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10 Essential Business Books to Read

  • digitalmarketing0155
  • Dec 2, 2020
  • 5 min read

When working with my Executive Coaching clients, we identify areas of excellence, as well as, those requiring further development. When we get busy filling in gaps in skill, strategy, discipline, and mindset, I often recommend one or more of these books. They have the potential to transform the way you work and think. Some are classics that you may have already read (repeatedly); others are newer releases that are destined to become classics. In a year flush with professional challenges, we may find ourselves thrust into new dynamics, whether we welcome them or not. I encourage all of us to embrace the opportunity for change and growth by picking up one of these 10 essential business books. If you're feeling really inspired, consider taking your career to the next level by hiring an Executive Coach who can tread the professional ladder with you. Have a great read that isn't listed below? Leave it in the comments!

1. Good To Great by Jim Collins

While I recommend all of Jim Collin's books, I think it's important to begin at the beginning. Good to Great defines the unifying characteristics of companies that defied their own mediocrity and evolved into enduring greatness. Through data-driven research, Collins discovered the four determinates of "greatness": Level 5 Leadership, The Hedgehog Concept, Culture of Discipline, and The Flywheel and Doom Loop. This book is a must-read for today's business leader dedicated to avoiding mediocrity and creating an organization that will last.




2. Start With Why by Simon Sinek

If you're looking for the special sauce to bring your career or organization to greater heights and maintainable success, Simon Sinek suggests you start with "Why?". In Start With Why, Sinek takes readers through his concept of The Golden Circle and provides a framework for which organizations, movements, or careers can define what they do, how they do it, and, most critically, WHY they do it. Only then can they take inspired action that will allow them to influence, innovate, and impact with lasting results.




3. Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

Like a handful of books on this list, Lean In is where professional development meets personal growth. A thoughtful and vulnerable exploration of the challenges women face professionally including work-life balance, gender bias, feminism, leadership representation, and self-doubt. Using personal anecdotes, hard data, research, and practical advice, Lean In frames the conversation around possibility instead of difficulty. From negotiation techniques, thoughts on mentorship, partnership savvy, and insight into professional fullfillment, Sandberg gives women confidence that professional achievement and personal fulfillment are not mutually exclusive.



4. Vision to Results by Jim Fischetti

"As a leader, your job is to make your people and your organization better... yet organizational decay can creep in and go unnoticed unless you're actively working to combat it. What begins with a few missed goals and declining productivity can evolve into a widespread malaise that robs your people of their passion and causes them to create uninspired work. For every organization in this situation, the real culprit is a lack of vision. In Vision to Results, Jim Fischetti teaches you how to create an actionable vision for your organization that brings everyone's role into sharp focus, as well as implement a continuous accountability system that addresses problems before they arise, keeping your organization healthy for years to come." -Book Description


5. Atomic Habits by James Clear

"You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems." -- James Clear


The power of our habits is laid bare in James Clear's Atomic Habits. What may seem like a simple ritual may be a habit with deep psychological and practical consequences preventing you from evolving in the direction of your desires. Clear expertly breaks down the complex psychology of habits and their ripple effects and provides step-by-step guidance for how to make small changes in order to achieve the results you want. If you're looking for a road map to instill profound change this book gives you "tiny changes, remarkable results."


6. Dare to Lead by Brene Brown

As one of Bloomberg's best books of 2018, Dare to Lead takes Brene Brown's lessons in Daring Greatly, Rising Strong, and Braving the Wilderness and teaches us how to put those into practice as leaders, change-makers, and cultural influencers. Through research, stories, and examples garnered from leaders in an array of industries and cultures, Brown distills change-making leadership into four skill sets that requires bravery to execute. A meaningful must read for any leader looking to dare greatly and rise strong at work.





7. The Imposter Cure by Dr. Jessamy Hibberd

There is a psychological phenomenon that often manifests in highly successful women (and those on their way): The Imposter Syndrome. It's the idea that their success is a fraud, undeserved, a result of luck or unfair advantage. Women suffering from Imposter Syndrome live in fear that they will be "found out" and work exhaustively under great self-inflicted stress in order to avoid disclosure. Both Michelle Obama and Sheryl Sandberg admit to experiencing this syndrome. In The Imposter Cure, Dr. Hibberd presents case studies and strategies for women to understand and overcome this pervasive mind-trap.



8. Pivot by Jenny Blake

The era of life-long devotion to a single employer followed by a pension-driven retirement is over. It's been replaced by an unprecedented scale of side-hustles, passion-projects, start-ups, solopreneurship, entrepreneurship, second (and third) careers, and serial-like job changes. If you're looking to make a professional change but aren't sure where to begin, or even where to go, Jenny Blake provides meaningful strategy for how to make your next career move one that really matters to you. In Pivot, She helps you identify your current strengths and interests, identify new opportunities, skills to develop, provides exercises to clarify your next steps, and guidance for taking smart risks to propel you in the direction you desire.


9. Excellence Wins by Horst Schulze

The book description says it all, "If you're searching for the blueprint to beating the competition and out-performing everyone around you, look no further than Excellence Wins. Schulze pulls no punches as a masterful guide to becoming the very best in a world of routine compromise. Schulze's principles are both versatile and utterly practical to leaders of every age, career stage, and industry. You don't need a powerful title or a line of direct reports - you have everything you need to use them right now. Unleash the disruptive power of your true potential, own your career trajectory, and experience the game-changing proof firsthand: Excellence Wins.


10. The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone

"The 10 X Rule unveils the principle of "Massive Action," allowing you to blast through business clichés and risk-aversion while taking concrete steps to reach your dreams. It also demonstrates why people get stuck in the first three actions and how to move into making the 10X Rule a discipline. Find out exactly where to start, what to do, and how to follow up each action you take with more action to achieve Massive Action results.


Extreme success is by definition outside the realm of normal action. Instead of behaving like everybody else and settling for average results, take Massive Action with The 10 X Rule, remove luck and chance from your business equation, and lock in massive success."


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