"That Unconventional Approach" to Entrepreneurship: Tania Yuki's Influences

On yesterday’s episode of Smashing the Plateau, Tania Yuki spoke about predictive analytics to take the guesswork out of social media; how growing small business should approach hiring; and being sure that you’re having fun and keeping variety in your life. Here, she shares a list of writers and entrepreneurs who have influenced her:

1. The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz

“It’s a true entrepreneur’s perspective on the ins and outs of scaling/running a business. Many books give you the good parts and the theory; Ben really speaks from experience and doesn’t pretty things up. Very inspiring.”

2. Learned Optimism, Martin Seligman

“By far the definitive text on how to consciously choose your outlook, and the impact on any graffiti of thinking. Also a hugely helpful screener of other people/candidates.”

3. Influence, Robert Cialdini

“Where to begin – everyone should read this!”

4. The China Study, Thomas Campbell and T. Colin Campbell

“If you have any regard for what you put in your body, this is maybe the most influential book ever. It inspired me to become completely vegan, and was hugely impactful in many of my lifestyle choices.”

5. Keith Cunningham, Keys to the Vault

“An amazing teacher who brings simple, clear thinking to the forefront of everything and forces you to truly hone in on your values, and what’s important. Favorite saying: ‘the quality of your life is in direct proportion to the amount of things you make non-negotiable.’ ”

6. Richard Branson

“The stories and narrative on Richard Branson—I’m a huge fan. I love the unexpected approach to entrepreneurship, and how he’s really avoided getting pigeonholed in one type of business versus the other. The thing that stitches things together are things that he thought were valuable or interesting. I really like that unconventional approach; it’s unexpected. And you can learn so many things from someone like Steve Jobs, who had that clarity of vision, and an unrelenting view on what ‘good’ looked like, and I think there’s a lot of good to be drawn from that. But I also like to model myself on people who have synthesized many of the values that I really hold as high levels of things to aspire to for myself.”