100 Best Small Business Books of All Time

Author

Dave Ramsey recommended this book on his website. [source]

Timothy Ferriss

Author & Entrepreneur

After reading The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber and The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch, I decided that extreme questions were the forcing function I needed. [source]

Brian Scudamore

Founder & CEO/1-800-GOT-JUNK?

The book that’s had the biggest impact on me is The E-Myth by Michael Gerber (I even wrote about it in my own book). I read it front to back, then reread it right away. Gerber takes you through every step of a running a business from start to finish, and shows you what you need to make it successful. I read it when I was looking to take 1-800-GOT-JUNK? to the next level, and I had an epiphany: people don’t fail, systems do. Reading his book got me to take a good, hard look at my business and focus on developing our systems and hiring happy people. His book is one of the reasons we were able to sell out of 1-800-GOT-JUNK? franchises and scale that success into three other home-service companies, WOW 1 DAY PAINTING, You Move Me, and Shack Shine under the O2E Brands banner. [source]

2

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

Stephen R. Covey

5.0

When Stephen Covey first released The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, the book became an instant rage because people suddenly got up and took notice that their lives were headed off in the wrong direction; and more than that, they realized that there were so many simple things they could do in order to navigate their life correctly. This book was wonderful education for people, education

Recommended by Dave Ramsey, Dustin Moskovitz, John C. Maxwell, and 18 others.

Author

Dave Ramsey recommended this book on his website. [source]

Dustin Moskovitz

Co-founder/Facebook and Asana

I was surprised at how familiar the topics felt. [source]

Joe Martin

@benmorris @audible_com @Gladwell I enjoy the quiet on the way home, but on the way to work I am listening to the 7 habits book by Stephen Coveru, a fave of mine [source]

3

The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses

Eric Ries

4.9

Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched.

Eric Ries defines a startup as an organization dedicated to creating something new under conditions of extreme uncertainty. This is just as true for one person in a garage or a group of seasoned profes

Recommended by Sheryl Sandberg, Andrew Chen, Ben Horowitz, and 75 others.

Sheryl Sandberg

COO/Facebook

Provides a great inside look at how the tech industry approaches building products and businesses. [source]

Ben Horowitz

Co-founder/Andreessen Horowitz

Great. [source]

Dustin Moskovitz

Co-founder/Facebook and Asana

At Asana, we've been lucky to benefit from the author's advice firsthand; this book will enable him to help many more entrepreneurs answer the tough questions about their business. [source]

4

How to Win Friends & Influence People

Dale Carnegie

4.8

You can go after the job you want—and get it!
You can take the job you have—and improve it!
You can take any situation—and make it work for you!

Dale Carnegie’s rock-solid, time-tested advice has carried countless people up the ladder of success in their business and personal lives. One of the most groundbreaking and timeless bestsellers of all time, How to Win Friends & Influence People will teach

Recommended by Dave Ramsey, Daymond John, Dustin Moskovitz, and 58 others.

Author

Dave Ramsey recommended this book on his website. [source]

Daymond John

Founder/FUBU

I love all the Dale Carnegie books. [source]

Dustin Moskovitz

Co-founder/Facebook and Asana

Seek to be understood. [source]

5

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

Jim Collins

4.8

To find the keys to greatness, Collins's 21-person research team read and coded 6,000 articles, generated more than 2,000 pages of interview transcripts and created 384 megabytes of computer data in a five-year project. The findings will surprise many readers and, quite frankly, upset others.

The Challenge
Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies trium

Recommended by Jeff Bezos, Dave Ramsey, Drew Huston, and 34 others.

Jeff Bezos

Founder/Amazon

"Collins briefed Amazon executives on his seminal management book before its publication. Companies must confront the brutal facts of their business, find out what they are uniquely good at, and master their fly wheel, in which each part of the business reinforces and accelerates the other parts," Stone writes. [source]

Author

Dave Ramsey recommended this book on his website. [source]

Max Levchin

Co-founder/PayPal, CEO/Affirm, Investor

Max Levchin recommended this book as an answer to "What business books would you advise young entrepreneurs read?" [source]

6

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

Robert B. Cialdini

4.8

Influence, the classic book on persuasion, explains the psychology of why people say "yes"—and how to apply these understandings. Dr. Robert Cialdini is the seminal expert in the rapidly expanding field of influence and persuasion. His thirty-five years of rigorous, evidence-based research along with a three-year program of study on what moves people to change behavior has resulted in this highly

Recommended by Charles T. Munger, Dan Ariely, Jim Collins, and 40 others.

Charles T. Munger

Vice Chairman/Berkshire Hathaway

Robert Cialdini has had a greater impact on my thinking on this topic than any other scientist. [source]

Dan Ariely

Author

It covers a range of ways in which we end up doing things, and how we don’t understand why we’re doing them. [source]

Max Levchin

Co-founder/PayPal, CEO/Affirm, Investor

Max Levchin recommended this book as an answer to "What business books would you advise young entrepreneurs read?" [source]

7

The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers

Ben Horowitz

4.8

A lot of people talk about how great it is to start a business, but only Ben Horowitz is brutally honest about how hard it is to run one.

In The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz and one of Silicon Valley's most respected and experienced entrepreneurs, draws on his own story of founding, running, selling, buying, managing, and investing in technology compa

Recommended by Larry Page, Mark Zuckerberg, Andrew Chen, and 82 others.

Larry Page

Co-Founder/Google

Ben's book is a great read - with uncomfortable truths about entrepreneurship and how to lead to a company. It's also an inspiring story of a business rebirth through sheer willpower. [source]

Mark Zuckerberg

Founder/Facebook

Ben's experience and expertise make him one of the most important leaders not just in Silicon Valley but also in the global knowledge economy. For anyone interested in building, growing or leading a great company, this book is an incredibly valuable resource - and a funny and insightful read. [source]

Drew Houston

CEO/Dropbox

One of the great things that the author wrote in this book is the hardest part of being a CEO is managing your psychology. [source]

8

Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

Peter Thiel

4.7

If you want to build a better future, you must believe in secrets.

The great secret of our time is that there are still uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create. In Zero to One, legendary entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel shows how we can find singular ways to create those new things.

Thiel begins with the contrarian premise that we live in an age of technological stagnation,

Recommended by Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Reid Hoffman, and 77 others.

Elon Musk

Founder/SpaceX

Peter Thiel has built multiple breakthrough companies, and Zero to One shows how.” - Elon Mus [source]

Mark Zuckerberg

Founder/Facebook

This book delivers completely new and refreshing ideas on how to create value in the world. [source]

Ben Horowitz

Co-founder/Andreessen Horowitz

Zero To One is a great book. I learned a lot reading it. [source]

9

Think and Grow Rich

Napoleon Hill

4.7

One of the most popular personal development and self-improvement books of all time, Think and Grow Rich has sold over 100 million copies worldwide since its first publication during the Great Depression. In this hardcover edition, Napoleon Hill presents a "Philosophy of Achievement" in 13 principles drawn from the success stories of such greats as Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and o

Recommended by Tony Robbins, Daymond John, John C. Maxwell, and 23 others.

Daymond John

Founder/FUBU

The main takeaway from this book was goal-setting. It was the fact that if you don't set a specific goal, then how can you expect to hit it? [source]

Adam Haritan

For anyone interested in my career path, I’d recommend books in various genres. On a real practical level, I’d certainly recommend reading any and all plant/mushroom/tree/ecology/nature books you can acquire. It’s even more helpful to read the books that pertain specifically to your ecosystem and bioregion. Additionally, I’d also recommend reading a plethora of business and marketing books — both old and new alike. Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini, and anything by Seth Godin would be my top recommendations. And of course, every book I mentioned in the previous answers are strongly recommended as well. [source]

Alan Pierce

This book dramatically changed the way I structured my day to day life. Based on over two decades of personal interviews and studies of some of history's’ greatest minds, the author distills the lessons he learned and details how you can train and condition your mind through daily habit to master your actions. The way it promotes a disciplined and holistic approach of continual self-improvement, goal setting and strategic decision making really resonated with me. [source]

10

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of NIKE

Phil Knight

4.7

In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company’s early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world’s most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands.

In 1962, fresh out of business school, Phil Knight borrowed $50 from his father and created a company with a simple mission: import high-q

Recommended by Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Andre Agassi, and 39 others.

CEO/Microsoft

This memoir, by the co-founder of Nike, is a refreshingly honest reminder of what the path to business success really looks like: messy, precarious, and riddled with mistakes. I’ve met Knight a few times over the years. He’s super nice, but he’s also quiet and difficult to get to know. Here Knight opens up in a way few CEOs are willing to do. I don’t think Knight sets out to teach the reader anything. Instead, he accomplishes something better. He tells his story as honestly as he can. It’s an amazing tale. [source]

Warren Buffett

CEO/Berkshire Hathaway

The best book I read last year. Phil is... a gifted storyteller. [source]

Andre Agassi

Founder/ College Preparatory Academy

I've known Phil Knight since I was a kid, but I didn't really know him until I opened this beautiful, startling, intimate book. And the same goes for Nike. I've worn the gear with pride, but I didn't realize the remarkable saga of innovation and survival and triumph that stood behind every swoosh. Candid, funny, suspenseful, literary - this is a memoir for people who love sport, but above all it's a memoir for people who love memoirs. [source]

11

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

Timothy Ferriss

4.7

More than 100 pages of new, cutting-edge content.
Forget the old concept of retirement and the rest of the deferred-life plan there is no need to wait and every reason not to, especially in unpredictable economic times. Whether your dream is escaping the rat race, experiencing high-end world travel, earning a monthly five-figure income with zero management, or just living more and working less, Th

Recommended by Eric Weinstein, Simon Sinek, Tim Draper, and 51 others.

