Whether you work for a large firm or are an entrepreneur like me, you have probably realized that no matter how good you are at what you do, you simply can’t take your business to the next level on your own. Strategic partnerships, collaboration and joint efforts are needed to truly make your enterprise scalable, and are crucial for not only reaching new audiences, but for obtaining honest, objective feedback on your efforts- which, as humans, is something that none of us can do on our own.

Based on the popularity of a recent post on the 7 social media must-reads for corporate event planners, below is a list of 5 important books for gaining a broad, firm understanding of the power of collaboration, and why it is so important for us in the event industry:

1) Never Eat Alone (Keith Ferrazzi) – Perhaps the world’s leading authority on networking, Ferrazzi’s book is insanely popular because he talks about the power of initiating and maintaining interpersonal relationships. Drawing on the expertise of Dale Carnegie and others, this book will give you a great foundation for how- and why- collaboration is essential.

2) Jamming (John Kao) – This creative book by an innovation expert and former Harvard Business School professor vividly equates business to jazz, and will change the way you think about approaching potential partners with a goal of drastically improving your business models, as well as your bottom line.

3) How (Dov Seidman) – A new take on Thomas Friedman’s “world is flat” argument, this is an incredible “big picture” book which will help give you a framework of not only why collaboration is so important in the 21^st Century, but how to go about doing what you do best, for maximum benefit.

4) Power and Influence: The Rules Have Changed (Robert Dilenschneider) – An important book by one of America’s most-respected power brokers and PR experts, this is an incredible resource for anyone who wants to develop not only strong influencing skills, but the acumen for identifying and gaining buy-in from the right outside partners.

5) The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (Joe Trippi) – During the 2004 US presidential primary, Governor Howard Dean soared from obscurity to frontrunner, in no small part due to bloggers. Regardless of how you may feel about him politically, the Dean campaign was the first to galvanize large groups of people through the Internet- and Joe Trippi, Dean’s campaign manager, made that possible. Trippi’s book is an incredible case study on the power of working together to make big things happen, and will change the way you approach creating your events.

There are of course plenty of other insightful, better-known books which would fall neatly into this list, such as The Tipping Point, The 7 Habits for Highly Effective People and Good to Great. However, the 5 books listed above will help you develop a new style of thinking about your events, and help differentiate you from the crowd.

If you have any other book suggestions for collaboration & strategic partnership, please feel free to share them here!