New Titles Help Inspire the Entrepreneurial Spirit

Alongside crisp days and pumpkin lattes, autumn brings new titles to library and bookstore shelves. Many of those focus on the topics of business and entrepreneurship. While some are designed to serve as how-to guides, others seek to inspire by recounting personal stories of success.

One of my favorite recent titles in the inspirational genre is “My Life in Full: Work, Family and our Future” by Indra Nooyi. As the former CEO and chairman of PepsiCo Inc. as well as the first South Asian CEO of a Fortune 500 company, Nooyi is renowned as an exceptional leader, consultant and strategist.

Starting with her childhood in India in the 1960s, the book details her incredible life story, describing how she passionately pursued a career while at the same time kept striving to be a dedicated parent to her two daughters. As a result of her experiences, Nooyi champions the goal of changing business culture to support families, believing that these changes benefit all of society.

Another new title of interest to those with aspirations in the business world is “Becoming Trader Joe: How I Did Business My Way and Still Beat the Big Guys.” Trader Joe’s  founder Joe Coulombe (with Patty Civalleri) describes the creative thinking, risk taking and commitment to employee satisfaction at the heart of his approach. Those business practices ended up fueling the wild success of the now-beloved grocery store chain.

Both these titles are available in our collection at cadl.org catalog. For anyone interested in developing an existing business or starting a new one, check out the articles, databases and local resources under the Research & Learn tab at cadl.org by clicking on “Business” in the Research Tools section.