I've read just about every business book you're supposed to read… |
The E-Myth
Traction
The 4-Hour Workweek
Start With Why
Who Not How
Built to Last |
…all of them. |
And they didn't work. |
For a long time, I thought it was my fault. I thought I just didn't implement them well enough, and that belief nearly broke me. |
I had binders of SOPs nobody read…a dozen VAs and other "helpers" that cost me more time than they saved…and a visionary/integrator dynamic that turned into expensive couples therapy (and $2M in "missing" margin). |
I was doing everything the books said, and yet somehow I was working more hours than when I started…and making less. |
Because once you're trying to scale from $2M to $20M, most bestselling business books aren't wrong… |
…they're just dangerously easy to GET WRONG. |
So, in this issue I'm breaking down what your favorite business book is really saying…where founders go off the rails…and what to do instead. |
NOTE: If you like this and you want me to review another batch of business books, let me know by answering the one-question survey at the bottom of this email. |
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The E-Myth Revisited |
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This book is all about systemization and getting founders out of the weeds by documenting how the business runs so it can operate consistently without hustle or heroics. |
And that's great, because you can't scale chaos. |
But the takeaway most founders run with is the one that causes the most damage. |
What Everyone Gets Wrong: |
They think "systemize" means "document everything," so they build SOPs for every possible task. |
The problem? They end up documenting so much that nobody uses any of it. |
What You Should Do Instead: |
Only document the critical few…specifically the processes that are: |
High stakes Highly repetitive High risk of human error
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Usually that's 10 - 20 playbooks…not 200. |
Also, document while DOING the thing you're documenting in the "real world." (Screen recording tools like Loom and Zoom make it super easy) and then (and only then) should you publish the SOP. |
The fewer your SOPs…the more they actually get used. |
Getting Things Done |
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This book is all about personal productivity…capturing tasks, organizing them, reviewing them, and executing with clarity. And that's great if your goal is inbox zero or you're managing a lot of moving parts as an individual contributor. |
But when you're scaling a company, "getting more done" is often the exact thing keeping you stuck. |
What Everyone Gets Wrong: |
Founders read this and assume scale is a productivity problem, so they build better task systems instead of building a business that doesn't need them to keep doing those tasks. |
What You Should Do Instead: |
At scale, your job is not to do more…it's to do less so your team can do more. |
Stop optimizing your to-do list, and start eliminating yourself as the bottleneck. |
For example, if you're reviewing every email campaign, stop. Build a decision framework your team can follow without you. |
If you're approving every hire, delegate it to a department head with a clear scorecard. |
Productivity is for employees…leverage is for leaders. |
The 4-Hour Workweek |
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This book is all about outsourcing…hiring virtual assistants, delegating tasks, and automating your life so you can "buy back" your time. And that's great if you're a solo operator drowning in low-level admin work. |
But outsourcing tasks doesn't automatically equal freedom. More often, it creates a whole new job called "managing the people I just outsourced all that stuff to." |
What Everyone Gets Wrong: |
Founders think hiring helpers creates leverage, but it actually just replaces doing the work with managing the people who do the work. You trade your "To-Do" list for a "To-Manage" list…and you're still the bottleneck. |
What You Should Do Instead: |
Stop hiring task doers, and start hiring functional experts who own outcomes. |
Not "someone to post on social"—a Head of Marketing who owns the entire customer journey (and who can lead the person who posts on social). |
Not "someone to send invoices"—a Controller who owns accounts payable, financial reports, and cash management. |
Hiring real leaders is more expensive up front, but the ROI in time saved and money made is bigger and faster. |
Traction |
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This book is all about bringing operational discipline to entrepreneurial chaos…meeting rhythms, goal-setting, and clear priorities. I want to hate on it because I wrote my own operating system book (that I think is better), but it's a classic for a reason. |
Unfortunately, there's one idea embedded in the way people interpret Traction that can quietly wreck you. |
What Everyone Gets Wrong: |
Founders buy into the visionary/integrator myth…believing one magical "#2" hire will do the "dirty work" so they never have to grow into a true CEO role. |
What You Should Do Instead: |
The solution isn't a unicorn babysitter. |
It's systems first…then operators. |
If you hire an operator before you have an operating system, you end up with one of two outcomes: |
They try to invent an operating system from scratch, and you undermine it when it doesn't perfectly match how you do things (and then they quit or you fire them) Or, they wait for instructions and become an overpaid executive assistant. (Ask me how I know.)
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Remember: Good people don't fix broken systems…broken systems break good people. And that applies to your highest-level leaders, too. |
Build your operating system first, then hire an operator to operate the operating system. |
Who Not How |
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This book is all about a simple principle: stop asking "How do I do this?" and start asking "Who can do this?" And that's great if you're the type of founder who insists on solving everything yourself. |
But there's a harsh reality most people skip right past. |
What Everyone Gets Wrong: |
Founders treat "hire the right WHO" as a strategy when it's really just a slogan. Great people don't want to join a company where the job is "come fix the chaos." |
What You Should Do Instead: |
Build systems that don't require heroes…then great people will actually want to work there. |
Yes, hire excellent humans, but solve for systems first. Because the best way to attract A-Players is to build a company that doesn't require them. |
Start With Why |
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This book is all about discovering your true purpose. It's inspiring. It pushes leaders to articulate why they exist and how they create meaning beyond money. And that's great because a compelling mission does matter. |
But purpose is not the first domino you need to knock down. |
What Everyone Gets Wrong: |
Founders think a noble "why" can compensate for a weak offer, a weak product, or a weak business model. |
It can't. |
What You Should Do Instead: |
It's not about your why…it's about your customer's why. |
Start by articulating how you create value, and then align your company's purpose with what your customers actually want. Customers don't care about your "Why" if your product sucks. |
Focus on adding value. Your "Why" can wait. |
Built to Last |
This book is all about what makes enduring companies: core ideology, long-term thinking, and yes, the famous BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal). And that's great if you're already a massive organization with decades of runway. |
But for most entrepreneurial companies, BHAGs are just corporate cosplay. |
What Everyone Gets Wrong: |
Founders chase inspiring (but vague) 10-year visions that sound impressive, but wind up creating more "eye rolls" from their team than clarity and momentum. |
What You Should Do Instead: |
Replace the BHAG with a 3-year revenue and profitability target. |
Three years is long enough to do something big but short enough to be predictable. |
Pair it with a clear statement of who you serve and the impact you make. This combo is more useful, more actionable, and way more motivating than buzzword salad. |
The Real Lesson I Had to Unlearn |
Scale doesn't come from hacks, helpers, or hype. |
It comes from building systems that make you less necessary to the day-to-day operations of the business, so the company can grow without you being the bottleneck. |
If a book helps you do that, buy it. |
If it doesn't, pass. |
⚡️Action Step: Think about the last business book you read that you actually implemented, and go back and read it again. The best books are worth reading more than once. Here's one I read almost every year. And here's another one. And another. And obviously I'm biased, but I think you should read this one, too. |
Give it a try, and let me know how it works. |
-Ryan |
Ryan Deiss
Co-Founder and CEO, The Scalable Company |
P.S. I'm looking for 5 business owners who want to work 1-on-1 with my team and me to install a custom "operating system" (and a team of "AI Employees") in the next 6 weeks, so your business can scale and so you can exit the day-to-day. Click here for the details. |
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