Eric Weinstein

Managing Director/Thiel Capital

Eric Weinstein recommended this book on Twitter. [source]

Tim Draper

Founder/Draper Fisher Jurvetson

With this kind of time management and focus on the important things in life, people should be able to get 15 times as much done in a normal work week. [source]

Jack Canfield

Co-author/The Success Principles

It's about time this book was written. It is a long-overdue manifesto for the mobile lifestyle, and Tim Ferriss is the ideal ambassador. This will be huge. [source]

12

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

Malcolm Gladwell

4.6

An alternate cover edition exists here.

The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed bestseller,

Recommended by Ev Williams, Kevin Rose, Simon Sinek, and 21 others.

Kevin Rose

Co-founder/Digg

Bunch of really good information in here on how to make ideas go viral. This could be good to apply to any kind of products or ideas you may have. Definitely, check out The Tipping Point, which is one of my favorites. [source]

Seth Godin

Author, Marketer, Entrepreneur

Malcolm Gladwell's breakthrough insight was to focus on the micro-relationships between individuals, which helped organizations realize that it's not about the big ads and the huge charity balls... it's about setting the stage for the buzz to start. [source]

Andy Stern

I think that when we talk about making change, it is much more about macro change, like in policy. This book reminds you that at times when you're building big movements, or trying to elect significant decision-makers in politics, sometimes it's the little things that make a difference. Ever since the book was written, we've become very used to the idea of things going viral unexpectedly and then having massive impact. The Tipping Point, to me, is really an appreciation that very small things can rearrange thinking in ways – like infectious diseases – that have huge implications. While we're always searching for the big policy changes – and we think we have to do that in very traditional ways of building coalitions against constituencies, movements and the media – sometimes it's the little things that actually tip the situation. Like the story of a person and their unique set of circumstances that really captures an issue about health care or housing. So it's trying to remember, while you're thinking about the grand and the glorious, that thinking about the small things can equally bring about change. [source]

13

Principles: Life and Work

Ray Dalio

4.6

Ray Dalio, one of the world’s most successful investors and entrepreneurs, shares the unconventional principles that he’s developed, refined, and used over the past forty years to create unique results in both life and business—and which any person or organization can adopt to help achieve their goals.

In 1975, Ray Dalio founded an investment firm, Bridgewater Associates, out of his two-bedroom apa

Recommended by Bill Gates, Mark Cuban, Tony Robbins, and 31 others.

CEO/Microsoft

Ray Dalio has provided me with invaluable guidance and insights that are now available to you in Principles. [source]

Mark Cuban

Entrepreneur / Shark Tank

The book I wish I had as a young entrepreneur. [source]

Tony Robbins

Life Coach

I found it to be truly extraordinary. Every page is full of so many principles of distinction and insights—and I love how Ray incorporates his history and his life in such an elegant way. [source]

14

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future

Ashlee Vance

4.6

Elon Musk, the entrepreneur and innovator behind SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity, sold one of his internet companies, PayPal, for $1.5 billion. Ashlee Vance captures the full spectacle and arc of the genius's life and work, from his tumultuous upbringing in South Africa and flight to the United States to his dramatic technical innovations and entrepreneurial pursuits. Vance uses Musk's story to explo

Recommended by Richard Branson, Casey Neistat, Andrea Loubier, and 40 others.

Richard Branson

Founder/Virgin Group

Elon Musk is a man after my own heart: a risk taker undaunted by setbacks and ever driven to ensure a bright future for humanity. Ashlee Vance's stellar biography captures Musk's remarkable life story and irrepressible spirit. [source]

Casey Neistat

Founder/368 Creative Space

I'm fascinated by Elon Musk, I own a Tesla, I read Ashlee Vance's biography on Elon Musk. I think he's a very interesting charachter. [source]

Andrea Loubier

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future as this was still in the first couple of years of me starting my own company, Mailbird and it was inspiring and visionary. It helps you go from a small voice in a big corporate company, to thinking big and voicing your wild opinions and creating plan to work towards it. [source]

Cover unavailable

15

Rework

Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson

4.6

Most business books give you the same old advice: Write a business plan, study the competition, seek investors, yadda yadda. If you're looking for a book like that, put this one back on the shelf.

Rework shows you a better, faster, easier way to succeed in business. Read it and you'll know why plans are actually harmful, why you don't need outside investors, and why you're better off ignoring the c

Recommended by Jeff Bezos, Mark Cuban, Tony Hsieh, and 30 others.

Jeff Bezos

Founder/Amazon

Unperturbed by conventional wisdom, the authors start fresh and rewrite the rules of business. Their approach turns out to be as successful as it is counter-intuitive. [source]

Mark Cuban

Entrepreneur / Shark Tank

If given a choice between investing in someone who has read Rework or has an MBA, I'm investing in Rework every time. This is a must read for every entrepreneur. [source]

Tony Hsieh

CEO/Zappos.com

The wisdom in these pages is edgy yet simple, straightforward, and proven. Read this book multiple times to help give you the courage you need to get out there and make something great. [source]

16

High Output Management

Andrew S. Grove

4.6

The essential skill of creating and maintaining new businesses—the art of the entrepreneur—can be summed up in a single word: managing. In High Output Management, Andrew S. Grove, former chairman and CEO (and employee number three) of Intel, shares his perspective on how to build and run a company. Born of Grove’s experiences at one of America’s leading technology companies, this legendary managem

Recommended by Mark Zuckerberg, Andrew Chen, Ben Horowitz, and 18 others.

Mark Zuckerberg

Founder/Facebook

Andy’s book played a big role in shaping my management style. [source]

Ben Horowitz

Co-founder/Andreessen Horowitz

Andy Grove, who built himself from nothing to run Intel, stopped what he was doing to teach us his magic. And not through some ghostwriter either — Andy wrote this book himself. What an incredible gift. [source]

Brian Chesky

Co-Founder & CEO/AirBnb

For Chesky, a source may come in the form of a biography of a business hero such as Steve Jobs or Walt Disney. His primary book source on management technique is Andy Grove’s High Output Management. [source]

17

Tools of Titans

Timothy Ferriss

4.5

The latest groundbreaking book from Tim Ferriss, the #1 New York Times best-selling author of The 4-Hour Workweek.

From the author:

“For the last two years, I’ve interviewed nearly two hundred world-class performers for my podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show. The guests range from super celebs (Jamie Foxx, Arnold Schwarzenegger, etc.) and athletes (icons of powerlifting, gymnastics, surfing, etc.) to l

Recommended by Tony Robbins, Daniel Pink, James Altucher, and 26 others.

Tony Robbins

Life Coach

Tim is a brilliant thinker. The way he approaches mastery is inspiring in many ways. His latest book is no exception. What I loved about Tools of Titans is that it distills key tactics, routines and habits of the ultra-successful in actionable ways that anyone can take advantage of. Highly recommended. Every chapter is a valuable lesson. [source]

James Altucher

Founder/StockPickr

It only came out recently. I had so many questions about it that I flew to California and interviewed him about it for my podcast.It’s the collection of all the knowledge and wisdom he gained from the 100s of people he interviewed.I leave it out on my floor and read a page or two whenever I pass it.It’s already filled with 100s of my notes (see below). It’s maybe the one physical book I keep around. The rest, including my own books, I keep on my Kindle. [source]

Kamal Ravikant

Entrepreneur & Author

I’m reading Tools of Titans which is just amazing. [source]

18

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

John Carreyrou

4.5

The full inside story of the breathtaking rise and shocking collapse of a multibillion-dollar startup, by the prize-winning journalist who first broke the story and pursued it to the end in the face of pressure and threats from the CEO and her lawyers.

In 2014, Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes was widely seen as the female Steve Jobs: a brilliant Stanford dropout whose startup "unicorn" pr

Recommended by Bill Gates, Andrew Chen, Brad Feld, and 12 others.

CEO/Microsoft

A bunch of my friends recommended this one to me. Carreyrou gives you the definitive insider’s look at the rise and fall of Theranos. The story is even crazier than I expected, and I found myself unable to put it down once I started. This book has everything: elaborate scams, corporate intrigue, magazine cover stories, ruined family relationships, and the demise of a company once valued at nearly $10 billion. [source]

Andrew Chen

General Partner/Andreessen Horowitz

Finished “bad blood” on the Theranos scandal. Wow. Just wow. It’s a must read for everyone in tech and startups. Just 1-click buy it :) Amazing how far charisma and social proof got them. Here’s the NYT review of the book https://t.co/PyMGxfoG2R [source]

Brad Feld

Co-Founder/Foundry Group

Every entrepreneur and VC should read this book. John Carreyrou has done something important here. Maybe this book will finally put a nail in the phrase “fake it till you make it”, but I doubt it. The amount of lying, disingenuousness, blatant and unjustified self-promotion, and downright deceit that exists in entrepreneurship right now is at a local maximum. This always happens when entrepreneurship gets trendy. Carreyrou just wrote a long warning for entrepreneurs and VCs. [source]

19

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

James Clear

4.5

No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving--every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.

If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is

Recommended by Cal Newport, Mark Manson, Noah Kagan, and 9 others.

Cal Newport

Author

I recently read an advance copy of James Clear’s new book, Atomic Habits. His thesis is that small but carefully selected habits can, over time, create massively positive results — not just in terms of what you accomplish, but also in terms of the type of person you become. James’s exposition rings true with what’ve I learned hanging around interesting people and high achievers. I recommend you give this book a closer look. [source]

Mark Manson

Founder/MarkManson.net

A lot of people email me asking about habits - how to form good ones, how to break bad ones, how to stop doing the dumb shit we always do. I've got a friend named James Clear. He's an accomplished author and business owner and is kind of a "habit guru." He's probably forgotten more habits research than I've ever brought myself to look at. He just launched his first book. It's called Atomic Habits and it's probably the most practical and complete guide I've ever seen about habit formation and habit change. Do check it out. And then email him and tell him that I have luscious and beautiful hair and he doesn't. Then stick out your tongue and go, "Nyah, nyanya, nyah, nyah." [source]

Noah Kagan

Founder/Sumo

James launched his book today, Atomic Habits. I’ve read it and recommend it. [source]

20

The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results

Gary Keller and Jay Papasa

4.5

The One Thing explains the success habit to overcome the six lies that block our success, beat the seven thieves that steal time, and leverage the laws of purpose, priority, and productivity.

