Clayton’s top books for entrepreneurs and business leaders

Every successful CEO and founder that I’ve spoken to had help – generally in the form of a mentor or a peer support group like my 3to5 Club. Having a mentor or a peer support group helps you to leapfrog a bunch of learning that has already been figured out by someone else. I have learned a lot from my mentors over the years, may of them I’ve never met but have shared their experiences with me through their books and podcasts.

Today I’m going to introduce you to some of my mentors by sharing a list of the business books that have had the biggest impact on me, and thus have influenced every business I’m involved with including Achen Henderson CPAs, Prairie Dog Brewing, GURU Wealth, and the hundreds of business leaders that I work with every year.

So, without further ado, here’s the list.

1. Number one on my list is a book called Making Money is Killing your Business by my friend, and podcast guest, Chuck Blakeman. In 2010, this was a number #1 selling business book in the United States, and struck a chord with me, for good reason. Chuck challenges conventional business practices which have been rolled forward from the industrial age which almost always prioritize profit over happiness. He emphasizes the significance of creating a business that serves both the needs of customers and the aspirations of the business owner, promoting the concept of “business maturity.” By encouraging readers to focus on building a company that works for them rather than being trapped by it, Blakeman offers practical advice and actionable strategies for achieving long-term success and genuine satisfaction in entrepreneurship.”

This book is the foundation to major changes that I’ve made in my business and is the playbook for 3to5 Clubs, which is a CEO mastermind that I facilitate in Calgary and online. If you were considering a membership in 3to5 club, or you want to get off the entrepreneurial treadmill, this book is a great place to start.

2. American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company” by Bryce G. Hoffman is a really well written book about the incredible turnaround of Ford from 2006-2008, and the man behind the changes, Alan Mulally. Hoffman was a journalist who covered the automotive industry in Detroit and was granted the ultimate back-stage pass into the archives and leadership of the Ford Motor Company.

Hoffman describes the history of ford and the ford family and how, just a few months away from bankruptcy, Mulally transformed Ford from a decentralized multinational kingdom of management fiefdoms to a coordinated, transparent team of high-performing and accountable leaders that spanned the globe. Mulally’s strong belief in building what the customer wants, and building quality cars, saved Ford from certain failure and, within 2-years, put it in a financial position to be the only automotive company in Detroit to turn down the 2008 government bailout. American Icon was one of the first books where I started to realize there was a problem with how traditional workforces are structured and opened my eyes to industrial age hierarchical power structures and why they are so pervasive in larger accounting firms. It’s also a really cool story about what is now one of my favorite companies.

3. Financial Intelligence by Karen Berman is a comprehensive guide that, in plain, easy to ready language, teaches you how to read and understand financial statements. The book gives you the power to make more informed decisions and navigate your business better. Think of this one as a “financial statements for dummies” and consider it essential kit for every business owner. Even thought I’m an accountant, this book helped me understand financial statements from the eyes of my customers, folks who don’t read financial statements every day.

4. Turn this Ship Around by David Marquet. With a forward by Stephen Covey, this is a book about how David, a US Submarine Commander, took the worst performing sub in the US Navy, the USS Santa Fe, and within 1-year turned it into the best performing submarine in US naval history. He did this by transforming his team from a struggling, hierarchical organization into a high-performing empowered team who practiced decentralized decision making. The best part: he did it with the exact same group of sailors that he started with.

Marquet challenges the traditional leader-follower model and advocates for a leader-leader approach, where decision-making is decentralized and individuals at every level are empowered to take ownership of their roles and responsibilities. This book teaches us how to foster a culture of trust, competence, and open communication, and inspires readers to cultivate leadership at all levels. The benefits are: improved morale, innovation, and operational excellence throughout the organization. Turn this Ship Around was foundational for me to realize what people are capable of and helped me realize that most stakeholders at your organization are motivated and want to be involved in decision making, we just have to give them context, mentoring, and support – and then we, as leaders, can do less of the day-to-day and more of what we love.

5. “Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World” by General Stanley McChrystal, Tantum Collins, David Silverman, and Chris Fussell. General McChrystal shares his experiences in leading military operations against Al Qaeda in Iraq, and emphasizes the importance of breaking down traditional hierarchical structures and fostering a more agile and interconnected approach to decision-making.

The book is really well written and advocates for a shift towards decentralized decision-making, cross-functional collaboration, and the sharing of information to foster a “team of teams” culture. This approach enables organizations to harness collective intelligence and respond effectively to dynamic environments, promoting adaptability and success in today’s interconnected world. Better yet, as will find out with my next pick, DDM and cross-functional teams are a modern-day business owner’s salvation to working less and making more by getting the adults that you hire in the decision making of your organization. Team of Teams was foundational in helping me determine how to structure and integrate the various service lines at Achen Henderson in a meaningful way where we wall feel connected to each other and share a consciousness that improves our customer’s, and our stakeholder’s, experience.

