What’s Your Favorite Business/Entrepreneurial Book?
A single book can be the spark that ignites our entrepreneurial journey. One compelling sentence or idea is all it takes to change the trajectory of our entire lives.
That’s real power, and top business leaders have all experienced it firsthand.
Are you stuck reading the same old boring books and need a boost of inspiration? Here are some essential reads from current business leaders who know a thing or two about success.
Explorations of Emotion
Rationality, logic, reasoning – those are all well and good, but emotion runs the world as we know it. This is especially true for marketing and sales, as well as the personal transformation required for extreme success.
“Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown was extremely helpful to me while I was building Oklahoma Smokes,” said Ashwinn Krishnaswamy, Co-Founder of Oklahoma Smokes. “Dr. Brown’s research on vulnerability’s impact on innovation hits very close to home for Oklahoma Smokes’ mission to help smokers kick the habit. Asking for help is hard. Like Daring Greatly, we want our customers to feel comfortable admitting their vulnerabilities and offer them a dignified solution to their nicotine dependencies.”
If you can master your emotions and make them work for you instead of against you, that’s an undeniable advantage in the modern world.
Real Reflections
A handful of business icons simply stand head and shoulders above the rest. Their influence is wide-ranging, and their companies truly change the world. Read their books to get a glimpse of how they think, and apply their principles to your own life in business and beyond.
“Zero to One” by Peter Thiel is definitely one of my favorites,” said David Jiang, Founder and CEO of Reason to Smile. “Peter Thiel is an icon investor/founder and this book is a must-read. I love self-help books. It is always profitable to take the time to reflect on your journey.”
Sure, ghost-written biographies are great – but reading the authentic words of a real mastermind is something completely different and essential.
Get Empowered
It can seem like the whole world is against you when first starting out on your path, and the right book will give you the power to overcome every obstacle in your way.
Maybe you’ve been questioning yourself too much, or the opinions of others are holding you back. Tap into an inspirational book to get that assurance you need to succeed.
“The Most Powerful Woman in the Room Is You: Command an Audience and Sell Your Way to Success by Lydia Fenet,” said Sunny Mills, Design and Production Director at Yoga Club. “After reading this book, I felt empowered to pursue the dreams that had laid dormant in me for years. It will make you ask for what you deserve, connect more deeply with others and assert yourself in your household or your boardroom. This book offers practical advice to all women in today’s workforce—how to use your personal goals to land the job, how to avoid the pitfalls of office drama, how to embody essential good manners, how to become invaluable to the boss, securing your chance for promotions.”
Reading is a very personal and private experience, so keep your favorite books close by and form connections with the pages to last a lifetime.
Old and New Lessons
We’re always looking for the latest and greatest business books to get an edge, but sometimes it’s better to return to the classics and reflect on wisdom from the past.
Technology has changed, and so have customer preferences, but the human mind hasn’t evolved for thousands of years. Older books still contain plenty of powerful advice, so don’t let them slip through the cracks.
“I have more than one favorite entrepreneurial book,” said Sarah Morgan, CEO of VitaminIQ. “They include: Traction: Get A Grip On Your Business, Never Lose a Customer Again, by Joey Coleman, and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. 7 Habits has been around for quite a while but has some great lessons to offer including the importance of being proactive and taking charge, having a winning mindset, putting first things first and being clear about your goals.”
Some books might seem a bit outdated, but do your best to look past those details and see the bigger picture at play.
Empathy in Action
Many of us in the business world are a bit too cold and calculating, which can hurt our ability to connect and make smart team-oriented decisions. Learning about things like empathy from books can make you more well-rounded and work better with others.
“Applied Empathy: The New Language of Leadership by Michael Ventura,” said Consultant and Speaker Marcel Schwantes. “In Applied Empathy, he explains why practicing empathy is the only path to powerful leadership. But most leaders don’t fully understand how to do this. This book will teach you what it really means to practice empathy (and no, it’s not about expressing pity or sympathy) so you can create a more diverse, innovative and driven team.”
You might be drawn to the technical and tactical aspects of business, but strengthening emotional intelligence is also crucial.
Mindset Shifters
Are you feeling held back by old beliefs and the rules that society tells you to follow? Those spells are hard to break, and they’ve been repeated to us since childhood.
Great books help us snap out of those unhelpful mindsets and look at the world in a brand new light. That’s something that a university degree or business seminar can never quite accomplish.
“Quite a few business books come to mind,” said Grant Hosking, CEO of Total Hydration. “My favorites that are at the top of the list are: The Millionaire Fast Lane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime! and The 4-hour Work Week. The Millionaire Fast Lane gives great information about money and success in business and creating wealth. The 4-hour Work Week does a really good job of detailing how to escape the 9-5 mindset and get the best out of life.”
Don’t expect an overnight transformation by simply reading a few self-help books. However, they can be the catalyst for change that you need at certain stages of life.
Relatable Stories
Diving into the business world isn’t easy for anyone, and it’s great to hear authentic stories from real people in our position. Sometimes you need to set aside the technical stuff and reflect on your own life to make a big breakthrough.
