to be). He is a journalist. He is focused on vague theorizing in order to create interest among the public. He’s not in a lab conducting experiments, he is finding already available research and studies to back up his claims.
In his own interviews, Gladwell even seems to discredit his own work when trying to defend it,
“I am a story-teller, and I look to academic research … for ways of augmenting story-telling. The reason I don’t do things their way is because their way has a cost: it makes their writing inaccessible. If you are someone who has as their goal ... to reach a lay audience ... you can't do it their way.” – Gladwell in an interview with WNYC
"The mistake is to think these books are ends in themselves. My books are gateway drugs—they lead you to the hard stuff." – Gladwell in an interview with Telegraph
Whether Gladwell is selecting anecdotes that fit his version of a story he coins as fact (that is really just a coincidental event) or is coming up with new terms to dress up already widely known phenomenon, the bottom line is you’re likely to gain little value from this work.
I’ve gotten more value from books like Content Rules by C.C. Chapman and Anne Handley as well as Youtility by Jay Baer when it comes to thinking about and exploring concrete examples of how to successfully connect with and build a fan base. (Yes, these are both older with dated examples, but the advice and principles are still relevant.)
Atomic Habits by James Clear
James Clear’s book on habit formation, Atomic Habits, is a more recent popularized recommendation that advocates for creating tiny changes in your life to see great improvements over time.
While the concept itself is quite sound, and while habit change is no doubt an important self-development tool, there are still many criticisms of the book which have landed it in this “list of books you likely don’t need to read.”
The main critique of Atomic Habits is the fact that it could have likely been cut down to a well-articulated blog post. The concepts simply don’t need to be spread out over 320 pages. And considering Clear started as a blogger, you’d think this would have been the route he would have preferred anyways. (Except that his book deal was probably an attractive way to grow his profile and grow a larger audience … fair enough.)
Instead of condensing his work and thoughts, he expanded upon them, giving readers a guide to habit formation that is incredibly repetitive while simultaneously simplifying the concept of habit change.
The book relies heavily on anecdotal and personal stories rather than scientific fact, emphasizing greatly your individual responsibility for your habits. As an ADHDer who struggles to create new and change existing habits, most books like this frustrate me.
Rather than assessing social, economic, or environmental factors, or simply referencing the fact that people are all unique, the book tries to create formulas and share specific strategies that likely aren’t going to work for everyone.
Even these strategies and suggestions though aren’t particularly groundbreaking. Many of them have been taken and repackaged from existing ideas in the psychology and self-help spaces.
For example, both Clear’s framework for habit formation (cue - routine - reward), and his idea that you need to focus on adding in good habits rather than eliminating bad habits, are principles pulled from the previously published book, The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. While Clear credits Duhigg, the question remains, “is he really adding much more to the conversation?”
Advocates of the book tend to claim Clear’s book is more practical with its advice, but the suggestions and examples Clear gives are ones that have been used for years and are often quite obvious.
To help with losing weight he suggests the ground-breaking advice of eating healthier and exercising.
To help you drink more water he suggests placing cups of water around your house.
To help you remember to take your supplements, he suggests placing them on your bedside table.
And beyond the unhelpfulness of his suggestions for positive habit formation, he offers little guidance and advice for dealing with setbacks along the way.
Clear’s main premise is that you simply need to stay disciplined and continue to make forward progress on your goals (because even a bad day is better than skipping a day).
Again, this isn’t inherently bad advice. I’m not here to say that forcing yourself out of the house for a walk around the block on a day when you can’t get to the gym is a bad thing.
However, there are so many elements of life that are left out of this equation. From sickness, to mental health, to physical ability, to access to resources, the truth is that you’re likely not always going to be able to “get 1% better every day” as Clear suggests.
Nor, would I argue, should you! Who is to say that taking a day off from the goals you’re pursuing is a bad thing? Maybe taking a break and allowing yourself to rest would actually help you achieve these goals more quickly.
The last point I’ll bring up regarding Atomic Habits is that, once again, this self-help book tends to pull studies and examples that help to illustrate the point they’re trying to make, conveniently leaving out other important details.
For example, Clear emphasizes the idea of marginal gains often throughout the book. He illustrates this point by referencing a professional cycling team in Great Britain which was very mediocre – they had won just a single gold medal at the Olympic Games and had not won the Tour de France at all, for the previous 100 years.
However, that “all changed” when the team hired Dave Brailsford to help turn them around. How? Clear credits this transformation to Brailsford’s strategy of “searching for a tiny margin of improvement in everything you do.”
They redesigned the team’s bike seats to make them more comfortable, rubbed alcohol on the tires for better grip, adjusted the athlete’s workouts, switched racing suit fabrics, changed the athlete’s mattresses for better sleep, hired a surgeon to teach each rider the best way to wash their hands to reduce the chances of catching a cold, the list goes on.
