What are some books to help me improve my business?

I currently run a small business, and lately I've been looking for ways to stretch, grow and make it better. Can you recommend some books to improve business?

Around the Strong Design studio, reading is one of our favorite past-times. I always am surprised by the new things I've learned by the time I've completely a new book. Often I've gleaned all sorts of tidbits that might not even relate to the true thesis of the book—tips on process, procedure, culture or the way people think. This just goes to show how you can learn a new business lesson in the strangest of places. Here are a half-dozen of my favorite business books, and a quick synopsis of what I learned from them:

Get Lucky by Lane Becker and Thor Muller

This is a brand-new book that looks into the idea of serendipity and its role in business. It carefully hits home the message that most of what businesses attribute to "luck" is often a long time of preparation that led them to be able to capitalize on a chance opportunity.

Setting the Table by Danny Meyer

At first glance, this book looks like book about Danny Meyer's path to becoming a restauranteur—and it is. But it is also a manual full of real-world examples of how to provide world-class hospitality. It doesn't take much additional imagination to start to see how one could apply the principles to their business to really spoil their customers and capture their hearts.

Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh

This book is an incredibly quick and easy read as Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos, chronicles the thought process that has driven him to build an entire brand upon service to their customers. The book is a perfect example of how having a higher purpose behind simply peddling your wares leads to loyal fans and paves the way financial success.

The Millionaire Next Door by Tom Stanley

This might seem like a strange addition to this list, but hear me out a little. This book chronicles the true life of a millionaire in the United States—not the ones reality TV likes to push down our throats. It illustrates with dozens and dozens of stats, facts and tables that hard work, planning, wisdom and frugality are the building blocks of a strong financial house, and always serves as a reminder to me of how to approach not only my personal finances but also my business finances. After all, you can have the best business in the world, but if you can't pay the bills to keep the doors open, what good will that be?

Rework by Jason Fried

This is another weirdo on the list, but I've added it for a reason. By nature, I'm a "doer" and I've always struggled with that fact. However, this book helped me understand how much of an asset that is to running a business. The whole premise of the book is that nothing will ever be perfect, because perfection is unattainable, and that what matters is doing the best with what you have and getting the product "shipped" out to customers so you can afford to continue to refine it.

Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuck

This book claims itself to be a "how-to manual for turning your passion into a business." Although Gary V gives plenty of insight into that topic, the lessons I honed in on in this book were about how important it is as a business owner to have a strong personal brand to help fuel your business.

Anything by Malcolm Gladwell

So I said I'd outline six books for your reading pleasure, but I couldn't resist adding this last recommendation. If you haven't read anything by him yet, Malcolm Gladwell is an absolute genius when it comes to presenting research and conclusions on why people behave as they do. If the dots aren't instantly connecting for you, people are the core of any business—people in the customer role, the staff role or even the vendor role—and gaining the understanding to get a glimpse inside of their heads is absolutely invaluable to your success in working with them, serving them and delighting them. My favorite books by Gladwell are Blink, which investigates the split-second subconscious thoughts that often drive our decision process, and Outliers, which chronicles how "overnight success" stories are often not so much overnight, but typically the product of thousands and thousands of hours of committed devotion to one's craft.So that's it! Over a half dozen books for your reading pleasure and fuel for business' success. Go pick one up or check one out from the library and see what lessons you can extract from it. Happy reading!