6. Call sign Chaos by Jim Mattis, and Bing West is a bit of a biography of Jim Mattis who was a four-star general and commanded the forces in the Persian Gult war, Afghanistan and Iraq. He ended his career as Secretary of Defense in 2017. This book takes us through Jim Mattis’ decision-making theories at the various stages of his career from Direct Leadership to Executive Leadership, to Strategic Leadership. He emphasis the important of building trust within teams and having the Moral courage to make a decision. This is a really great book on strategic decision making and has helped me as a leader to design a decision-making framework for faster and more effective decision making.

7. Rehumanizing the Workplace by Giving Everybody their Brain Back. This book is effectively a well written textbook on company culture – and a manual for how to set it up for the modern day “participation age”. The main premise of this book is that participation age workers want to make meaning at work, not just money, and it teaches you how to set your organization up for success for this reality. It covers everything from how to post jobs and hire more effectively, compensation structures, bonus structures, incentives, and how we should be evaluating people’s performance. Chuck gives examples of small and major companies that operate without managers, and who create collaborative, innovative environments for their people. At Achen Henderson, we have used referred back to this book over and over again for all things people and culture including: compensation strategies, peer-to-peer recognition programs, feedback loops, and including everyone, from every level of the organization, at the decision making table.

8. Coach, the A.L. Williams Story is the story about Art Williams, who founded A.L. Williams & Associates, which later became Primerica Financial Services. For me, this is an inspiring story because it shows how someone who had a humble upbringing built one of the most significant financial services companies in America. You may not have heard of Art Williams, he is definitely one of America’s business giants. He was fueled by determination and a desire to make a positive impact. Williams revolutionized the life insurance industry by introducing a direct sales model that empowered ordinary everyday people to become financial coaches and sell policies to their friends and family. What really inspired me is that Art believed in the power of personal connections and building systems and processes to democratize access to financial knowledge and services. He was an amazing and charismatic speaker who inspired thousands of individuals to achieve success and financial independence. We are all salespeople, and Coach gave me some great ideas to addressing our compensation strategy, including how every stakeholder at Achen Henderson is paid based on their performance rather than for occupying a chair for a certain number of years.

9. Measure what Matters by John Doerr was our playbook for quarterly, firm-wide goal setting at Achen Henderson. It introduces the concept of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs). The book shows us how everyone on your team should set broad Objectives that are only achieved when the specific and measurable Key Results achieved. The book shows how changing the way we think about goal setting can drive organizational success through focusing on what matters rather than traditional measurement models – in most accounting firms it’s the number of hours and years that someone occupies a chair – when it should be about results.

John Doerr is a venture capitalist and former Intel executive and he believes that setting ambitious, yet achievable, goals aligns teams and individuals towards a common purpose. The book provides real-life examples from various companies, including Google and Intel, to demonstrate how OKRs have been instrumental in their growth and innovation, trust me when I tell you that these concepts can be used in every industry, even those outside Silicon Valley. Transparency, continuous feedback, and adaptability are the cornerstone of a good OKR process. Using Measure What Matters helped me focus our business on measurable outcomes and encouraging a culture of accountability and collaboration. I’m not sure there has been a single effort that we’ve undertaken that has produced more significant outcomes.

10. Dare to Serve: How to Drive Superior Results by Serving Others by Cheryl Bachelder is a leadership book that challenges traditional notions of top-down hierarchical leadership models, and advocates for a servant leadership approach. Drawing from her own experiences as the former CEO of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Bachelder highlights the power of putting others first and serving them with humility, compassion, and authenticity.

Dare to Serve is a playbook for focusing in on the needs and well-being of their team members, customers, and stakeholders by creating a framework in your business. Essentially you need to create a clear and compelling vision, empower employees, and foster a culture of trust and collaboration.

I’m not great at compassion or empathy, so this book was a great read for me. It helped me realize that my main role as a leader is to support and serve my leaders, and their main job is to support and serve their stakeholders, who are here to support and serve our customers.

The list of books and links are below:

1)    Making Money is Killing Your Business – Chuck Blakeman
2)    American Icon – Alan Mulally
3)    Financial Intelligence – Karen Berman & Joe Knight
4)    Turn the Ship Around – David Marquet
5)    Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World – General Stanley McChrystal
6)    Call Sign Chaos – Jim Mattis
7)    Rehumanizing the Workplace by Giving Everybody Their Brain Back – Chuck Blakeman
8)    Coach: The Al Williams Story – Art L Williams
9)    Measure What Matters – John Doerr
10)  Dare to Serve: How to Drive Superior Results by Serving Others – Cheryl Bachelder