Resources

Ideas worth exploring. Books worth reading.

There’s no shortage of business advice. Some ideas stand the test of time, some challenge conventional thinking, and every so often a book changes how we see things altogether.

Over the years, working with business owners has reinforced something I’ve come to appreciate: building a good business and building a valuable business aren’t always the same thing. Understanding the difference raises some interesting questions about ownership, management, succession and what happens when it’s time to move on.

This is a growing collection of books and ideas that help explore those questions. Some are about building better businesses; others are about creating value, preparing for succession or making a successful exit.

I don’t necessarily agree with every idea in these books, and I don’t think any one book has all the answers. The value is often in the questions they raise and the thinking they encourage.

Many of these books were written for American readers. Their broader business principles can be useful, but legal, tax and transaction details need to be considered in the Australian context.

Exit Planning, Succession & Business Value

Creating value that can be transferred, reducing the business’s dependence on its owner, and understanding what makes a successful exit — whenever and however it happens.

Built to Sell John Warrillow

Built to Sell

Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You

John Warrillow · Portfolio, 2011

Told as a story about an agency owner who can’t step away, this short book walks through what makes a business attractive to a buyer: a focused offer, repeatable processes, recurring revenue and a team that doesn’t need the founder in every decision. It’s a quick read with an uncomfortable question at its centre.

The question it explores

Could your business run — and keep its value — without you?

Walking to Destiny Christopher M. Snider

Walking to Destiny

11 Actions An Owner Must Take to Rapidly Grow Value & Unlock Wealth

Christopher M. Snider and Scott Snider · Second edition, 2023

Building a valuable business and preparing for an eventual exit shouldn’t be two separate exercises. Walking to Destiny introduces the Value Acceleration Methodology — the approach behind the Exit Planning Institute’s CEPA programme — and a practical way to improve business value, reduce owner dependence and prepare for the next stage of ownership. A recurring theme is that exit planning isn’t simply about selling a business. It’s about creating options, building transferable value and aligning the business with the owner’s personal and financial goals.

The question it explores

Are you building a business that gives you choices about your future?

Finish Big Bo Burlingham

Finish Big

How Great Entrepreneurs Exit Their Companies on Top

Bo Burlingham · Portfolio, 2014

Burlingham spoke with founders who had already left their businesses and asked why some exits felt like a triumph while others left regret. The answers turn out to be as much about purpose, timing and the people left behind as about price. He sets out four stages good exits tend to move through: exploration, strategy, execution and transition.

The question it explores

What does a good exit look like for you, beyond the number?

The Art of Selling Your Business John Warrillow

The Art of Selling Your Business

Winning Strategies & Secret Hacks for Exiting on Top

John Warrillow · Greenleaf Book Group, 2021

Drawing on hundreds of interviews from his Built to Sell Radio podcast, Warrillow moves from building value to the sale itself: how buyers judge worth, when to sell, creating competition between bidders, and negotiating terms. Where Built to Sell is about preparation, this one is about the process.

The question it explores

When the time comes, how do you sell well?

Business Improvement & Growth

Building better businesses: strategy, people, systems, financial performance and the everyday habits that make a company run well.

The E-Myth Revisited Michael E. Gerber

The E-Myth Revisited

Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It

Michael E. Gerber · HarperBusiness, 1995

Gerber’s argument is that most small businesses are started by technicians — people good at the work — who then find themselves trapped doing it. He makes the case for working on the business rather than in it, and for designing it as a system that could run like a franchise. His technician–manager–entrepreneur framing remains a useful lens decades on.

The question it explores

Are you working on your business, or only in it?

Traction Gino Wickman

Traction

Get a Grip on Your Business

Gino Wickman · BenBella Books, expanded edition 2012

This sets out the Entrepreneurial Operating System, a practical framework covering six areas: vision, people, data, issues, process and traction. It comes with simple tools — a vision-and-plan document, a weekly scorecard of key numbers and a regular meeting rhythm — and suits owners whose business has outgrown informal ways of running.

The question it explores

How do you get everyone pulling in the same direction?

The Great Game of Business Jack Stack

The Great Game of Business

The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

Jack Stack with Bo Burlingham · First published 1992; expanded and updated edition, Crown Business, 2013

The story of how Stack and his colleagues rebuilt a struggling remanufacturing company in Springfield, Missouri, by teaching every employee to understand the financials and share in the results. It’s the founding text of open-book management, and a persuasive case that the numbers belong to everyone, not just the finance team.

The question it explores

What happens when everyone understands the numbers?