“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.“
Joseph Addison
Reading is a powerful and insightful way to acquire new information, adopt new perspectives, and be open to new ways of thinking. Reading allows us to expand the boundaries of our knowledge while bolstering our capacity for leadership and innovation.
Building upon the habit of reading might perhaps be the greatest common denominator of success amongst business leaders, entrepreneurs, and professionals.
I’ve compiled the top-10 business books that have empowered me to strive to live up to my full potential. Whether it’s in your day-to-day life, in college, at work, or with building relationships, the knowledge obtained from the books below has enabled me to foster my creative thinking, capture new ideas, and build fruitful relationships.
This is one of those business books ideal for people willing to build genuine and fruitful relationships on both a personal as well as a professional basis. Adam Grant inspires us to rethink not only what we hope to accomplish, but also how we hope to get there. For a glimpse of it, check out Adam Grant’s TED Talk here. A must-read!
Some of its many insights:
“Success depends heavily on how we approach our interactions with other people.”
“Every time we interact with one another, we have a choice to make: do we try to claim as much value as we can, or contribute value without worrying about what we receive in return?”
“Those who give first are often the best positioned for success later. They place others’ best interest first – and they build on their reputation. There is something distinctive that happens when givers succeed: it spreads and cascades.”
What makes a great leader? This book is ideal for those looking to take their leadership capacity, knowledge, and skills to the next level. Leadership, as Simon Sinek explains, is about fostering trust and safety while achieving superior organizational performance. One of the greatest business books written. For a glimpse of what’s the book about, check out Simon Sinek’s TED Talk here!
Some of its many insights:
“Why leaders eat last: Great leaders sacrifice their own comfort – even their own survival – for the good of those in their care.”
“Working with a sense of obligation should be replaced by working with a sense of pride. And coming to work for the company is replaced by coming to work for each other. Work is no longer a place to dread. It is a place to feel valued.”
“The strength of the culture, and not its size and resources, determines an organization’s ability to adapt to the times, overcome adversity and pioneer new innovations.”
Brene Brown is the expert in human connection, vulnerability, and shame. In this book, she details how leaders can take their capacity to empathize, cultivate belongingness, live authentically, and lead vulnerably to choose courage over comfort. Check Brene Brown’s TED Talk here!
Some of its many insights:
“Leadership is not about titles, status, and wielding power. A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and ideas, and has the courage to develop that potential.”
“The true obstacle to brave leadership is how we respond to our fear.”
“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek. When we imprison the heart, we kill courage.”
The difference between leading from hurt and leading from heart is not what you’ve experienced or are currently experiencing, it’s what you do with that pain and hurt. When we deny our stories of struggle, they own us. They own us, and they drive our behavior, emotions, thinking, and leading.”
Another of Simon Sinek’s masterpieces. This book is ideal for those leaders, entrepreneurs, and executives who would like to take their organization to the next level not by thinking about the next month, the next quarter, or the next year – but by cultivating a culture that empowers their organization to succeed way beyond their own lifetime. One of those business books that will never get old. Simon Sinek, as always, full of inspiring ideas!
Some of its many insights:
“Great leaders set up their organizations to succeed beyond their own lifetimes, and when they do, the benefits – for us, for business, and even for the shareholder – are extraordinary. It’s about building up the next generation.“
“It’s not about buying a house, it’s about finding a home to raise a family.”
“To live our lives with an infinite mindset is to live a life of service.”
“We want to be remembered for what we did for others.”
This book is ideal for entrepreneurs, Salesforce-enthusiasts, and leaders willing to build organizations that pursue value over profits and that hope to build organizations whose meaning and purpose, rather than its quest for money, uplift their surrounding ecosystems. Business books like this will surpass the test of time. Written by a true entrepreneur, a world visionary, and one of the 21st Century’s most admired CEOs.
Some of its many insights:
“No matter what business you are in, values are the bedrock of a resilient company culture that inspires all employees, at every level, to do the best work of their lives.”
“Innovation cannot advance in a positive direction unless it’s grounded in genuine and continued efforts to lift up all of humanity. Companies, and the people who lead them, can no longer afford to separate business objectives from the social issues surrounding them.”
“There is not a single tree on earth that’s sturdier than a forest.”
