--- title: "CEO Q&A: What Are Your Favorite Management Books and Gurus?" url: https://burnaze.com/article/76dcc39b-656e-42e8-986a-f051e05edf59 source: "Franchising.com" original_url: https://www.franchising.com/articles/ceo_qa_what_are_your_favorite_management_books_and_gurus.html author: "Eddy Goldberg" category: "Franchisors" industry: "Franchise Industry" segment: "Franchisors" topics: ["Development & multi-unit","People"] published: 2019-06-30T07:00:00.000Z modified: 2026-11-01T02:34:13.819Z image: https://imgs.franchising.com/art/articles/4649_plate.jpg --- # CEO Q&A: What Are Your Favorite Management Books and Gurus? **TL;DR:** Franchise CEOs share their favorite management books and gurus, emphasizing teamwork and leadership. The CEOs of Two Men and a Truck, Window World, RiseMark Brands, Liberty Tax, School of Rock, and SpeedPro Imaging discuss their favorite books and authors. *By Eddy Goldberg, originally published in Franchising.com on 2019-06-30. [Read the original](https://www.franchising.com/articles/ceo_qa_what_are_your_favorite_management_books_and_gurus.html).* ## Story In each issue of *Franchise Update* magazine, we profile franchise CEOs and presidents, asking each the same set of questions. Throughout the year, we'll be selecting one of those questions -- and providing answers from those profiles. If you want to learn more about these franchise leaders and their thoughts on other topics, just click the links with their responses to read their full profile. *This week we asked them about their favorite management books and gurus.* **Jon Nobis, CEO, Two Men and a Truck** There is so much good insight from great people out there on what has and has not worked in leadership. Mastering the art of teamwork is critical to drive success in a complex world. Two books I would reference are *The Orange Revolution* by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton, and *The Five Dysfunctions of a Team* by Patrick Lencioni. Both provide great insight, human perspective, and tactical action toward transforming those teams. Read the full profile here. **Tammy Whitworth, Chair and CEO, Window World** One of my favorites has to be *Good to Great* by Jim Collins. Read the full profile here. **Brian Petranick, CEO and President, RiseMark Brands** Yes, I pretty much read only business books. Sounds horrible to some people, but it's what really interests me. As far as my favorite management gurus, I tend to find something valuable from every person and every book. I never get too excited about the new "best seller" or new "game changer" book or author. Having said that, Peter Drucker is to management theory what William Shakespeare is to literature. So I read a lot of Peter Drucker. Read the full profile here. **Nicole Ossenfort, CEO and President, Liberty Tax** *The Effective Executive* by Peter Drucker. Read the full profile here. **Rob Price, CEO and President, School of Rock** I am particularly fond of biographies of historical figures. Two leaders I have particularly enjoyed studying are John Adams and Theodore Roosevelt. Both were imperfect men who overcame their deficiencies to create extraordinary change. Read the full profile here. **Larry Oberly, CEO and President, SpeedPro Imaging** I really connect with Simon Sinek. He's my hero from a leadership perspective. I like that he's young too. That adds to the difference in how he and I look at business, which I think is very healthy. I mix reading books with reading periodicals, listening to podcasts, and watching inspiring YouTube videos. My favorite magazines are Entrepreneur and Success. I listen to "Freakonomics" and TED podcasts when I run or am waiting for a flight. I always get interesting new ideas from those. Several of the books I read come from listening to TED speakers. For pure entertainment, I listen to the 'Stuff You Should Know" podcasts. Monday through Friday I watch a video series called "Daily Mentoring" by Darren Hardy, who usually has some excellent ideas and tips in a compact two- to six-minute format. Books that have helped me be who I am include *Think and Grow Rich* by Napoleon Hill, the Steve Jobs biography, a few biographies of Walt Disney, John Wooden's *Wooden on Leadership,* and *Grit* by Angela Duckworth. For fun, I've really enjoyed *Traffic* by Tom Vanderbilt and *Ten Men You Meet in the Huddle* by former NFL lineman Bill Curry. My new favorite topic of study is behavioral economics, which I was introduced to by the TED podcasts. I really enjoyed the book *Predictably Irrational* by Dan Ariely. ## Entities - Franchising.com (publication) - Franchise Industry (sector) - Entrepreneur (publication) - Eddy Goldberg (person) - leadership (topic) - School of Rock (company) - Rob Price (person) - NFL (company) - Window World (company) - Walt Disney (company) - teamwork (topic) - franchise ceos (topic) --- Originally reported by Eddy Goldberg, Franchising.com (https://www.franchising.com/articles/ceo_qa_what_are_your_favorite_management_books_and_gurus.html). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/76dcc39b-656e-42e8-986a-f051e05edf59).