HealthBridge's In-Home Care Blog

Everyone knows that when you start a business, you should look for a burning market need that nobody has been clever enough to fulfill and start your business there right?

And certainly everyone knows that you should stay miles away from a space with thousands of businesses vying for the same specific piece of the market, right?  

Well call us crazy, but we found the most crowded health care niche, looked for the busiest market, then jumped right in.  

Actually, don't call us crazy just yet.  Sometimes entering a busy, crowded space offers the most opportunity to make a difference.  It's actually being different that counts.  

Since this time of year seems to call for reflection, I thought I'd share some of the influences on our change-the-world-one-caregiver-at-a-time business strategy. 

Here are 5 books that have influenced me and HealthBridge:

1. Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne.  This was a formative read for me:  it taught me to prioritize innovation and focus on delivering higher value at lower costs.  The basis of our divergent business model is founded in these concepts.   
   
2. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.  I learned about the viral value of contagious ideas while at Cerner.  Gladwell galvanizes this thinking when he describes how some ideas catch on and others don't. 
   
3. Good to Great by Jim Collins.  In this incredibly thorough look at thousands of companies, Collins describes why some companies make substantial improvements over time.  This is why we take such a rigorous stand on hiring talent to make sure, as Collins would say, we have, "the right people on the bus."
   
4. The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki.  My copy is so covered in notes that I'm embarrassed to lend it out.  When he was at Apple, Kawasaki became an expert at turning customers into fanatics.  What if a senior care company could have its clients as jazzed up as iPhone users?  That's the idea. 
   
5. Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris.  I'm a hopeless history buff and this is my favorite biography on one of our most interesting Presidents: Theodore Roosevelt.  How'd this make the senior care start up reading list?  Two reasons:  1) you won't be very interesting if you only read business books (hint: it's important to be interesting).  2) Theodore Roosevelt was an unconquerable force whose momentum alone drove many of his ideas to fruition.  A little bit of Teddy's grit and energy is required for a start up. 
   

Sure, there are others.  In fact there's a whole library of healthcare and senior care books that will likely make up a future list.  But, these are the ones that I still reference for inspiration.  Since we started HealthBridge in 2007, these books have been on my desk.  

What books have influenced you?  Please leave a comment below to let me know.  

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Image credit:  Wonderlane