Recommended by Aaron Agius, Charles Poliquin, David Cancel, and 13 others.

Charles Poliquin

Charles Poliquin recommended this book in the book "Tools of Titans". [source]

Erik Rostad

For career books, I'll focus on more overarching themes. You can get books on particular skills you need for a given job, but these books will help having the right mindset for a career and how work should fit into the greater story of your life. For focus: The One Thing by Gary Keller. [source]

Gennady Batrakov

Reading improved my self-discipline and consistency. It helped me to focus on the right things. This book, in particular, opened my eyes to how extraordinary results can be achieved – The ONE Thing by Gary Keller. [source]

21

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

Daniel H. Pink

4.5

The New York Times bestseller that gives readers a paradigm-shattering new way to think about motivation

Most people believe that the best way to motivate is with rewards like money—the carrot-and-stick approach. That's a mistake, says Daniel H. Pink (author of To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Motivating Others). In this provocative and persuasive new book, he asserts that the secret t

Recommended by Tobi Lütke, Bogdan Lucaciu, David Brudo, and 5 others.

Tobi Lütke

Founder & CEO/Shopify

Tobi Lütke recommended this book in an interview in "The Globe and Mail." [source]

Bogdan Lucaciu

Spoiler: it’s autonomy, mastery, and purpose. [source]

David Brudo

One of the books that had an impact on . [source]

22

Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

Simon Sinek

4.5

Why do you do what you do?

Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their success over and over?

People like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers might have little in common, but they a

Recommended by Richard Branson, Tony Robbins, Tony Hsieh, and 24 others.

Richard Branson

Founder/Virgin Group

Today is World Book Day, a wonderful opportunity to address this #ChallengeRichard sent in by Mike Gonzalez of New Jersey: Make a list of your top 65 books to read in a lifetime. [source]

Tony Robbins

Life Coach

The basis of this book is so important to anyone looking to increase their influence, profits or impact. People won't truly buy into a product, service, movement, or idea until they understand the WHY behind it. When you start with the why, everything else falls into place. This book is so impactful, I consider it required reading. [source]

Tony Hsieh

CEO/Zappos.com

Over the years he’s recommended well over 20 business books — including his own, the 2010 bestseller Delivering Happiness and you can always find what he’s currently reading atop his cluttered desk. Start with Why is amogst those titles. [source]

23

The Art of War

Sun Tzu

4.5

For more than two thousand years, The Art of War has stood as a cornerstone of Chinese culture-a lucid epigrammatic text that reveals as much about human psychology, politics, and economics as it does about battlefield strategy. The influence of Sun-tzu's text has grown tremendously in the West in recent years, with military leaders, politicians, and corporate executives alike finding valuable ins

Recommended by Reid Hoffman, Evan Spiegel, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and 14 others.

Reid Hoffman

CEO/LinkedIn

Reid read Carl von Clausewitz and Sun Tzu as a boy, which informed his strategic thinking. [source]

Evan Spiegel

After meeting Mark Zuckerberg, Evan Spiegel immediately bought every Snapchat employee a copy of 'The Art Of War'. [source]

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Astrophysicist, Author & Science Communicator

Which books should be read by every single intelligent person on planet? … The Art of War (Sun Tsu) to learn that the act of killing fellow humans can be raised to an art. If you read all of the above works you will glean profound insight into most of what has driven the history of the western world. [source]

24

The Richest Man in Babylon

George S Clason

4.5

This hardcover edition is cleanly formatted for easy reading. 12 point Garamond, 1.25 spacing. The Richest Man in Babylon is a timeless classic, revealing the secrets to making money and keeping it. This inspirational book is hailed as the greatest of books on finances. It unveils the secrets to wealth, providing priceless suggestions, advice, unforgettable parables, financial problem-solving tool

Recommended by Daymond John, Aisha Yesufu, DJ Vlad, and 6 others.

Daymond John

Founder/FUBU

Daymond John said this is one of his most-recommended books. [source]

Aisha Yesufu

@seundavidpaul 👏👏👏👏👏 This is a great book [source]

David Heinemeier Hansson

This is a 1920s classic version of How To Get Rich. The ancestor of all the pale imitations, like Rich Dad/Poor Dad, that came since. And while I scoffed at plenty of the allegories from ancient Babylon that presents the lessons, it was still a neat package. And at least ancient Babylon is a more interesting backdrop for teaching lessons about money than some suburban house flipper. I ended up liking it more at the end than I did at the beginning. It’s also a really interesting tie-in with that debt history book. [source]

25

Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine

Mike Michalowicz

4.5

Author of cult classics The Pumpkin Plan and The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur offers a simple, counterintuitive cash management solution that will help small businesses break out of the doom spiral and achieve instant profitability.

Conventional accounting uses the logical (albeit, flawed) formula: Sales - Expenses = Profit. The problem is, businesses are run by humans, and humans aren't always logica

Recommended by Bill Widmer and Jacqui Pretty.

Bill Widmer

I also recommend Profit First by Mike Michalowicz to learn how to put profit first in your business. [source]

Jacqui Pretty

The most recent business book I found that had a transformative impact on my business is Profit First by Mike Michalowicz, which completely changed the way we manage our finances at Grammar Factory. [source]

26

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth

T. Harv Eker

4.5

In his groundbreaking Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, T. Harv Eker states: "Give me five minutes, and I can predict your financial future for the rest of your life!" Eker does this by identifying your "money and success blueprint." This blueprint determines your financial life. If your money blueprint is not set for a high level of success, you will never have a lot of money, and if somehow you d

Recommended by Jochen Siepmann and Lewis Smith.

Jochen Siepmann

Question: What books had the biggest impact on you? Perhaps changed the way you see things or dramatically changed your career path. Answer: Rich Dad, Poor Dad (Robert Kiyosaki) Money, Master The Game (Anthony Robbins) Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind (T Harv Eker) [source]

Lewis Smith

"Secrets of the Millionaire Mind" by T Harv Eker has also had a radical impact on me in recent years and on my attitude towards money. I find it almost embarrassing to recommend because the ideas are very radical and "woo woo", but if you stick with it, it can change your perspective totally. [source]

27

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

Susan Cain

4.5

The book that started the Quiet Revolution

At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over working in teams. It is to introverts—Rosa Parks, Chopin, Dr. Seuss, Steve Wozniak—that we owe many of the great contributions to society.

In Quiet, Susan Cain a

Recommended by Simon Sinek, Danielle Morrill, Emma Watson, and 10 others.

Simon Sinek

Author

Leaders needn’t be the loudest. Leadership is not about theater. It’s not about dominance. It is about putting the lives of others before any other priority. In Quiet, Cain affirms to a good many of us who are introverts by nature that we needn’t try to be extroverts if we want to lead. Simply being ourselves is more important — and more effective. [source]

Danielle Morrill

Co-founder/Mattermark

Anyway, maybe you’re like me and figuring this out for yourself. It’s a good book for introverts and for those who love them [source]

James Altucher

Founder/StockPickr

Probably half the world is introverts. Maybe more. It’s not an easy life to live. I sometimes have that feeling in a room full of people, “uh-oh. I just shut down. I can’t talk anymore and there’s a lock on my mouth and this crowd threw away the key.” Do you ever get that feeling? Please? I hope you do. Let’s try to lock eyes at the party. “Quiet” shows the reader how to unlock the secret powers that probably half the world needs to unlock. [source]

28

Crush It!: Why Now Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion

Gary Vaynerchuk

4.5

Do you have a hobby you wish you could indulge in all day? An obsession that keeps you up at night? Now is the perfect time to take that passion and make a living doing what you love. In Crush It! Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion, Gary Vaynerchuk shows you how to use the power of the Internet to turn your real interests into real businesses. Gary spent years building his family busin

Recommended by Eric Schmidt, Tony Hsieh, Ryan Hoover, and 8 others.

Tony Hsieh

CEO/Zappos.com

Gary Vaynerchuk is one of those entrepreneurs who has discovered the secret to combining passion with business. He is always an inspiration and always entertaining. You owe it to yourself to read this book! [source]

Ryan Hoover

I love how he cuts to the point - no BS. [source]

Adam Haritan

For anyone interested in my career path, I’d recommend books in various genres. On a real practical level, I’d certainly recommend reading any and all plant/mushroom/tree/ecology/nature books you can acquire. It’s even more helpful to read the books that pertain specifically to your ecosystem and bioregion. Additionally, I’d also recommend reading a plethora of business and marketing books — both old and new alike. Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini, and anything by Seth Godin would be my top recommendations. And of course, every book I mentioned in the previous answers are strongly recommended as well. [source]

29

Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies

Jim Collins, Jerry I. Porras

4.5

"This is not a book about charismatic visionary leaders. It is not about visionary product concepts or visionary products or visionary market insights. Nor is it about just having a corporate vision. This is a book about something far more important, enduring, and substantial. This is a book about visionary companies." So write Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in this groundbreaking book that shatters

Recommended by Jeff Bezos, Drew Huston, Ev Williams, and 13 others.

Jeff Bezos

Founder/Amazon

recommends this book because it shows how to create a long lasting company. [source]

Tim O'Reilly

Founder/O'Reilly Media

Built to Last, by James Collins and Jerry Porras. The idea here is that great companies aren't afraid to have strong values. In fact, their cult-like values are what make them stand out from the norm. [source]

Alden Mills

Built to Last focused my daydreaming mind into what it takes to build truly great companies. [source]

30

Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

Donald Miller

4.4

New York Times bestselling author Donald Miller uses the seven universal elements of powerful stories to teach readers how to dramatically improve how they connect with customers and grow their businesses.

