Partners’ Picks July 2017: Resources For Smart Entrepreneurship

Let’s face it, most business and marketing material sucks. Endless reams of jargon-y BS, meaningless sloganeering, and empty aphorisms that lift you up on a cloud of smoke and then let you down hard when it all dissipates. At CTC, we believe that everyone deserves resources that actually help inspire fresh thinking about business and brand. In light of that commitment, the CTC top dogs are sharing their favorite resources for smart entrepreneurship every month.      

Taylor Holiday, Managing Partner: Yvon Chouinard, Let My People Go Surfing: the Education of a Reluctant Businessman

The autobiography of the founder of Patagonia, Let My People Go Surfing recounts Chouinard’s journey from blacksmith’s son to pioneering mountain climber to billion-dollar activist entrepreneur, and how he wove his love of adventure and his concern for the environment into the fabric of his business.

Josh Rodarmel, Operating Partner: Phil Knight, Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

The Nike founder’s autobiography is a rare glimpse inside the mind of the man who turned Nike from a $50 loan into a $30 billion-a-year institution. Knight’s story of triumph and tribulation forms the blueprint for the startup boom and serves as a guidepost for entrepreneurs who follow their own path because they have no other choice.

Jordan Palmer, VP Business Development: Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal, Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work

Stealing Fire explores the revolutionary method of thinking that’s taking over the science of how and why humans perform at high levels. Kotler and Wheal assemble a compelling case that it isn’t experience, or resilience, or perseverance that lead to high performance—rather, it is in learning to access and harness the altered state of consciousness known as “getting in the zone” that leads to life-changing results.  

Cory Hamilton, Brand: How I Built This

A weekly podcast from NPR, How I Built This features host Guy Raz interviewing an entrepreneur in each episode, exploring his or her stories of heartache and joy in their quests to build something out of nothing. From Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone to Jim Koch of Sam Adams to Sara Blakely of Spanx, How I Built This covers the spectrum of entrepreneurial dreams and realities.

Iain Harris, VP of Content: Gary Erickson, Raising the Bar: Integrity and Passion in Life and Business: The Story of Clif Bar Inc.

Raising the Bar tells the story of how Clif Bar founder Gary Erickson took his made-at-home energy bar and put it in every home, eventually building a $100 million company. Raising the Bar explores Erickson’s philosophy of business and explains the reasoning behind his decision to turn down a $120-million-dollar buyout for the sake of continuing to explore his entrepreneurial ambitions.

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