Five years later, “the British Cycling team dominated the road and track cycling events at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, where they won an astounding 60 percent of the gold medals available.”
Clear’s conclusion is that,
“Improving by 1 percent isn’t particularly notable—sometimes it isn’t even noticeable—but it can be far more meaningful, especially in the long run. The difference a tiny improvement can make over time is astounding. Here’s how the math works out: if you can get 1 percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done. Conversely, if you get 1 percent worse each day for one year, you’ll decline nearly down to zero. What starts as a small win or a minor setback accumulates into something much more.” – Clear
What Clear doesn’t mention is that in the late 1990s the government drastically increased the team’s funding. In the early 90s the cycling team was receiving little to no funding but by 1999 they were receiving 2.5 million pounds annually.
Yes, the team was successful and yes Brailsford is recognized as a great trainer, this isn’t to discredit that. However, the changes that supported the team were costly resources, not simply, “trying to improve their craft” each day.
Beyond this – Clear takes what the story actually illustrates, which is that little improvements in different areas of life (the bikes, the exercise regime, the recovery, etc.) are supportive, and instead shifts the narrative to say that you should focus on getting 1% better at the same thing each day. Not only is this not what the story is about but it’s likely not realistic (or trackable).
Again, if you found inspiration and motivation from Atomic Habits, I’m not here to take that away from anyone. I think it’s great if you do!
However, it’s important to note that this book might simply be another packaging up of simple, well-known self-help concepts for the benefit of generating wealth for one person – the author.
For a more balanced and nuanced take on habits, I did enjoy The Power of Habit, which is an interesting exploration of what we’ve learned about how our brains work and set habits. You may not get advice from it that will help you make changes, but you might finish it and come away with a better acceptance of who you are and how you do things.
If you want to dive in further, the podcast, “If Books Could Kill” does a great job reviewing all of these issues and more in greater depth. (This podcast may also have been a big part of the inspiration for this blog post, along with the Coffeezilla video mentioned above.)
Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki
Rich Dad Poor Dad is a well-recognized book on financial literacy, which was published in 1997 with the “intention” of helping readers build wealth, start their own businesses, and increase their financial intelligence.
That wholesome “intention” though quickly falls apart when you dig a little deeper into the background of Kiyosaki and the insights he provides in this book. (Also, it seems really mean to write this about your own father!)
The book details Kiyosaki’s life and his experience with his two dads: his “poor dad” (his biological dad who worked hard at a traditional job his whole life but never found financial security), and his “rich dad” (his friend's father who was supposedly a successful entrepreneur and savvy investor, who Kiyosaki spent a lot of time learning from).
Kiyosaki claims that his poor dad could never make any money because of his limiting financial beliefs (namely that those with large sums of money had to do something unethical to get it – quite ironic as you’ll see shortly), whereas his rich dad was able to accumulate wealth because of his positive financial mindset, his openness to taking risks, and his acquisition of assets that generated income.
There are numerous issues with Kiyosaki’s teachings, story, and approach to business, including:
There has been no proof of the existence of Kiyosaki's "Rich Dad."
The mere reference to his biological father as his “poor dad” is not only condescending and offensive but is also meant to act as a metaphor for all other “employees,” pushing people towards entrepreneurship. However, the premise that you cannot make a satisfying income or life working as an employee is categorically wrong. Not everyone is cut out for entrepreneurship, nor is it an easy feat like Kiyosaki claims. There is little to no mention of the downsides or negatives of entrepreneurship in the book, and instead the focus is on the fact that anyone who works for someone else must be broke and miserable.
Kiyosaki tends to downplay academic education and traditional learning, making the general claim that those who follow this more traditional path are bound to end up like his dad: “highly educated but ineffective and stressed about money.” While this might describe some people, it most certainly doesn’t accurately portray all graduates.
There is no documentation on Kiyosaki's alleged wealth before the publication of Rich Dad Poor Dad, meaning this book is yet another example of “gurus” teaching principles without demonstrating them themselves (like the pyramid schemes of coaches who teach coaches to be coaches).
The continuous reference to the rich having “secrets” to wealth is a manipulative sales tactic.
Much of the financial advice in the book is actually unhelpful. From the strong push to own real estate (which in reality comes with a lot of additional costs and may not be for everyone), and the downplaying of investors who play it safe by building wealth through traditional routes like 401(k)s, many financial experts have discredited a lot of the tips from the book.
Kiyosaki’s intentions are further tainted by his continuous mentioning of multi-level marketing schemes throughout the book, publicly encouraging people to try out MLMs as a means of accumulating wealth.
One of the biggest red flags though is the fact that Kiyosaki repeatedly pushes readers towards further financial development in the form of his own books, courses, and seminars, an approach that was extensively investigated by CBC Marketplace.