Donald Miller’s StoryBrand process is a proven solution to the struggle business leaders face when talking about their businesses. This revolutionary method for connecting with customers provides

Recommended by Dave Ramsey, Nick Loper, Sa El, and 1 others.

Author

Dave Ramsey recommended this book on his website. [source]

Nick Loper

I just finished Building a StoryBrand, and need to fill in the worksheets and re-think my homepage as a result. That's the mark of a good business book — homework! [source]

Sa El

This book is all about telling the story of your business to your customers to that they know exactly what you offer and how to make them the hero in the journey. If you want to build a smart site, with a strong call to action, this book is essential. [source]

31

The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

Chris Guillebeau

4.4

In The $100 Startup, Chris Guillebeau shows you how to lead of life of adventure, meaning and purpose – and earn a good living.

Still in his early thirties, Chris is on the verge of completing a tour of every country on earth – he’s already visited more than 175 nations – and yet he’s never held a “real job” or earned a regular paycheck. Rather, he has a special genius for turning ideas into incom

Recommended by Eric Schmidt, Tony Hsieh, Seth Godin, and 5 others.

Tony Hsieh

CEO/Zappos.com

In this valuable guide Chris Guillebeau shows that transforming an idea into a successful business can be easier than you think…You are in charge of which ideas deserve your time, and this book can help you wake up every morning eager to progress to the next step. [source]

Chelsea Frank

I read everything with an open mind, often challenging myself by choosing books with an odd perspective or religious/spiritual views. These books do not reflect my personal feelings but are books that helped shape my perspective on life, love, and happiness. [source]

Dean Roller

Question: What books would you recommend to young people interested in your career path? Answer: Four Hour Work Week, The $100 startup and Jobs to be done . I like books that share examples of real world approaches to getting something off the ground. [source]

32

Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose

Tony Hsieh

4.4

You want to learn about the path that we took at Zappos to get to over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales in less than ten years. You want to learn about the path I took that eventually led me to Zappos, and the lessons I learned along the way. You want to learn from all the mistakes we made at Zappos over the years so that your business can avoid making some of the same ones. You want to figur

Recommended by Ev Williams, Chip Conley, Adam Johnston, and 15 others.

Chip Conley

The author is a wise guy. Sincerely. He’s one of the wisest and most thoughtful business leaders of the modern age. [source]

Adam Johnston

Inspiring case study into building brand and customer service. [source]

Chelsea Frank

I read everything with an open mind, often challenging myself by choosing books with an odd perspective or religious/spiritual views. These books do not reflect my personal feelings but are books that helped shape my perspective on life, love, and happiness. [source]

33

Rich Dad's Cashflow Quadrant: Rich Dad's Guide to Financial Freedom

Robert T. Kiyosaki

4.4

Rich Dad’s CASHFLOW Quadrant is a guide to financial freedom. It’s the second book in the Rich Dad Series and reveals how some people work less, earn more, pay less in taxes, and learn to become financially free.

CASHFLOW Quadrant was written for those who are ready to move beyond job security and enter the world of financial freedom. It’s for those who want to make significant changes in their liv

Recommended by Malcolm Tan and Sa El.

Malcolm Tan

The business book series that set me on the path to entrepreneurship is from Richard Kiyosaki - from Rich Dad, Poor Dad to the Cashflow Quadrant, and his other books. My paradigms shifted after reading those books and made me decide that in order to achieve some arbitrary financial goals, what I was doing at that point in time (being a company lawyer) wasn't going to enable me to reach those goals, and therefore that I should go into the B (business) quadrant since I was more interested in that than the I (investor) quadrant. [source]

Sa El

Yes, when I read the Cashflow Quadrant, it helped me understand that I needed to transition from a space of being self-employed into either being a business owner or an investor. I became a business owner and have been creating passive income from it. [source]

34

Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business

Gino Wickman

4.4

Do you have a grip on your business, or does your business have a grip on you?

All entrepreneurs and business leaders face similar frustrations—personnel conflict, profit woes, and inadequate growth. Decisions never seem to get made, or, once made, fail to be properly implemented. But there is a solution. It’s not complicated or theoretical.The Entrepreneurial Operating System® is a practical metho

35

Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs

John Doerr

4.4

Legendary venture capitalist John Doerr reveals how the goal-setting system of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) has helped tech giants from Intel to Google achieve explosive growth--and how it can help any organization thrive.

In the fall of 1999, John Doerr met with the founders of a start-up whom he'd just given $12.5 million, the biggest investment of his career. Larry Page and Sergey Brin h

Recommended by Bill Gates, Reid Hoffman, Walter Isaacson, and 6 others.

CEO/Microsoft

John explains how OKRs Objectives and Key Results work and shows how you can apply them in all sorts of situations. I’d recommend John’s book for anyone interested in becoming a better manager (and I’d say that even if I hadn’t been interviewed for a super-nice chapter about the Gates Foundation). [source]

Reid Hoffman

CEO/LinkedIn

Whether you're a seasoned CEO or a first-time entrepreneur, you'll find valuable lessons, tools, and inspiration in the pages of Measure What Matters. I'm glad John invested the time to share these ideas with the world. [source]

Walter Isaacson

Author

In this indispensable book, the most important venture capitalist of our era reveals a key to business innovation and success. This crisp and colorful book combines fascinating case studies with insightful personal stories to show how OKRs can add magic to organizations of any size. [source]

36

Purple Cow, New Edition: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable--Includes new bonus chapter

Seth Godin

4.4

You're either a Purple Cow or you're not. You're either remarkable or invisible. Make your choice.

What do Starbucks and JetBlue and KrispyKreme and Apple and DutchBoy and Kensington and Zespri and Hard Candy have that you don't? How do they continue to confound critics and achieve spectacular growth, leaving behind former tried-and true brands to gasp their last?

Face it, the checklist of tired '

Recommended by Joe Gebbia, Vinod Khosla, Vinod Khosla, and 21 others.

Joe Gebbia

Co-founder/Airbnb

Make something that’s distinct enough that people want to talk about it. [source]

Marvin Liao

Partner/500 Startups

My list would be (besides the ones I mentioned in answer to the previous question) both business & Fiction/Sci-Fi and ones I personally found helpful to myself. The business books explain just exactly how business, work & investing are in reality & how to think properly & differentiate yourself. On the non-business side, a mix of History & classic fiction to understand people, philosophy to make sense of life and Science fiction to picture what the future could be like (not always utopian). [source]

Noah Kagan

Founder/Sumo

A few months ago, I was drinking a Noah’s Mill whiskey (cute) with my good buddy Brian Balfour and talking about life... During the conversation, we got on the topic of books that changed our lives. I want to share them with you. I judge a book's success if a year later I'm still using at least 1 thing from the book. [source]

37

Dotcom Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Growing Your Company Online

Russell Brunson

4.4

If you are currently struggling with getting traffic to your website, or converting that traffic when it shows up, you may think you ve got a traffic or conversion problem. In Russell Brunson's experience, after working with thousands of businesses, he has found that s rarely the case. Low traffic and weak conversion numbers are just symptoms of a much greater problem, a problem that s a little ha

Recommended by Alvin Lindsay and 1 others.

Alvin Lindsay

CEO of ClickFunnels GIVES away his best 7 funnels! he just paid for your book (where do you want it shipped?) https://t.co/meFLMLNrb0 😃 https://t.co/97R3MPo3yd [source]

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38

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

Charles Duhigg

4.4

A young woman walks into a laboratory. Over the past two years, she has transformed almost every aspect of her life. She has quit smoking, run a marathon, and been promoted at work. The patterns inside her brain, neurologists discover, have fundamentally changed.

Marketers at Procter & Gamble study videos of people making their beds. They are desperately trying to figure out how to sell a new produ

Recommended by Naval Ravikant, Blake Irving, Alden Mills, and 15 others.

Naval Ravikant

CEO & Co-Founder/AngelList

I also recently finished The Power of Habit, or close to finish as I get. That one was interesting, not because of its content necessarily, but because it’s good for me to always keep on top of mind how powerful my habits are. … I think learning how to break habits is a very important meta-skill that can serve you better in life than almost anything else. Although you can read tons of books on it, the reality is you’re never going to learn how to break bad habits until you just break them. [source]

Blake Irving

CEO/GoDaddy

You know, there's a book called The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. Simple read book about just how to build positive habits that can be I think I what I'd call you know whether in your personal life or whether in your business life to help you build you know, have a loop that can build your success and that's one I mean there are so many great books out there. [source]

Alden Mills

More recent books that have had a significant impact on me are The Power of Habit and The Diamond Cutter. Both represent different forces for me – the former helps me tactically with making incremental improvements in my life. [source]

39

Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat: The BRRRR Rental Property Investment Strategy Made Simple

David M Greene

4.4

Over 30,000 units sold of David Greene's first bestseller, Long-Distance Real Estate Investing!

Invest in real estate and never run out of money―using the hottest strategy in the real estate world!

For years, investors have built wealth through real estate the hard way: saving money slowly and sacrificing their current happiness for a future reward. While this method should produce results in the lo

40

The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy

William D. Danko

4.4

-Why aren't I as wealthy as I should be?- Many people ask this question of themselves all the time. Often they are hard-working, well educated middle- to high-income people. Why, then, are so few affluent. For nearly two decades the answer has been found in the bestselling The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy, reissued with a new foreword for the twenty-first cent

Recommended by Dave Collum.

