Here’s a quick review on a book that had great impact on me.
The Basics
- Category: Business
- Originally Published: 2023
- Pages: 246
Book Summary / What This Books Is About
This is a very practical book for small business owners about establishing best practices in all aspects of running your business. Donald Miller is unbelievably clear-thinking and communicates in a way that doesn’t leave you with more questions. When I finished reading, I knew exactly what my next steps were to get my business on track.
The basic premise is that your business is like an airplane:
- The cockpit – leadership
- The right engine – marketing
- The left engine – sales
- The wings – your products and services
- The fuselage – overhead and operations
- The fuel tanks – cashflow
With each category, Donald Miller explains the problems, shows you the solutions, and gives you a plan with steps on how to get started.
By the way, I first heard Donald Miller speak at an insurance conference in New Orleans in 2019 and he blew me away with his theory that all movies are essentially the same story and then he explained the Hero’s Journey which proved it.
Main Takeaway / The First Thing I Think About When I Think About This Book
The top priority for me was setting up my company’s Guiding Principles. Even though I had created my company’s mission/vision/values about 10 years ago, Donald Miller helped me upgrade my thinking, and re-write them as Guiding Principles. I think that leadership is the area that needed the most improvement (and still does). The second most important step was establishing – and committing to – regular weekly meetings per the Management and Productivity Made Simple Playbook guidelines. In these meetings, we discuss our Guiding Principles (and the engines, and the wings, and the fuselage). I’ve been doing this for about three months and I am truly seeing my business changing for the better.
Final Thoughts
Is it possible that this is the most influential business book I’ve read? I think of all the great books I’ve read, and so much of them have been more philosophical and deep, answering questions as to what makes businesses great (Good to Great), or how to get out of the world of competition (Blue Ocean Strategy) or why being a business owner is noble (Thou Shall Prosper). And I’ve even read great practical books like Traction, which I felt at the time was a little over my head or written for businesses much bigger than mine. Maybe I just wasn’t ready for Traction when I read it three years ago. Anyway, this book seemed to be written for me, right now, in 2025, to help me solve the exact problems I’m experiencing.
Lastly, this book is actually helping me to suspend disbelief and think big. When it talks about meetings, employee compensation packages, and hiring a COO, whereas normally I would freak out think that’s impossible, I can now imagine a scenario and have it look real to me. It could happen. Why not?
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