Most of these, of course, are hidden behind a pay-wall. Like many “gurus” he brings people into his world with free advice, and then charges insane prices for continued learning. For example as this article outlines his course broke down as follows,
Class #1 – Free Advice
Class #2 – Paid Advice, $495 (however, very little education and more marketing for class #3)
Class #3 – Paid Advice $45,000
Of course, I’m not saying people need to give their advice away for free. In fact, more often than not I’m telling my clients they need to raise their prices. However, when program prices are unreasonably high with a clear lack of transparency and layers of manipulation, it’s really just a scam.
This predatory sales funnel, combined with the fact that it seems Kiyosaki didn’t make much money prior to selling the idea that he has the secrets of financial success, make this “financial guru” one I definitely don’t advocate learning from.
To top things off, one of Kiyosaki’s companies filed for corporate bankruptcy in 2012, which really draws into question everything he teaches and promotes.
While some of the knowledge in Rich Dad Poor Dad might be useful, there are likely a lot better places to get your financial advice, such as my friend and client, Sand Dollar Financial Literacy (no books with vague advice required).
The 5AM Club by Robin Sharma
While I’m singling out The 5AM Club here, there’s no shortage of books and blog posts suggesting that in order to be successful you need to wake up before everyone else in the early hours of the day.
I personally haven’t read this iteration of the early-to-rise-worm-getters genre, but I did read The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM) by Hal Elrod and even practiced some of what it said for a while until I realized I didn’t actually enjoy waking up that way and it didn’t actually transform my life in any substantive way.
Many entrepreneurs wear their “5am morning routine” as a badge of honour, insinuating that they are somehow better or more productive than those who choose to wake up later in the day. (Such a strange idea when there are 24 hours in every day, regardless of when you wake up.)
The 5AM Club specifically, encourages people to, “join the club,” because,
“Your most valuable hours are 5 a.m. — 8 a.m. They have the least interruptions.” – Sharma
Now, granted, waking up before everyone else in your house might result in more hours for uninterrupted work. And, if you find that waking up early makes sense for you and your life, that’s great!
My qualm with books and content around this topic though is the idea that waking up early is “required” for success and will work for everyone. That simply isn’t true.
Hustle culture has become increasingly pushed and glamorized in recent years. The trend perpetuates the idea that people are successful because of the endless hours they have put into their work – often sacrificing things like sleep, time spent with family, or time for themselves.
But prioritizing work above all else can be extremely damaging. Not only can it lead to burnout in your business, but there’s a strong correlation between toxic productivity and physical and mental health. From increased anxiety, guilt, risk of illness, and a lack of self-care or stress management, working too hard for too long is bound to cause some issues.
Let me put your mind at ease: you can get just as much done waking up at 9am as someone who wakes up at 5am, if you have the appropriate habits, systems, and workflows in place in your life.
Much more important than the time you rise at are lifestyle choices like:
How much sleep you’re getting (let me remind you that if you’re getting up at 5am you likely need to be in bed around 9-10pm to get the recommended amount of sleep each night.)
How much water you’re drinking and how you’re fuelling your body.
If you’re moving your body throughout the day.
If you have support systems in your life like friends, family, or employees.
How you’re setting up your day. Are you utilizing your calendar to stay on track? Are you getting distracted by social media or do you have tools and boundaries in place to help you remain focused?
Your clarity on what you need to accomplish each day.
While getting up early might be for you, there’s also no shame if it isn’t. In fact, many people are said to have a biological clock that makes them more effective late at night. Who is to say that one is better than the other?
If you want a different take, check out my friend Lara Wellman’s upcoming book, You’re Not Lazy, in which she challenges many of the beliefs that drive the existence of hustle culture bs.
What matters more than anything is that you’re making the choices that work best for you and your unique lifestyle.
Take what works for you and leave the rest
I love business books and resources.
I have tons of blog posts like this one sharing my perspective and knowledge.
I have my own courses and coaching offerings.
I regularly share content to support small business owners in their marketing.
I’m part of the knowledge industry myself, and am a huge advocate for people sharing what they know to help others achieve the success or outcome they desire.
However, an unfortunate number of people in the knowledge industry are only part of it as a way to get rich quick and their advice doesn’t hold up. Instead of sharing authentic information they’re publishing works that are designed manipulatively to have people buy in to fund their fortune.
When the insights from the book or resource don’t work, somehow it always comes down to it being the reader’s fault.
Again, this isn’t to discredit all of these books in their entirety. Many of them hold some slivers of valuable information. And, if you found them useful or inspirational in your own life, I think that’s great.
If you have the desire to read one of these books in the future, go for it! Take what works for you from it and leave the rest.
Consider this post a reminder though, that just because you see a book or course being heavily promoted online doesn’t mean it holds good advice.
And just because someone claims to have the keys or secrets to success doesn’t mean their insights will work for you and your unique life.
Dig a little deeper to ensure the author is credible.
Do your research to confirm that the author’s values align with yours.
And keep a skeptical eye when reading. If something seems too good to be true or too much work to be effective, it probably is.