Dave Collum

@cullenroche You ever read "Millionaire Next Door"? You just described parts of it. Great book, IMO. [source]

41

Fanatical Prospecting: The Ultimate Guide to Opening Sales Conversations and Filling the Pipeline by Leveraging Social Selling, Telephone, Email, Text, and Cold Calling

Jeb Blount

4.4

Ditch the failed sales tactics, fill your pipeline, and crush your number

Fanatical Prospecting gives salespeople, sales leaders, entrepreneurs, and executives a practical, eye-opening guide that clearly explains the why and how behind the most important activity in sales and business development--prospecting.

The brutal fact is the number one reason for failure in sales is an empty pipe and the roo

Recommended by Mike Weinberg, The CEO Library Community (through anonymous form), and Trish Bertuzzi.

The CEO Library Community (through anonymous form)

One of the best 3 books I've read in 2019 [source]

Cover unavailable

42

Awaken the Giant Within

Tony Robbins

4.4

Based on his exclusive "Date with Destiny" seminars, the bestselling author of Unlimited Powerional anecdotes, case studies, personalized self-help tests and a program anyone can follow teach readers the lessons in destiny that lead to self-mastery.

Recommended by Brian Koppelman, Derek Sivers, Gennady Batrakov, and 1 others.

Brian Koppelman

This book was the first of Tony Robbins books I read, and it asked me crucial questions about the stories I was telling myself that were limiting my growth. [source]

Derek Sivers

When I was 18, this book changed my life. [source]

Gennady Batrakov

In the business category, my #1 book is Awaken the Giant Within by Anthony Robbins. It has been over 20 years since I read the book for the first time. I reread it a few times since. I even keep extra copies of this book on my bookshelf to give away to my friends. Awaken the Giant Within has helped me in many ways. It aided me to deal with the habits I wanted to stay away from. It was easy to quit smoking after reading that book, even though I had many unsuccessful attempts to quit smoking in the previous 20 years; however, after reading that book - it was just natural. I stopped “cold turkey” and I never looked back since (21 years of non-smoking life… Yay!). I gained some understanding of how to run the brain to achieve results. It helped me to focus on the goals through some rough time and the tragic losses throughout my life. [source]

43

The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon

Brad Stone

4.4

The definitive story of Amazon.com, one of the most successful companies in the world, and of its driven, brilliant founder, Jeff Bezos.

Amazon.com started off delivering books through the mail. But its visionary founder, Jeff Bezos, wasn't content with being a bookseller. He wanted Amazon to become the everything store, offering limitless selection and seductive convenience at disruptively low pri

Recommended by Doug McMillon, Aaron Watson, Alan Pierce, and 10 others.

Doug McMillon

CEO/Walmart

I read and give this book because you need to understand what you’re up against. [source]

Aaron Watson

Amazon is going to rule the world unless governments decide to break them up. It just makes sense to understand the most powerful company on the planet. Also, there is a (small) chance that Amazon sets up HQ2 in my hometown (Pittsburgh). [source]

Alan Pierce

This was an amazing glimpse into one of the most disruptive companies in history as well as the past and future trajectory of e-commerce and retail. It is also a testament to unwavering self-belief. The thing that impressed me the most is that Jeff Bezos intentionally built an entire department dedicated to making his primary business obsolete which allowed him to take the lead in the next development, e-books. His foresight is extraordinary and he is an inspirational big thinker. [source]

44

The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand out From The Crowd

Allan Dib

4.4

WARNING: Do Not Read This Book If You Hate Money

To build a successful business, you need to stop doing random acts of marketing and start following a reliable plan for rapid business growth. Traditionally, creating a marketing plan has been a difficult and time-consuming process, which is why it often doesn't get done.

In The 1-Page Marketing Plan, serial entrepreneur and rebellious marketer Alla

45

Blue Ocean Strategy: How To Create Uncontested Market Space And Make The Competition Irrelevant

W. Chan Kim

4.4

Winning by not competing! This international best seller upends traditional thinking with principles and tools to make the competition irrelevant.
In an audiobook that challenges everything you thought you knew, W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne assert that tomorrow's leading companies will succeed, not by battling their rivals for market share in the bloody "red ocean" of a shrinking profit pool, bu

Recommended by Daymond John, Steve Blank, Danielle Morrill, and 13 others.

Daymond John

Founder/FUBU

There are the normal ones that everybody loves. There would be "Rich Dad Poor Dad," "Who Moved My Cheese?;" I love all the Dale Carnegie books; "The One Minute Manager." I love newer ones like "Blue Ocean Strategy" and all the "Freaknomics" books. [source]

Ryan Holiday

Author

I don’t remember who originally told me to read Blue Ocean Strategy but I’m glad they did because this simple recommendation would substantially shape the course of my life and my career. [source]

Ayush Kumar

One doesn't necessarily need to take from others to fill their glass & you can always build a successful business in any industry. [source]

46

Contagious: Why Things Catch On

Jonah Berger

4.4

New York Times bestseller and named Best Marketing Book of 2014 by the American Marketing Association

What makes things popular? Why do people talk about certain products and ideas more than others? Why are some stories and rumors more infectious? And what makes online content go viral?

If you said advertising, think again. People don't listen to advertisements, they listen to their peers. But why d

Recommended by Vinod Khosla, Vinod Khosla, Andrew Medal, and 10 others.

Andrew Medal

The world is #CONTAGIOUS ☢️☢️☢️ • • My dog and I love this book. I read to him when he wants to learn about marketing techniques. The last time I read this book was in 2013. If you want a read that dissects how and… https://t.co/6v0ckSnSQe [source]

Ee Ling Lim

Contagious by Jonah Berger is another interesting one for those trying to figure out how to market their business. In Contagious, Jonah identifies what makes some things go viral, and narrowed it down to 6 principles STEPPS: Social currency (content that makes people look good when they talk about it), Triggers (top of mind topics), Emotion (content that we care about, especially high arousal ones like anger, awe, excitement and humor), Public, Practical and Stories. [source]

Erik Cheong

Explains why certain products and ideas become popular while others fail. It reveals the secret science behind word-of-mouth and social transmission. Discover how six basic principles drive all sorts of things to become contagious, from consumer products and policy initiatives to workplace rumors and YouTube videos. [source]

47

Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

Austin Kleon

4.3

You don’t need to be a genius, you just need to be yourself. That’s the message from Austin Kleon, a young writer and artist who knows that creativity is everywhere, creativity is for everyone. A manifesto for the digital age, Steal Like an Artist is a guide whose positive message, graphic look and illustrations, exercises, and examples will put readers directly in touch with their artistic side.

Recommended by Ryan Holiday, Seth Godin, Andra Zaharia, and 8 others.

Ryan Holiday

Author

Part of ambition is modeling yourself after those you’d like to be like. Austin’s philosophy of ruthlessly stealing and remixing the greats might sound appalling at first but it is actually the essence of art. You learn by stealing, you become creative by stealing, you push yourself to be better by working with these materials. Austin is a fantastic artist, but most importantly he communicates the essence of writing and creating art better than anyone else I can think of. It is a manifesto for any young, creative person looking to make his mark. Pair up with Show Your Work which is also excellent. [source]

Seth Godin

Author, Marketer, Entrepreneur

Breezy and fun and yes, scary. Scary because it calls your bluff. [source]

Andra Zaharia

While I was thinking of the best books to add to this short list, I realized that not even half of them are directly related to digital marketing. This is because I believe that the best marketers are people who understand human nature deeply and aim to bring out the best in it. Call me naive, but that’s how I see it. If I were to want to pursue a career in marketing, I’d read … Steal Like An Artist. [source]

48

The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime!

MJ DeMarco

4.3

Is the financial plan of mediocrity-a dream-stealing, soul-sucking dogma known as The Slowlane-your plan for creating wealth? You know how it goes-go to school, get a good job, save 10 percent of your paycheck, buy a used car, cancel the movie channels, quit drinking expensive Starbucks mocha lattes, save and penny-pinch your life away, trust your life-savings to the stock market, and one day you

Recommended by Andreas Zhou, Nick Loper, Scott Oldford, and 2 others.

Andreas Zhou

Great read to help get you into the mindset of building a scalable business to create wealth quickly vs following the stereotypical career path. [source]

Nick Loper

Kinda cheesy with all the supercar references but will motivate you and explains what it really takes to shortcut the traditional path. [source]

Scott Oldford

I don't know how many times I read that book when I was broke but, of course, the sidewalk, slow, and fast lane, I borrowed that for the SSF method that I talk about sidewalk, slow, and fast lane for lead generation. He talks about it from a financial perspective, so almost completely, entirely unrelated but that book was very, very life changing for me. So, two of those books, by far, the best books that from a level of changing my life at the right time. [source]

49

The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life: Before 8AM

Hal Elrod

4.3

What if you could miraculously wake up tomorrow and any—or every area of your life was transformed? What would be different? Would you be happier? Healthier? More successful? In better shape? Would you have more energy? Less Stress? More Money? Better relationships? Which of your problems would be solved?

What if I told you that there is a "not-so-obvious" secret that is guaranteed to transform any

50

The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you

Rob Fitzpatrick

4.3

The Mom Test is a quick, practical guide that will save you time, money, and heartbreak.

They say you shouldn't ask your mom whether your business is a good idea, because she loves you and will lie to you. This is technically true, but it misses the point. You shouldn't ask anyone if your business is a good idea. It's a bad question and everyone will lie to you at least a little . As a matter of fa

Recommended by Chandini Jain, Mikhail Dubov, and Roxana Bitoleanu.

Chandini Jain

Very recently, I read The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you. The book talks about how to design user interviews to make sure you're not asking users/customers leading questions and get unbiased feedback. [source]

Mikhail Dubov

One of the five books recommends to young people interested in his career path. [source]

Roxana Bitoleanu

I would definitely start my list with The Mom Test because there is no resource on how to ask questions without being too eager or too revealing. I think this skill should be trained, be it an entrepreneur or not. [source]

51

This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See

Seth Godin

4.3

Real marketing isn't about racking up clicks and tweets; it's about connection, empathy, and making a difference.

