80/20 Principle Author Richard Koch’s Most Influential Books

Richard Koch – Entrepreneur, Business Consultant, and author of several international bestselling books including The 80/20 Principle shares the books that have played the most influential role in his life.

Question:  What book or books have you found most thought provoking and influential in your life?

Richards Answer: 
I find it hard to answer your question.  The books that really stick in my mind are those I’ve written!  I think I have learned as much as anyone from researching them and writing them.  The two that really stick out for me are indeed The 80/20 Principle and my latest book Superconnect , written with Greg Lockwood, which took me deep into network science that I had only a superficial knowledge of before I wrote the book!

Of course I have been influenced by other books, but there are so many to choose from and memory will tend to favour the ones I’ve read most recently.  If I restrict myself to books not ready recently I would say Honest to God by J A T Robinson (about 1966), Letters and Papers from Prison by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and A J P Taylor’s Origins of The First World War , which really got me interested in history.  I must also mention Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl and I’m OK–You’re OK by Thomas Harris, and also M Scott Peck’s The Road Less Traveled .  The last two books really take opposite positions on personal psychology but I found them both really good.  I think only the 80/20 can (perhaps) reconcile their positions – Harris says life is easy if we accept ourselves, Peck says life is difficult and we should be very demanding of ourselves.  I really do think they are both right.  The 80/20 Principle really sides with Harris.  Perhaps I should write an alternative version siding with Peck!  Life is subtle and complex and so are we, so both perspectives are necessary.

I think Frankl’s book would win top prize for me.

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” – Viktor Frankl

Get your copy of Man’s Search for Meaning at Amazon.com

Finally let me mention The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels (1848).  I am an anti-Marxist but this is a wonderful little book with fabulous insight into the industrial revolution.  Even today it puts globalization into context.

Best wishes from misty Cape Town,

Richard

Learn more about Richard Koch here