Top Shelf Reading Picks:

The site “Learn-Gasm“, was kind enough to include us in their list of “100 Awesome Blogs for Your Business Education.”  We noted they included a few of our other favorites on there, too.

Thanks for the honor!

I’m breaking ranks in honor of summer, as reading business books all the time can be limiting even for devout entrepreneurs. This is why I’m reviewing a piece of fiction: Even 24/7/365 entrepreneurs need to step outside of their bubble once in a while in order to stay fresh, relevant and innovative. I’m also doing this because The Elegance of the Hedgehog was, hands down, the absolute best piece of fiction I have accidentally stumbled upon since The Time Traveler’s Wife. Admittedly, some of the appreciation might have been encouraged by the fact that I read half of the book while sitting on the Promenade des Anglaise in Nice, waiting to pick up someone at the airport.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery was one of France’s best sellers and the winner of at least four major French book awards. So, no, it has not been endorsed by Oprah and, as such, will likely remain on the “critics and employees” recommended picks section. Nor does it have the annoying “Book club questions” at the back of the book. However, if you are looking for something weightier than chick lit, Harry Potter or the Twilight series, and something more akin to what you would read in a college literature course, you might want to check this out.

The plot involves a French concierge of the lower class who hides her intelligence from the well-to-do residents at No. 7, rue de Grenelle, Paris. As such, it is like a French film where it’s more about settings and dialogue than action. What makes the novel soar is the sublime descriptions of human nature both from the concierge and a young intellectual girl who resides in the building as well as the new Japanese resident who brings them all together. Hmmm.  Now that I write that, I realize that there are some similarities to books by my favorite, Jane Austen.

I also urge you to hang on through the first 150 pages. They might be a bit rough going (especially on vacation), but it’s worth it. Here are a few of the weightier observations of the residents at No. 7 rue de Grenelle:

• Of a family on one of the floors: “The son is less dangerous because he is a real moron, but you never know: The capacity to do harm is often an item of family capital.”
• “We never look beyond our assumptions and, what’s worse, we have given up trying to meet others, we just meet ourselves. We don’t recognize each other because other people have become our permanent mirrors.”
• Of the aesthetics of sliding doors vs. swinging doors: “When a sliding door is open, two areas communicate without offending each other. When it is closed, each regains its integrity. Sharing and reunion can occur without intrusion.”
• “Many intelligent people have a sort of bug: They think intelligence is an end in itself. They have one idea in mind: to be intelligent, which is really stupid.”
• When the young girl meets the new Japanese resident: “This is the first time I have met someone who cares about me when he is talking: He’s not looking for approval or disagreement, he looks at me as if he were to say, ‘Who are you? Do you want to talk to me? How nice it is to be here with you!’ “
• On regret for calling out a phony: “I may know that the world is an ugly place; I still don’t want to see it.”

I have to admit that to enjoy this book, it helps if, like me, you are a nut for Russian novelists (Tolstoy figures prominently) and have a passing acquaintance with the major philosophers (Freud, Marx, Kafka, Descartes), and minimal knowledge of Dutch painting and Japanese cinema.  Nevertheless, the themes are universal, especially the main one–that even hedgehogs can be elegant.

Top Shelf Bottom Line: If you are looking for something a bit deeper and more thought-provoking this summer, this is the book for you. Of course, after this one, I’m going to go back and hit the biz books and a Nelson DeMille or two, as I don’t expect to find another gem like this one for a few years. And because I have to tie this into being an entrepreneur, I would say that besides stimulating your brain in a different direction, being able to step back and observe people and human behavior is a skill essential to all entrepreneurs.

I get a lot of books sent to me to review and rarely see one that practically leaps out of the stacks, begging me to review it. Then again, Mike Michalowicz managed to get it to me via a very trusted friend, but he really had me at “The Toilet Paper.” This is why I’m reviewing The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur: The tell-it-like-it-is guide to cleaning up in business, even if you are at the end of your roll.

Why this book is not like other entrepreneurial books.

1. It doesn’t profile what he calls “media darling entrepreneurs.” He’s focused on the everyday Janes and Joes who plug away as entrepreneurs outside of the media spotlight.
2. He’s in your face and often crude (most of the time, funny crude) but he’s not for everyone.

I really liked this book–the info and the attitude. The only critique I have is that although his TPE (Toilet Paper Entrepreneur) tips contained mostly great content, they didn’t generally flow with the context around them. That means it would be hard to go back and find one if you needed it and also was kind of jarring, like “Huh? Did I miss some discussion in the main text about this tip?” But that’s about it.

So what is a TPE? You have to read his hilarious introduction, which talks about how creative, innovative and resourceful we can all be when we’re on the toilet and suddenly notice that there are only three sheets of TP left on the roll . . . So, if you’ve ever had to be creative, innovative and resourceful because you’ve got nothing else going for you . . . then welcome to the world of TPEs!

Michalowicz tosses a lot of info at the reader (in between the potty humor). Here are a few that stood out for me:

• You don’t need a website to have a web presence. Make good use of social networks and other social sites.
• Envying others’ success is limiting your own potential for success because it’s admitting you can’t achieve what they have.
• Instead of forcing yourself to say “My business is great,” put “he or she thinks” in front of that, and it’s much easier to build your confidence.
• His section on livening up your company values is clearly there for the shock value, but thought-provoking in that it shows how useless a lot of the corporate drivel is that we often feel compelled to adopt.
• To be a market leader, your company must excel in one laser-beam-focused area.
• Select your key differentiator and focus all your innovation around it. For example, if quality is your key differentiator, innovate ways to keep increasing quality. If it’s price, innovate around lowering price. If it’s convenience, focus on that.
• Forget the business plan; instead have a prosperity plan, a quarterly plan and daily metrics.
• Most entrepreneurs don’t have a detailed plan, because if they knew what to expect, they would probably be too smart to be entrepreneurs. He includes a great analysis of the Founding Fathers flying by the seat of their pants. (Funny, must be the holiday as I wrote about the Founding Fathers being Innovators in another post earlier today ).
• You need to act internally (in your mind) as if you have already achieved what you want, and you must act outwardly in the way you want to be treated once you arrive at your destination.

And near the end, he gives us the only five things you need to do to succeed in anything:

1. Determine what you want.
2. Set an enabling belief.
3. Commit focus and attention to your goal.
4. Take the most obvious actions to achieve your goal.
5. Monitor your progress, adjusting your actions to realign with your goal.

Top Shelf Bottom Line: If, as an entrepreneur, you’ve ever felt like you were down to your last three pieces of toilet paper, then this is the book for you. It’s got a lot of really good, realistic advice mixed in with a bit of low-brow humor. Not a bad summer read.