“If you aren’t crystal clear on where you want to go, good luck trying to get there.”
“It’s not purpose ahead of profits. It’s purpose that drives better profits.”
In this masterpiece, marketing guru Seth Godin explores what makes brands truly remarkable. Full of inspiration and innovative insights, Godin details the many ways in which traditional forms of marketing are dying, and a new trend is on the rise – one where the marketing is not about the campaign, but about the product and service itself. One of those business books that all marketers ought to read!
Some of its many insights:
“The Old Rule: Create safe, ordinary products and combine them with great marketing. The New Rule: Create remarkable products that the right people seek out.”
“In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is failing. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible.”
“We should highlight the fact that it is not marketing done to a product. The marketing is the product.”
“Cheap is a lazy way out of the battle for the Purple Cow. Cheap is the last refuge of a product developer or marketer who is out of great ideas.”
Whether we like it or not, we are all sellers. We all try to sell things. During school, we sell our candidacy to recruiters and professors. At work, we sell both our ideas as well as the unique value we bring to our team. In our personal lives, we sell our personality to the world. Business books like this one are ideal not only for those willing to take their sales capacity to the next level.
Some of its many insights:
“Sales is, first and foremost, a disqualification process, not a ‘convincing people’ process!”
“Selling to the right person is more important than all the sales methods, copywriting techniques, and negotiation tactics in the world. Because the wrong person doesn’t have the money. Or the wrong person doesn’t care. The wrong person won’t be persuaded by anything.”
“Only 20% of customers represent a serious opportunity. Handy rule of thumb: 80/20 says that 20% of the people will spend 4 times the money. It also says that 4% of the people will spend 16 times the money. Memorize this – it’s one of the most powerful facts you could ever know about business.”
Have you ever heard the word ‘design thinking?’ If you haven’t, take a look around. Every single product and service that brands sell us today were clearly thought about prior to being launched to make them adapt to our specific needs and desires. Tim Brown unveils how design thinking empowers entrepreneurs and marketers to offer truly unique, yet practical products.
Some of its many insights:
“A culture that believes that it is better to ask forgiveness afterward rather than permission before, that rewards people for success but gives them permission to fail, has removed one of the main obstacles to the formation of new ideas.”
“There are many approaches to prototyping, but they share a single, paradoxical feature: they slow us down to speed us up. By taking the time to prototype our ideas, we avoid costly mistakes such as becoming too complex too early and sticking with a weak idea for too long.”
“An organization that commits itself to the human-centered tenets of design thinking is practicing enlightened self-interest. If it does a better job understanding its customers, it will do a better job of satisfying their needs.”
We all have that friend that’s always late to the party. Or that friend that always comes up with the most radical ideas that no one understands why they would make sense. We see and hear them and think: “Are they crazy?” Adam Grant, through this book, challenges to shift the conversation to, instead, ask: “How original is that?” This is one of those business books entrepreneurs and leaders ought to check-out to inject new ideas, thoughts, and initiatives! Check Adam Grant’s TED Talk here!
Some of its many insights:
“Procrastination may be the enemy of productivity, but it can be a resource for creativity.”
“The greatest shapers don’t stop at introducing originality into the world. They create cultures that unleash originality in others.”
“Being original doesn’t require being first. It just means being different and better. To become original, you have to try something new, which means accepting some measure of risk.”
“When we’re determined to reach an objective, it’s the gap between where we are and where we aspire to be that lights a fire under us.”
“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.”
TED’s 3rd most viewed Talk in its history was delivered by Simon Sinek… based on this book! Simon Sinek reveal to us how great leaders inspire others to take action while rallying people towards a common cause. This is a must-read for leaders and entrepreneurs willing to inspire people to follow their true purpose in life.
Some of its many insights:
“Any organization can explain what it does; some can explain how they do it; but very few can clearly communicate why. WHY is not money or profit – those are always results. Why does your organization exists?”
“There are only two ways to influence human behavior: you can either manipulate it or you can inspire it. WHAT you do – the products/services/decisions – no longer serves as the reason to buy, they serve as the tangible proof of their cause. People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.”
“All organizations start with WHY, but only the great ones keep their WHY clear year after year. Those who forget WHY they were founded show up to the race every day to outdo someone else instead of to outdo themselves.”
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