Welcome to the November edition of our Best Book of the Month series. The book we picked for this month is Michael E. Gerber’s bestseller “The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It”.
Michael Gerber is an American author and a small business legend. Inc. Magazine called him “the World’s #1 Small Business Guru” and voted The E-Myth as the #1 business book.
He became famous for addressing a significant problem in the entrepreneurial world: many small businesses are owned by individuals who understand the technical work of a business but lack important business skills. Furthermore, the author points out “how common assumptions, expectations, and even technical expertise can get in the way of running a successful business”.
Best Book of the Month Author Michael Gerber
About the entrepreneurial myth…
“If your business depends on you, you don’t own a business – you have a job. And it’s the worst job in the world because you’re working for a lunatic.” – Michael Gerber, The E-Myth Revisited
Why should you read “The E-Myth Revisited”?
- Understand the kind of war that is going on inside the owner of every small business. It’s a 3-way battle between the Entrepreneur, the Manager, and the Technician – a battle that no one can win.
- The author walks you through the steps in the life of a business: from small business infancy (the technician’s phase) through adolescence (hiring other technicians and managing them) all the way to maturity (the entrepreneurial perspective).
- Learn how to apply the lessons of franchising to any business, whether or not your business is a franchise. Discover the importance of having operations manuals and powerful systems in place.
- And last but not least, understand the vital difference between working ON your business and working IN your business.
If you want to grow your company and be successful you will need to create a business whose results are systems-dependent rather than people-dependent. This concept is amazingly well described in this book.
“Individuals need life structure. A life lacking in comprehensive structure is an aimless wreck. The absence of structure breeds breakdown. Structure provides the relatively fixed points of reference we need.” – Alvin Toffler
And the same principles apply to businesses too. Successful companies have outstanding systems in place allowing ordinary people to excel and achieve extraordinary results.
Feel free to share your thoughts and insights about our best book of the month recommendation.