Over the past quarter century, Seth Godin has taught and inspired millions of entrepreneurs, marketers, leaders, and fans from all walks of life, via his blog, online courses, lectures, and bestselling books. He is the inventor of countless ideas and phrases that have made their way i

Recommended by Seth Godin, Aaron Watson, and Deke Bridges.

Seth Godin

Author, Marketer, Entrepreneur

Nobody had written the definitive book of the post-advertising age. It needed to be able to explain everything from Airbnb to Trump to the success of Instagram. If there’s going to be a coherent, unified theory of marketing, it will not only explain what we see, but give us the tools to create our own change in the world. [source]

Aaron Watson

This book is my favorite thing he has produced. Unlike most non-fiction books, This Is Marketing does a good job of not going on too long or belaboring the point. Seth deliver succinct actionable insights, some of which I’ve already implemented with the Piper and Going Deep brands. [source]

Deke Bridges

Up late re-reading some of this book again. Seth Godin's book THIS IS MARKETING is so much more than branding, marketing, advertising, and growth. It really makes you think about how to review life. Fantastic book... all his works make your brain click. Got my copy at @Powells. https://t.co/46hSB0Fhv3 [source]

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52

Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur

Derek Sivers

4.3

Finally available in bookstores, the Portfolio edition of Derek Sivers’s iconic and bestselling manifesto on lessons learned while becoming an entrepreneur

Most people don’t know what they’re doing. They imitate others, go with the flow, and follow paths without making their own.

Best known for creating CD Baby, the most popular music site for independent artists, founder Derek Sivers chronicles his

Recommended by Timothy Ferriss, James Altucher, Marvin Liao, and 4 others.

Timothy Ferriss

Author & Entrepreneur

A true manifesto, a guidebook with clear signposts, and a fun ride you'll return to again and again. [source]

Marvin Liao

Partner/500 Startups

My list would be (besides the ones I mentioned in answer to the previous question) both business & Fiction/Sci-Fi and ones I personally found helpful to myself. The business books explain just exactly how business, work & investing are in reality & how to think properly & differentiate yourself. On the non-business side, a mix of History & classic fiction to understand people, philosophy to make sense of life and Science fiction to picture what the future could be like (not always utopian). [source]

Erik Cheong

Easy to read and compact book. Talks about about living life, appreciating enough, and doing what matters. Most importantly, do not be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and take risks! Everyone has great ideas but success only comes through action. [source]

53

Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love

Marty Cagan

4.3

The basic premise of Inspired is that the best tech companies create products in a manner very different from how most companies create products. The goal of the book is to share the techniques of the best companies. This book is aimed primarily at Product Managers working on technology-powered products. That includes the hundreds of "tech companies" like Google, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter and the

Recommended by Ken Norton and Marty Cagan.

54

David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

Malcolm Gladwell

4.3

In his #1 bestselling books The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell has explored the ways we understand and change our world. Now he looks at the complex and surprising ways the weak can defeat the strong, the small can match up against the giant, and how our goals (often culturally determined) can make a huge difference in our ultimate sense of success. Drawing upon examples from

Recommended by Andrew Chen, Cat Williams-Treloar, Catalina Penciu, and 3 others.

Cat Williams-Treloar

The books that I've talked the most about with friends and colleagues over the years are the Malcolm Gladwell series of novels. Glorious stories that mix science, behaviours and insight. You can't go wrong with the "The Tipping Point", "Outliers", "Blink" or "David & Goliath". [source]

Catalina Penciu

Business-wise, my goal for this year is to improve my collection and my mindset, but my favorite so far has been David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell. [source]

Robert Katai

Buy Malcolm Gladwell’s book “David and Goliath” and read the interesting stories about how the Davids of that moments have defeated the Goliaths. [source]

55

Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad

Austin Kleon

4.3

Keep Working. Keep Playing. Keep Creating.

In his previous books Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work!, both New York Times bestsellers, Austin Kleon gave readers the keys to unlock their creativity and showed them how to become known. Now he offers his most inspiring work yet, with ten simple rules for how to stay creative, focused, and true to yourself—for life.

The creative life is not a lin

Recommended by Deborah Harkness and Todd Henry.

Deborah Harkness

For creative friends and family, I highly recommend @austinkleon's KEEP GOING: 10 WAYS TO STAY CREATIVE IN GOOD TIMES AND BAD. Love this book. It is inspirational and practical! https://t.co/hbxTcV3F7Q [source]

Todd Henry

Such a phenomenal guy and it's a great, great book. [source]

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56

Unscripted: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship

MJ DeMarco

4.3

WHAT IF LIFE WASN'T ABOUT DECADES OF WAGE-SLAVERY, PAYING BILLS, AND THEN DYING?

Today's contemporary slavery is an implied social contract whereas a gilded cage is exchanged for voluntary indebtedness and lifelong toil, a price sacrificed by a non-redeemable fifty-years of Monday through Friday, a willful servitude in which freedom is only promised by the dawn of life's fading twilight.-
MJ De

57

Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It

April Dunford

4.3

Recommended by Elissa Shevinsky, Pete Meyers, and Saadia Muzaffar.

Elissa Shevinsky

@datarade @hnshah @NickAppDev @aprildunford April Dunsford’s book on product positioning is excellent. https://t.co/6Az2aaPpwK [source]

Pete Meyers

A lot of great food for thought in @aprildunford's book -- if you're trying to position a new product/service or pivot and re-position for a new market, definitely check it out -- https://t.co/xvwJffduA8 [source]

Saadia Muzaffar

April's amazing book drops mid-May and if you're smart about business and how to find a solid foothold in the market for your ideas/products /services you'll buy it: https://t.co/ByTREUcWdk [source]

58

Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense

Rory Sutherland

4.3

The legendary advertising guru—Ogilvy UK’s vice chairman—and star of three massively popular TED Talks, blends the science of human behavior with his vast experience in the art of persuasion in this incomparable book that decodes successful branding and marketing in the vein of Freakonomics, Thinking Fast and Slow, and The Power of Habit.

When Rory Sutherland was a trainee working on a direct mail

Recommended by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Geoffrey Miller, Graeme Dixon, and 1 others.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Author

4 hours dinner conversation with @rorysutherland and Rohan @Silva in a Pakistani restaurant in London (2 bottles of wine, but no Negroni). You must buy two copies of Rory's book, in case one is stolen, lost, damaged (by the rain), or self-destructs. https://t.co/Xa5WFOGCNt [source]

Geoffrey Miller

Agree. This is a great book by @rorysutherland that will shake up how you think about lots of things. Try it, and you'll realize you're nowhere near as epistemically humble as you should be. https://t.co/8U1iAxji8Z [source]

Graeme Dixon

@rorysutherland your book ”Alchemy: The surprising power of ideas that don't make sense” is superb. Really useful for what we do and why some don't get it. Silly questions are so powerful. Book of the year so far for me. Thank you. https://t.co/BjoGz9C7dt [source]

59

Trump: The Art of the Deal

Donald Trump

4.3

From the Impresario of NBC’s hit show The Apprentice

TRUMP ON TRUMP: “I like thinking big. I always have. To me it’s very simple: if you’re going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big.”

And here’s how he does it: the art of the deal.

Beginning with a week in Trump’s high-stakes life, Trump: The Art of the Deal gives us Trump in action. We see just how he operates day to day—how he runs h

Recommended by Jim Hanson, Marc M. Lalonde, Secret Agent Number Six, and 2 others.

Jim Hanson

You already had Trump officials testifythey disagreed w/ @realDonaldTrump Interesting thing about executive power The executive has the power Not the advisers Here's a good book on it https://t.co/KGlUpucCNI Time for the acquittal https://t.co/xICCPPuvM5 [source]

Marc M. Lalonde

The easiest way to Clean Up my Friends List is to post this... I love this book! | Let's get to know each other a little. I'll start... Here's MY Story: https://t.co/o8gIl1TxR7 #AskLalonde #marcmlalonde #wealthy #inspiration https://t.co/6ULSKHiIj3 [source]

Secret Agent Number Six

The failing George W. Washington and his dad George H.W. Washington were fake Presidents. They did not think of The Constitution before I did.They stole all of my ideas for it from "The Art of the Deal" which you should read right now because its the best book ever. No collution! [source]

60

Buy Back Your Time: Get Unstuck, Reclaim Your Freedom, and Build Your Empire

Dan Martell

4.3

61

Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business

Charles Duhigg

4.3

A new book that explores the science of productivity, and why, in today’s world, managing how you think—rather than what you think—can transform your life.

Recommended by Chelsea Frank, Mike Benkovich, and Pierrette Abeel.

Chelsea Frank

I read everything with an open mind, often challenging myself by choosing books with an odd perspective or religious/spiritual views. These books do not reflect my personal feelings but are books that helped shape my perspective on life, love, and happiness. [source]

Mike Benkovich

Last year I read the book 'Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business' by Charles Duhigg. Look passed the click-baity title and you'll find one of the best books on productivity I've ever read... And I've read a lot of them. [source]

62

Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't (Rockefeller Habits 2.0)

Verne Harnish

4.3

Winner of the 2015 International Book Awards for General Business

Winner of the 2015 National Indie Excellence Award for General Business

Winner of the 2015 Readers' Favorite International Book Award Gold Medal for Non-Fiction Business

Winner of the 2015 Paris Book Festival Award for Business

Winner of the 2015 Amsterdam Book Festival Award for Business

Winner of the 2015 San Francisco Book Festival A

Recommended by Patrick Lencioni, Graham Weston, Alexandra Stroe, and 3 others.

