September, we celebrate the 'Read a New Book' Month! Read A New Book Month is the perfect opportunity to pick up that novel you’ve been meaning to start, that DIY manual you bought to work on that project but never actually read, or even a business guide to help with learning a new skill.
How to Celebrate?
Reading is fun, and new books hold promise for all sorts of adventure and learning. We are sharing a curation of best and highly recomended Business Books by Good Reads Members, for celebrating Read a New Book Month. Goodreads members ranked books like "Start With Why," "Shoe Dog," "Made to Stick," and "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" as some of the best business and leadership books.
"Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson
With over one million ratings on Goodreads, this book is a biography of Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple. Walter Isaacson conducted more than forty interviews with Steve Jobs and 100 interviews with family, friends, and colleagues to create an all-encompassing portrait of a man who revolutionized technology with his inventiveness.
"The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference" by Malcolm Gladwell
With over 735,000 ratings, "The Tipping Point" is a business favorite of Goodreads members, helping readers understand when a good idea crosses the threshold to becoming a business or a product. Beloved for Malcolm Gladwell's concise and digestible writing style, this book uses sociology to analyze the personality types of business leaders, indicators that past trends would become massive, and interviews with great business people to find the traits of the next great idea.
"How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie
This 1936 psychology book has become a business staple, necessary in understanding how to lead or manage a team. With principles on how to get people to like you, win people to your way of thinking, and change people without making them hate you, this popular book has sold over 15 million copies.
"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change" by Stephen R. Covey
"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" is a self-help book that uses seven principles to help readers streamline their personal and professional lives towards success. Inspirational and practical, these habits use psychological reasoning to determine our goals, focus on reaching them, and maintain positive thinking throughout the process.
"Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert T. Kiyoskai
Robert T. Kiyosaki is a millionaire businessman who grew up with two dads — his own, and his best friend's father, his "rich dad." In this business and finance book, Kiyosaki explains how his two dads shaped his view of money and investing and gives the readers advice on how to invest and grow your money.
"Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill
Written by Napoleon Hill in 1937, "Think and Grow Rich" is a business and personal development read that focuses on increasing income. With 14 principles for achievement, this book aims to help readers build wealth realistically using a positive mindset.
"Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead" by Sheryl Sandberg
"Lean In" sparked global conversation after its publication in 2013 because of its honesty about the experiences of women in business. This book encourages women to be voracious, courageous, and strong-willed at work in order to not only help themselves but improve the future for upcoming businesswomen.
"Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future" by Peter Thiel
Peter Thiel is a billionaire investor and entrepreneur, a co-founder of PayPal and Founders Fund. In "Zero to One," he aims to help readers find unique opportunities for progress in an already advanced business space, incorporating his optimistic view of future entrepreneurs' ideas.
"The 4-Hour Workweek" by Timothy Ferriss
Based on a series of lectures given at Princeton University on entrepreneurship, Timothy Ferriss' business book is essentially about how to life-hack your business and when it is the appropriate time to make these moves, from outsourcing certain tasks to implementing new management principles. He also encourages entrepreneurs to break out of the 9-5 mold in order to become more well-rounded business people.
"Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike" by Phil Knight
"Shoe Dog" might be a memoir, but Goodreads users love Phil Knight's focus on his success in business as he grew his company from $50 into the Nike empire. Knight's story brings readers into the details of the company's growth, the challenges he faced as a leader, and the breakthroughs he experienced.
"Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action" by Simon Sinek
Simon Sinek is an inspirational speaker whose book encourages leaders to articulate why their business exists, their idea is great, and their movement is necessary. When people lead with "why," it is easier to lead and inspire.
"Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don't" by James C. Collins
In this business book, James C. Collins analyzes what makes a company "great" and how good companies can achieve enduring success. He used a team of 21 researchers to develop his theories and back each principle with grounded statistics.
"Rework" by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
"Rework" strives to be different from any other business book on the market by taking traditional business advice and analyzing how to work smarter for faster results. It approaches standard business principles from a new angle, highlighting the typical challenges and helping readers stay one step ahead.
"Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity" by David Allen
This productivity book is a necessary business read as it teaches readers how to transform the way we work by de-stressing and organizing. Believing that a relaxed mind is most effective, David Allen presents realistic productivity systems and the ways in which we can implement them.
"Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion" by Robert B. Cialdini
"Influence" is a psychology book about persuasion, dubbed a business read by Goodreads reviewers for its usefulness in management, marketing, and communications. This book teaches the readers six principles of persuasion, how to apply them, and how to know when they're being used against you.
"The One Minute Manager" by Kenneth H. Blanchard
"The One Minute Manager" is a book that urges readers to apply one-minute goals, praising, and reprimands to their management style. It is an entertaining and interesting read that uses a fictional business story to demonstrate how the "one-minute" concept works.
"Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us" by Daniel H. Pink
Backed by 40 years of research on human motivation, this book analyzes three elements of motivation: Autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Daniel H. Pink applies these elements to existing management theory to demonstrate how acknowledging our motivations can transform our work habits.
"Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World" by Cal Newport
"Deep work" is the idea of fully focusing on a mentally demanding task, despite outside distraction. Addressing a difficult skill to master in the fast-past 21st century, this book aims to help readers focus on the benefits of being focused as well as how to be productive when our minds are elsewhere.
"The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham
Originally published in 1949 by the "father of value investing," "The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham delivers realistic financial advice for individuals and businesses looking to grow their wealth. Far from principles that guarantee you'll become a millionaire, this book encourages readers to create practical goals and find success in any size a victory.
"The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable" by Patrick Lencioni
In this leadership fable, a CEO attempts to unite a team under high stakes discovering along the way why even the greatest teams struggle. If this style of business book interests you, Patrick Lencioni also wrote"The Five Temptations of a CEO"and"Death by Meeting"in the same form.
"Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It" by Chris Voss
Written by a former international hostage negotiator for the FBI, this business book transforms the psychology of interrogation into civilian-applicable negotiation tactics, such as skills you might need while discussing a raise or navigating interpersonal conflict. Using emotional and behavioral sciences, this book is about gaining trust, discovering motives, and understanding those around us.
"Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die" by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Brothers Chip and Dan Heath use different business theories in this book to analyze the "stickiness" of an idea, or what makes some ideas work so well. They draw from successful and unsuccessful business ventures to help readers discover the principles within great ideas and therefore how to make their own ideas stick.
"Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration" by Ed Catmull
Drawing on his experiences as a co-founder and president of Pixar Animation, Ed Catmull unveils some deeply ingrained processes and beliefs that have made Pixar so successful. His teams' philosophies can be applied to any business, creatively driven or otherwise.
"The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It" by Michael E. Gerber
The "e-myth" is the entrepreneurial idea that people who start small businesses are entrepreneurs and anyone with technical business understanding can start one. In this book, Michael E. Gerber analyzes assumptions, expectations, and misconceptions around starting a small business in the hope that readers can succeed on their own.
Source: Business Insider