My Top 16 Business Books - A Business library that bring inspiration and value
As a compulsive buyer, I ordered many Business Books from Amazon. I made a lot of mistakes: I wrongly picked a lot of buzzy books, usually all of those about Growth Hacking or any similar silver bullet.
The best ones are still the Classics and they help me managing my small businesses and my Retail Data Science company in the best way.
It’s been a year now that I do the following flow when investing my little time left by Business, Family and Gaming into reading: First I purchase it on Audible to listen to it during my travels; then I buy a paper version if it inspired me. If the book is a classic, I even buy it as a Hardcover or a collectible edition. That’s how I own a signed 1939 printing of Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People.
Even though these 6 following books have been published in the previous century, they will never get old.
1. Winning by Jack & Suzy Welch
This book is aimed primarily to people who have to thrived through the Corporate ladder. But it also helps Business Entrepreneurs to manage teams and to understand Corporate aspects of their clients.
2. Sun Tzu: The Art of War for Managers; 50 Strategic Rules by Sun Tzu & A Michaelson
50 strategic rules, including: How to look for strategic turns to meet the competition; How to attain strategic superiority and crush the competition; How to plan surprise and stay ahead of the game… And more timeless wisdom that will allow us to compete and win in the dynamic business environment
3. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
This one will help you to completely modify the way you interact with your Customers, Suppliers and Employees. Following Dale Carnegie’s principles will have a direct impact on your Business. It’s the best book to reveal how much we speak too much during business meeting and how stupid we are when we’re trying to win arguments.
I own a collectible 1939 version of it and I keep listening to while driving long distances.
4. Secrets of Closing the Sale by Zig Ziglar
We are all Salesmen, from the Receptionist to the Accountant. The way we interact with Customers and Prospects at any moment of our daily work has a direct impact on how we thrive as a growing organization.
Zig Ziglar’s benevolence is contagious and, despite the age of this great resource, is still more than useful in 2022. I also recommend to hear his best conferences, all audio versions read by Zig are a soothing moment to spend.
5. Business Mensch by Noah Alper
How being true to oneself is a virtue in business and why being a Mensch is the key to entrepreneurial success. Drawing on the timeless wisdom of Jewish ethical teachings, citing from his multi-faceted business background and candid life experiences, Business Mensch is the ultimate corrective to the culture of corporate and personal greed that has nearly ruined our economical system.
Business Mensch is a source of inspiration for any entrepreneur wanting to keep ethics in focus.
6. The Goal by Eliyah Goldratt
This fictional approach to one of the main Supply Chain principles is key to anyone having to deal with a product organization. What we learn by reading the Goal is how to improve the productivity of a newly acquired Business.
7. The Prince by Machiaelli
The Prince, along with Sun Tzu’s Art of War, can’t be avoided for any Strategy-level executive. A massive amount of useful principles helps a manager to negotiate and deal with interpersonal issues.
8. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
For Business Finance as per Personal Finance, understanding the quadrant (basically Asset, Liability, Profit and Loss) and how each spending has to fuel an asset that will generate profit.
The book explodes the myth that you need to earn a high income to be rich and explains the difference between working for money and having your money to work for you.
9. Get out of your own way
Before you read all those books, first thing first; you have to get out of your own way.
In this book Larry, and its great Audible version, Larry demonstrates how much you’re harming yourself by getting in your own way.
10. Scaling Up
The most difficult thing in a Company is to scale it. Verne Harnish gives accessible tools to grow your organization.
11. Extreme Ownership
Extreme Ownership provides huge value for leaders at all levels. An inspiring and page-turning read, the leadership lessons are easy to digest and implement.
It provides a powerful SEAL framework for action to lead teams in high-stakes environments. This book made me a better leader and enabled my entire team step up our game!
12. How to Win at the Sport of Business
One of the world’s wealthiest entrepreneurs, Mark Cuban has collected and updated the greatest material from his popular blog, “blog maverick,” to provide a handbook of insider knowledge on what it takes to become a thriving entrepreneur.
13. Building an Elite Organisation
This book rounds out the entire process of building an elite organization by offering insights, actionable steps, and daily planning to ensure you hit all of your Wildly Important Goals (WIGs).
14. Traction
This book brings proven business best practices from the top thought leaders in business into one hands-on manual that you can apply today.
15. HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business
I highly recommend this book. It’s packed full of useful insights and suggestions covering all aspects of the journey, from evaluating your own strengths and raising investment all the way through to completing the purchase of a Small Business.
16. Twelve and a Half
Finally the most entertaining Book in the list. I also recommend the Audible version narrated by Gary Vaynerchuk himself.
This book helps you to stop underestimating the impact on being serious about getting the words to the Market. With this book, you will be able to leverage the Emotional Ingredients necessary for Business Success.