Patrick Lencioni

President/The Table Group

Verne Harnish is more committed to helping companies grow than any other person on the planet. Really. He's also radically practical in his approach and that is reflected throughout this terrific book. [source]

Graham Weston

CEO/Rackspace

Fast-growing companies - not small ones or big ones - create almost all the jobs and innovation in our economy, and Verne has been an invaluable guide to leaders of such companies, like me. Scaling Up helps us put in place the disciplines critical to building a significant business. [source]

Alexandra Stroe

I'd recommend Scaling Up by Verne Harnish, The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz and Measure what Matters by John Doerr for scaling and managing the business. [source]

63

Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers

Seth Godin

4.3

The man Business Week calls "the ultimate entrepreneur for the Information Age" explains "Permission Marketing"—the groundbreaking concept that enables marketers to shape their message so that consumers will willingly accept it.

Whether it is the TV commercial that breaks into our favorite program, or the telemarketing phone call that disrupts a family dinner, traditional advertising is based on th

Recommended by Steve Blank, Noah Kagan, Foti Panagio, and 1 others.

Noah Kagan

Founder/Sumo

A few months ago, I was drinking a Noah’s Mill whiskey (cute) with my good buddy Brian Balfour and talking about life... During the conversation, we got on the topic of books that changed our lives. I want to share them with you. I judge a book's success if a year later I'm still using at least 1 thing from the book. [source]

Foti Panagio

Honestly, it’s not really as simple as following a career path, at least not anymore. I’d recommend instead reading books on innovation and leadership because that can give you the confidence you need to blaze your own trail and to take your career as it comes. I’d suggest that a good background reading list would include … Permission Marketing by Seth Godin [source]

64

The Science of Getting Rich

Wallace D. Wattles

4.3

As featured in the bestselling book The Secret, here is the landmark guide to wealth creation republished with the classic essay “How to Get What You Want.” Wallace D. Wattles spent a lifetime considering the laws of success as he found them in the work of the world’s great philosophers. He then turned his life effort into this simple, slender book – a volume that he vowed could replace libraries

Recommended by Chelsea Frank and Grant Cardone.

Chelsea Frank

I read everything with an open mind, often challenging myself by choosing books with an odd perspective or religious/spiritual views. These books do not reflect my personal feelings but are books that helped shape my perspective on life, love, and happiness. [source]

Grant Cardone

This isn’t philosophy—it’s the pragmatic way to riches. I loved how Wallace talked about how becoming rich is a noble desire. Too many people start saying things like “money isn’t everything” when you claim you want to be rich. You need money to access things in your environment. Your potential can only be reached when you are in full possession of wealth. This book gives a method for success that is just as certain as mathematical equations. Things come to you when you make them come to you. Some important takeaways from this great read include: It’s is a misconception that wealth is limited. The world is rich, and individuals are only poor because they do not act. Thoughts always find a way into reality. [source]

65

The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business

Josh Kaufman

4.3

Master the fundamentals, hone your business instincts, and save a fortune in tuition.

The consensus is clear: MBA programs are a waste of time and money. Even the elite schools offer outdated assembly-line educations about profit-and-loss statements and PowerPoint presentations. After two years poring over sanitized case studies, students are shuffled off into middle management to find out how bus

Recommended by Brian Burkhart, Ola Olusoga, and 1 others.

Brian Burkhart

It’s jam-packed with little digestible bites of wisdom—from finance to marketing to organizational development. It’s the guru bible of business. [source]

Ola Olusoga

For business, I've read Influence by Robert Cialdini 3 times, and Traction by Gabriel Weinberg twice, so if number of times read indicates favor, then those are it. There are a whole bunch of others, like The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman, Confession of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy, The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss, and Running Lean by Ash Maurya, that I've also enjoyed and recommend to people. [source]

66

The Start-up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career

Reid Hoffman

4.3

From the co-founder and chairman of LinkedIn and author Ben Casnocha comes a revolutionary new book on how to apply the strategies of successful entrepreneurship to your career: in other words, how to run the 'start-up of you'.

In a world where wages are virtually stagnant, creative disruption is rocking every industry, global competition for jobs is fierce, and job security is a thing of the past,

Recommended by Sheryl Sandberg, Jack Dorsey, Jeff Weiner, and 6 others.

Sheryl Sandberg

COO/Facebook

Everyone, women and men alike, needs to think big to succeed. This is a practical book that shows you how to take control and build a career that will enable you to have real impact. [source]

Jack Dorsey

Co-Founder/Twitter

The Startup of You" describes how to take the Silicon Valley approach to building a life: start with an idea, and work over your entire career to turn it something remarkable. In the world today, I think that the startup approach to life is necessary. This book distills the key techniques needed to succeed. [source]

Jeff Weiner

CEO/Linkedin

The same extraordinary vision and timing that enabled Reid to found LinkedIn is once again on display with his book "the start-up of YOU." His central thesis, that every individual can benefit from acting as the entrepreneur of their own life and career, has never been more important than it is in today's increasingly globalized, competitive, and networked world. [source]

67

The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive: The Four Disciplines at the Heart of Making Any Organization World Class

Patrick Lencioni

4.3

In this stunning follow-up to his best-selling book, The Five Temptations of a CEO, Patrick Lencioni offers up another leadership fable that's every bit as compelling and illuminating as its predecessor. This time, Lencioni's focus is on a leader's crucial role in building a healthy organization--an often overlooked but essential element of business life that is the linchpin of sustained success.

Recommended by Brian Armstrong.

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68

Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us

Seth Godin

4.3

A tribe is any group of people, large or small, who are connected to one another, a leader, and an idea. For millions of years, humans have been seeking out tribes, be they religious, ethnic, economic, political, or even musical (think of the Deadheads). It's our nature.

Now the Internet has eliminated the barriers of geography, cost, and time. All those blogs and social networking sites are helpin

Recommended by Andrew Youderian, Bogdana Butnar, Michael Herrmann, and 2 others.

Andrew Youderian

The book "Tribes" by Seth Godin has been helpful as I've learned and studied how to best lead a Community. [source]

Bogdana Butnar

I thought I might put my money where my mouth is. I keep whining that young people are not in touch with some essential books on advertising that have helped me shape the way I practise my trade today, but I never did anything about it. So I am starting here the ultimate books to read list. I will add to it as I get suggestions and as more good books get written. [source]

Michael Herrmann

Another good book for today. The author argues that every product/service appeals to a "Tribe" of like-minded people. As businesspeople it's important we understand their dynamics. [source]

69

To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others

Daniel H. Pink

4.2

From the bestselling author of Drive and A Whole New Mind comes a surprising--and surprisingly useful--new book that explores the power of selling in our lives.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, one in nine Americans works in sales. Every day more than fifteen million people earn their keep by persuading someone else to make a purchase.

But dig deeper and a startling truth emerges:

Ye

Recommended by Cat Williams-Treloar, Jeffrey Shaw, and Ola Olusoga.

Cat Williams-Treloar

Daniel Pink "To Sell is Human" - describes selling as a way to move and serve people along the journey. It's packed full of examples, science and experiments in an easily digestible form. [source]

Jeffrey Shaw

I’m asked all the time what books I suggest. These are the best of the best. Links to each book are here https://t.co/pJXWOeZtBu #marketing #entrepreneur https://t.co/1wCkqQw8GX [source]

Ola Olusoga

Like Charlie Munger once said: “I’ve long believed that a certain system - which almost any intelligent person can learn - works way better than the systems most people use to understand the world. What you need is a latticework of mental models in your head. And, with that system, things gradually fit together in a way that enhances cognition. Just as multiple factors shape every system, multiple mental models from a variety of disciplines are necessary to understand that system". You can read this book to start building a "latticework of mental models in your head". [source]

70

Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy

Patrick Bet-David

4.2

71

12 Months to $1 Million: How to Pick a Winning Product, Build a Real Business, and Become a Seven-Figure Entrepreneur

Ryan Moran

4.2

72

Guerrilla Marketing: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business

Jay Conrad Levinson

4.2

When Guerrilla Marketing was first published in 1983, Jay Levinson revolutionized marketing strategies for the small-business owner with his take-no-prisoners approach to finding clients. Based on hundreds of solid ideas that really work, Levinson’s philosophy has given birth to a new way of learning about market share and how to gain it. In this completely updated and expanded fourth edition, Lev

Recommended by Drew Houston, Bogdana Butnar, Pat Walls, and 1 others.

Drew Houston

CEO/Dropbox

About how do you get attention and users for your product if you have no money? The tactic of putting a video on Hacker News or creating a viral video, that was a seed that was planted by reading this book. [source]

Bogdana Butnar

I thought I might put my money where my mouth is. I keep whining that young people are not in touch with some essential books on advertising that have helped me shape the way I practise my trade today, but I never did anything about it. So I am starting here the ultimate books to read list. I will add to it as I get suggestions and as more good books get written. [source]

Pat Walls

One of the best marketing books out there, and looking back - it was way before it's time. [source]

73

Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service

Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles

4.2

"Your customers are only satisfied because their expectations are so low and because no one else is doing better. Just having satisfied customers isn't good enough anymore. If you really want a booming business, you have to create Raving Fans." This, in a nutshell, is the advice given to a new Area Manager on his first day--in an extraordinary business book that will help everyone, in every kind o

Recommended by Vivek Garipalli.

Vivek Garipalli

Short, simple, highly effective. [source]

74

Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making

Tony Fadell

4.2

75

Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork

Dan Sullivan, Benjamin Hardy

4.2

Cover unavailable

76

Starting a Business QuickStart Guide: The Simplified Beginner's Guide to Launching a Successful Small Business, Turning Your Vision into Reality, and Achieving Your Entrepreneurial Dream

Ken Colwell PhD MBA

4.2

Starting a Business QuickStart Guide: The Simplified Beginner's Guide to Launching a Successful Small Business, Turning Your Vision into Reality, and Achieving Your Entrepreneurial Dream

THE ULTIMATE BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO STARTING A BUSINESS IN 2019!

Have you ever dreamt of starting your own business and living life on your terms?

