There is nothing wrong with finding business tips and tricks on TikTok, but if you want to follow in the footsteps of your favorite entrepreneur or a technology giant—like Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett or Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg—you might want to open one of the books from which they learned some of their most valuable life lessons. In a Facebook post in 2015, Zuckerberg mentioned that he loves reading new books on how people build great companies. He stated that he turns to these books for insights into "what drives innovation—what kinds of people, questions, and environments."
Here are 4 entrepreneurs whose careers, business strategies, and, in some cases, "the way they think" have been shaped by books:
**Mark Zuckerberg**
In 2015, Zuckerberg read "Creativity: Overcoming the Invisible Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration" by Alice Wallace and Edwin Catmull, the co-founder of Pixar, which tells the story behind the animation studio that became a giant of entertainment innovation. It seems Zuckerberg took at least one lesson from the book. Catmull wrote, "Don't wait for things to be perfect before sharing with others. Show early and show often... ideas will be beautiful when we realize them, but they won’t always be beautiful." Meta, Facebook's parent company, summarized this wisdom as "doing something is better than waiting for perfection" at their headquarters in Menlo Park, California. Zuckerberg also mentioned being struck by John Gertner's film "The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation," which narrates the history of Bell Labs—founded by Alexander Graham Bell and now owned by Nokia.
**Daymond John**
Investor Daymond John from Shark Tank stated in 2018 to CNBC Make It that a handful of books changed his life, including "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey and "Rich Dad Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter. John also recommended "Think and Grow Rich," a 1937 business book containing interviews with Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, and Charles M. Schwab, explaining the psychology behind why people build wealth. The book's essence is that "if you can envision the idea, you can achieve it." It also teaches how to hire people with talents that you don’t possess.
**Warren Buffett**
Buffett has also learned that the best business advice comes from people who know the industry. In the documentary "Becoming Warren Buffett," the billionaire investor recounted that at age 7, he had "virtually memorized" FC Minaker's book "A Thousand Ways to Make a Thousand Dollars," which contained tales about the retailer James Cash Penney and the fame of JC Penney, among other successful entrepreneurs. In 1988, Buffett told Fortune magazine that the book revealing practical business lessons about compound interest, sales, and investment inspired him to start selling Coca-Cola, newspapers, and gum door-to-door. To develop business acumen, prominent businessmen Bill Gates and Warren Buffett also recommended "Business Adventures," a journalist John Brooks' analysis of landmark moments in the histories of famous American companies like Ford and General Electric.
**Emma Grede**
Emma Grede's career path saw her become CEO of Good American Jeans, a founding partner of SKIMS shapewear, and the first Black investor on Shark Tank by the age of 40. Last year, she told CNBC that one of the most influential books she read in her professional life is "What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School: Notes from a Street-Smart Executive" by Mark McCormack—who is credited with establishing the modern sports marketing industry with his company IMG. Grede noted that the book gave her the confidence and negotiation skills to close deals with high-profile clients like Kris Jenner. She also mentioned that she constantly re-reads "Principles: Life and Work" by Ray Dalio.
