Small Giants by Bo Burlingham - A 300-Word Book Review
Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big
Rating: 7/10
Pages: 258
Time To Finish: 9 days — 30 pages/day
Where To Purchase: Amazon
What is it about?
Bo dives into businesses that decided to be great, instead of growing big. There’s a common misconception in the business world that in order to improve, you have to continuously grow. The companies Bo features in this book prove otherwise.
The book shows how these “small giants”, thanks to their decision to stay “small”, have the ability to be agile, maintain incredible company culture, and continue to deliver excellent products (among many other benefits).
My favourite parts
The book was fairly motivational, which can be nice to read. It’s encouraging to hear success stories and learn about how, as a business grows, you have the option to stay a certain size, grow at your own pace, or grow fast if you really want to.
I particularly liked the features on the Union Square Hospitality Group because I’ve admired them for a bit of time, since I am in the same industry as well.
Who should read it?
Those who are starting to grow a business would enjoy this book. It can help with guidance when deciding the direction you want to take your company.
Additional thoughts
I would say this book could have simply been a couple of blog posts instead. I don’t feel there was a need to write 260 pages on the topic, and because of that, I had trouble reading a lot of it at once. This resulted in me taking longer to read than I normally would have.
It was still a decent book that many will enjoy and find value in, though.