This book shows you EXACTLY what you need to know to stand out from the

77

Rich Dad Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money - That The Poor And Middle Class Do Not!

Robert T. Kiyosaki

4.2

In Rich Dad Poor Dad, the #1 Personal Finance book of all time, Robert Kiyosaki shares the story of his two dad: his real father, whom he calls his ‘poor dad,’ and the father of his best friend, the man who became his mentor and his ‘rich dad.’ One man was well educated and an employee all his life, the other’s education was “street smarts” over traditional classroom education and he took the path

Recommended by Daymond John and Will Smith.

Will Smith

Will Smith mentioned sharing this book with his son. [source]

78

The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation

Matthew Dixon, Brent Adamson

4.2

What's the secret to sales success? If you're like most business leaders, you'd say it's fundamentally about relationships-and you'd be wrong. The best salespeople don't just build relationships with customers. They challenge them.

The need to understand what top-performing reps are doing that their average performing colleagues are not drove Matthew Dixon, Brent Adamson, and their colleagues at C

Recommended by Danielle Morrill, Ken Revenaugh, and Neil Rackham.

Ken Revenaugh

This is a must-read book for every sales professional. The authors’ groundbreaking research explains how the rules for selling have changed—and what to do about it. If you don’t want to be left behind, don’t miss this innovative book that provides the new formula for selling success. [source]

Neil Rackham

The history of sales has been one of steady progress interrupted by a few real breakthroughs that have changed the whole direction of the profession. These breakthroughs, marked by radical new thinking and dramatic improvements in sales results, have been rare. . . . Which brings me to The Challenger Sale and the work of the Sales Executive Council. . . . On the face of it, their research has all the initial signs that it may be game-changing. . . . My advice is this: Read it, think about it, implement it. You, and your organization, will be glad you did. [source]

79

Mind Your Business: Plan Your Business and Turn Your Creative Passion Into Your Full-Time Gig

Ilana Griffo

4.2

This is not your mama's business plan. Mind Your Business is created for entrepreneurial women (and men--you're welcome too!) who want to turn their creative passions into a full-time job. If you dream of building a business doing what you love, this book is for you. So you're sick of the hustle, and ready to take your talents to the next level, but the thought of taking the "leap" is intimidating

80

Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business

John Mackey and Rajendra Sisodia

4.2

A Wall Street Journal Bestseller

In this book, Whole Foods Market cofounder John Mackey and professor and Conscious Capitalism, Inc. cofounder Raj Sisodia argue for the inherent good of both business and capitalism. Featuring some of today’s best-known companies, they illustrate how these two forces can—and do—work most powerfully to create value for all stakeholders: including customers, employees

Recommended by Kip Tindell and Virginia LeBlanc.

Kip Tindell

CEO/The Container Store

Tindell is actually close friends with Mackey, who is the co-author of this book and co-CEO of Whole Foods Market. According to Tindell, both men believe in conscious capitalism. They say that when everyone wins, the business is most profitable and there should be no losses. [source]

Virginia LeBlanc

I guess I would choose Conscious Capitalism by John Mackey and Raj Sisodia for the brilliant, reachable, utopian view of free-enterprise capitalism with a mind toward higher purpose and humanistic virtues in business. [source]

81

$100M Offers: How to Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No

Alex Hormozi

4.1

82

Die With Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life

Bill Perkins

4.1

83

$100M Leads: How to Get Strangers to Want to Buy Your Stuff

Alex Hormozi

4.1

Cover unavailable

84

Small Business for Dummies

Eric Tyson and Jim Schell

4.1

Make big sense of small business

Small Business For Dummies has been a leading resource for starting and running a small business. Calling upon their six decades-plus of combined experience running small businesses, Eric Tyson and Jim Schell once again provide readers with their time-tested advice and the latest information on starting and growing a small business.

This new edition covers all aspec

Cover unavailable

85

J.K. Lasser's Small Business Taxes: Your Complete Guide to a Better Bottom Line

Barbara Weltman

4.1

Maximize your bottom line with the nation's most trusted small business tax guide

J.K. Lasser's Small Business Taxes 2020 is the small business owner's ultimate guide to a money-saving, stress-free tax season. Providing straightforward advice from the nation's most trusted tax expert on small business taxes, this book gives you the answers you need quickly, with clear, concise guidance. Updated to

Cover unavailable

86

The One Minute Manager

Blanchard, Ken, Johnson, Spencer

4.1

For more than twenty years, millions of managers in Fortune 500 companies and small businesses nationwide have followed The One Minute Manager's techniques, thus increasing their productivity, job satisfaction, and personal prosperity. These very real results were achieved through learning the management techniques that spell profitability for the organization and its employees.

The One Minute Mana

Recommended by Daymond John, Skip Prichard, and Todd Adkins.

87

Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals

Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic

4.0

Don't simply show your data--tell a story with it!Storytelling with Data teaches you the fundamentals of data visualization and how to communicate effectively with data. You'll discover the power of storytelling and the way to make data a pivotal point in your story. The lessons in this illuminative text are grounded in theory, but made accessible through numerous real-world examples--ready for im

Recommended by Roger D. Peng.

Roger D. Peng

It’s important to think in terms of what your audience needs, and what would be best for them among the many choices you could make when analysing data. [source]

88

What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence

Stephen A. Schwarzman

4.0

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

From Blackstone chairman, CEO, and co-founder Stephen A. Schwarzman, a long-awaited book that uses impactful episodes from Schwarzman's life to show readers how to build, transform, and lead thriving organizations. Whether you are a student, entrepreneur, philanthropist, executive, or simply someone looking for ways to maximize your potential, the same lessons apply.

People

Recommended by Eric Schmidt and Norman Ornstein.

Eric Schmidt

CEO/Google

Reveals how the author has achieved the rarest kind of leverage in multiple fields. [source]

Norman Ornstein

What it Takes remains the best book written about American politics and politicians. i reread every few years. Want to know about Biden? Read it! https://t.co/ZlLwbRqADa [source]

89

Developing the Leader Within You 2.0

John C. Maxwell

4.0

In this thoroughly revised and updated 25th-anniversary edition of his now-classic work, John C. Maxwell reveals how to develop the vision, value, influence, and motivation required of successful leaders.

Twenty-five years ago, John Maxwell published the book that forever transformed how we think about leadership. Developing the Leader Within You revolutionized the way leaders are made and in the p

Recommended by John C. Maxwell and Sean Si.

90

Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence-and How You Can, Too

Gary Vaynerchuk

4.0

Recommended by Casey Neistat, Carolina Millan, and Dave Isbitski.

Casey Neistat

Founder/368 Creative Space

so much congrats to my friend @garyvee on the release of his new book. out now! do yourself a favor a pick up a copy [source]

Carolina Millan

Crushing It! by @garyvee is one of my favorite books. So inspiring! 🎊 This book offers new lessons and inspiration drawn from the experiences of dozens of influencers and entrepreneurs who rejected the predictable corporate path in favor of pursuing their dreams. 🏆🎟 https://t.co/Ww5Hmuja8m [source]

Dave Isbitski

Thanks @garyvee on the new Crushing It! book. Really helping me focus on some of the brand building I've built past decade. So much I've done wrong, there is lots of insight here. I love how much of the book is others personal journeys. https://t.co/ub4lrIPF0V [source]

Cover unavailable

91

Back on Blossom Street (Blossom Street, #4)

Debbie Macomber

4.0

There's a new shop on Seattle's Blossom Street - a flower shop called Susannah's Garden. The owner, Susannah Nelson, has just hired a young widow named Colette Blake. Susannah and Colette both join Lydia Goetz's new knitting class. Lydia's previous classes have forged lasting friendships and this one is no exception.

92

Expert Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Creating a Mass Movement of People Who Will Pay for Your Advice

Russell Brunson, Robert Kiyosaki

4.0

Your message has the ability to change someone's life. The impact that the right message can have on someone at the right time in their life is immeasurable. It could help to save marriages, repair families, change someone's health, grow a company or more...
But only if you know how to get it into the hands of the people whose lives you have been called to change. Expert Secrets will put your mess

Recommended by Carolina Millan, John Shea, and 1 others.

Carolina Millan

If this book is not yet in your arsenal, you’re making a big mistake. I always carry it with me when I travel , it’s filled with amazing knowledge for anyone wanting to turn their knowledge into a business. Get a free copy at https://t.co/VV4Syx66Cn 🔥🔥 https://t.co/RTWgKhCiXl [source]

John Shea

One that I'm reading right now that I haven't finished yet is Expert Secrets by Russell Brunson. The reason being is this book really emphasizes the idea that anyone can teach someone else how to accomplish something and make money doing it. [source]

93

HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business (HBR Guide Series)

Richard S. Ruback

4.0

Are you looking for an alternative career path at a big firm? Does founding your own start-up seem too risky? There is a radical third path open to you. You can buy a small business and run it as CEO. Purchasing a small company offers significant financial rewards - as well as personal and professional fulfillment. Leading a firm means you can be your own boss, put your executive skills to work, f

94

$100M Money Models: How to Make Money (Acquisition.com $100M Series)

Alex Hormozi

4.0

*Guinness World Record: Fastest Selling Non-Fiction Book in History**OVER 4,000,000 COPIES SOLD IN THE $100M SERIES!!*This book will show you the art of getting more customers to spend more money faster.If you have a business, this book will help you make more from it. If you don’t have a business, this will help you start one. If you have parents, this book will help you retire them. If you have

95

Buy Then Build: How Acquisition Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Startup Game

Walker Deibel

4.0

Entrepreneurs have a problem: startups. Almost all startups either fail or never truly reach a sustainable size. Despite the popularity of entrepreneurship, we haven't engineered a better way to start. ...Until now.What if you could skip the startup phase and generate profitable revenue on day one?In Buy Then Build, acquisition entrepreneur Walker Deibel shows you how to begin with a sustainable,

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