We’re lucky to be living in a time when there is an abundance of brilliant business books readily available for us to purchase and devour.
As a business owner, learning from direct experience is key, but there’s also so much to learn from countless business owners and leaders who already have decades of knowledge and experience under their belt to share.
But there are thousands of business books to choose from, and only so many hours in a day. So how do you know which ones to make time to read?
In this post, we’ve saved you the hassle and rounded up our most life-changing ones.
Here are 10 business books that will transform your business and your life – if you allow them to.
How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Dale Carnegie’s bestseller book first published in 1936 is a favourite of Warren Buffet, offering psychological insight into how to not only get along with people, but influence them in your business and personal life; establishing you as a leader and influencer in your industry.
How to Win Friends & Influence People focuses on helping you achieve important goals including thinking new thoughts, getting out of a rut, getting things done efficiently, avoiding conflict, and becoming an entertaining speaker.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has transformed millions of people’s lives from all backgrounds, including Presidents and CEOs, to educators and parents.
Covey dedicated decades of study to self-improvement and human behaviour, from which he produced this book as a tool to set and achieve goals. The book is conveniently broken down into seven habits:
1: Be Proactive
2: Begin with the End in Mind
3: Put First Things First
4: Think Win/Win
5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
6: Synergise
7: Sharpen the Saw
Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind by Harv Eker
Eker states: “Give me five minutes, and I can predict your financial future for the rest of your life!”
He does this by identifying your money blueprint, which is developed in our early childhood years and subconsciously ingrained in our minds. It’s this blueprint which determines how we think about, feel about, and spend (or save) money, thus determining our financial success in life and business.
The great news is, no matter what your blueprint is right now you can change it, and this book will show you how. In the second half of the book, you’ll learn how rich people think and act differently to poor or middle-income people, and how you can adopt these beliefs.
The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss
In this NYT No.1 bestseller, Ferris details how he went from earning $40,000 dollars per year and working 80 hours per week, to $40,000 per month and working just 4 hours per week; all while travelling the world and escaping the 9-5 rat race.
Forget working until you’re retired and finally living your dream life – Ferris encourages us, and shows us how to do it now.
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
According to the Small Business Association (SBA), 50% of businesses fail during the first five years. But did you know that most of those failures are preventable?
The Lean Startup offers a new approach to business: showing you how to learn what your customers really want, always testing and retesting your vision, and offering insight on how to adapt and adjust along the way.
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t by Jim Collins
What’s the difference between a good company and a great one, and how do you get there?
In this book, Collins studies all areas of management strategy and practice, resulting in some key winning concepts for how to run a business today – some of which goes against how many organisations and managers choose to operate.
Using his research on the Fortune 500, Collins has created a blueprint for turning a good business into an awesome one.
Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
What does it really take to succeed, and be satisfied, at work?
Drawing on her personal experience of working in some of the world’s largest companies along with compelling research, Sandberg shows how gender inequality affects women in the workplace, and explores what changes women can make to help themselves at work and in their personal lives; creating a positive shift on a worldwide scale.
A must-read for all women and men who are interested in promoting equality in the workplace and beyond, and championing women’s careers.
Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne
Many business owners spend so much time and energy trying to beat their competitors, but Blue Ocean Strategy suggests making them irrelevant altogether.
How?
By differentiating yourself and creating a leap in value for your customers. When you do this, you create a blue ocean for yourself, instead of a red, overcrowded one which most people do business in.
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout
In this book, two of the world’s most successful marketing strategists offer 22 marketing tools and innovative techniques for marketing today.
Putting past marketing campaigns under the microscope, and exploring why some succeeded while others fell flat like a pancake, this book presents the 22 rules by which companies will either fail or flourish.
Choose Yourself by James Altucher
Hedge fund manager, entrepreneur, and outspoken writer Altucher illustrates that the only way to be sure of success today – whether you run a business or you’re happily employed – is to choose yourself. Jobs continue to disappear, college doesn’t guarantee employment, and there’s no longer such a thing as “job security.”
The great news is there is more opportunity for everyone than ever before. Altucher shows us how he chose himself and paved an illuminating and fulfilling path on his own, and how you can too.
What’s The Best Business Book You’ve Ever Read?
Have you read a business book that changed your life and isn’t on this list? We’d love to hear about it. Let us know what your all-time favourite business book is and why. For more inspirational business books, book a discovery call or contact us at 1300 459 302 and get one on one advice from our business experts here at UpCoach.