“101 Questions You Need to Ask in Your Twenties: (And Let’s Be Honest, Your Thirties Too) by Paul Agnone,” said Brandon Werber, CEO of Airvet. “This book is a great resource for millennial entrepreneurs. One of the things I love about it is how the questions challenge you to think about your own life in a way that standard ‘tips’ or ‘advice’ don’t often do. The stories are funny and always relatable – it helps you realize that so many other people are going through the same things you are and that somehow makes you feel less alone in the good fight. I felt inspired every time I picked it up to read (which didn’t take long to finish) and it’s a book you can come back to every now and then when seeking advice or reflection.”
Don’t discount lighthearted reads or even fictional stories in your reading list. These can still teach key lessons and give us a break from the intense regimen of business leadership.
Innovation Embodied
Some people just seem to have that intuitive ability to break the mold and challenge the norms of the business world. Those people are rare, and the rest of us need to learn how they think.
That’s a big reason why we read books – to get a peek into the mind of brilliant thinkers and hopefully capture some of that magic for ourselves.
“Mapping Innovation: A Playbook for Navigating a Disruptive Age by Greg Satell is a great resource for entrepreneurs, it provides a detailed history of disruption through innovation,” said Ashwin Sokke, Co-Founder of WOW Skin Science. “It is a simple and engaging read that goes deep into the major disruptors of our time and how they got to be who they are. Satell explains the different models of innovation and gives useful tips to future disruptors on how to approach developing an idea from a problem-solving perspective. With the market being extremely saturated and the global pandemic creating a space of uncertainty for most businesses, this book is an informative read, helping to look outside the current situation and explore the future through innovation.”
Think of it as “downloading” new programs to your mental hard drive and applying these solutions to new problems. Practice and repetition always make perfect.
Learning from Mistakes
There’s a big difference between failure, mistakes, lessons, and regret. We all miss the mark sometimes, but it’s how we react to the outcome that matters most.
Read books that give firsthand accounts of failure and shortfalls, but pay close attention to how these lessons are learned and interpreted for better decisions in the future.
“The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz,” said Jessica Matthews, Founder and CEO of Uncharted Power. “As a leader, it’s easy to feel like no one has ever made the mistakes you’ve made. This book reminds you that you aren’t crazy and everything you’re experiencing is normal. Sometimes, just this is enough to give you the courage to take the next step. And often, just one more step is all you need at the moment.”
Stoic Influence
It may seem counterintuitive, but some of the most ancient lessons are more helpful to solve modern problems than many books published in the current year.
These are philosophies that have endured the test of time for a reason. They apply to politics, war, love, and personal struggles – as well as business.
“One of my favorite authors is Ryan Holiday; the man is a marketing genius,” said Brandon Monaghan, Co-Founder of Miracle Brand. “A book that I always go back to and that holds its value even in the current rapidly changing business world is The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday. The book explores the ancient Greek philosophy of stoicism, which is built on the idea of turning obstacles into opportunities. This concept is relevant when it comes to entrepreneurship especially in the oversaturated ecommerce market as well as when tackling the topic of the future of disruption and innovation.”
You don’t need to dive directly into Marcus Aurelius or Seneca to get a good summary of stoicism, so look for a contemporary book that showcases the great thinkers instead.
Coaching the Mind
Your mind is a muscle that must be coached and trained to achieve maximum performance. The only way to do this is through practice, habits, new challenges, and reading great books.
If you let the mind stagnate, don’t expect much in the way of results! Keep reading and pushing yourself to the next level mentally, and success will come naturally.
“It Takes What It Takes: How to Think Neutrally and Gain Control of Your Life by Trevor Moawad is a book that has transformed my life in regards to brain control and how to go after and achieve what you set your mind to,” said Dr. Blake Livingood, Founder of Livingood Daily. “Trevor is a coach to the most successful athletes, business owners, and military personnel in the world. His teachings focus on the mind and how to succeed through remaining positive and managing negativity. I believe this book will be a valuable lesson to an aspiring e-commerce business owner, as it includes valuable tips on perseverance and how to maintain a strong and focused mind, which are both must qualities of an entrepreneur.”
All-in-One Manuals
With all these recommendations, your bookshelf will be overloaded in no time. If you’re someone who likes to keep things minimal, you probably just want a few comprehensive books in your collection to visit time and time again.
These are the encyclopedias of entrepreneurship that are well worth the investment – perfect for multiple read-throughs and continuous referencing.
“Supermaker by Jamie Schmidt was a great knowledge bank for guidance on business growth, branding, development, different types of marketing styles, scaling, customer engagement and PR,” said Nik Sharma, CEO of NSharma. “It was a business one-stop shop that I was able to grow with. Most entrepreneurs will throw 3 to 5 different books that ‘changed their life’ because each book addresses a different aspect of business scaling, but this book provided me with all the necessary knowledge in a digestible format that I was able to easily retain and model my business after.”
Thousands of books are released every year, and there’s only so much free time in the day! Go with these curated selections from real business gurus to get the best information and gain that competitive advantage.
