Entrepreneur, Author, Or Both?

There’s a lot of pressure on entrepreneurs to be not just great business owners but also great business minds. Writing a book seems like a logical path to influencer status. But is it?

- Adam Bornstein

Q As an entrepreneur, is it important to write a book and become an influencer in order to take my business to the next level? —PETE, AUSTRALIA

PETE, let me clear the air and admit a few biases: I’ve written five books, including a New York Times best-seller. I’ve ghostwritten three other best-sellers, and my consulting company has marketed two books that both hit number one on the New York Times list. Books are my business, so I see how it’d be easy to expect me to recommend that route.

But most of the time, I suggest that an entrepreneur not write a book.

Which isn’t to say I don’t understand the appeal. I do. Plenty of successful leaders have written them, from Richard Branson to Sheryl