Reading regularly in adulthood helps you develop analytical skills, makes you a better communicator, stimulates the creative center of your brain, and strengthens your ability to recall information. Books can cheer you up when you’re sad, motivate you to improve, and teach you new skills.
Skills like these can benefit just about everyone, but for entrepreneurs the ability to analyze a situation, apply lessons learned, and develop innovative solutionsβ is crucial.
30 of the best business books for entrepreneurs
1. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear.
2. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell.
3. Chillpreneur: The New Rules for Creating Success, Freedom, and Abundance on Your Terms by Denise Duffield-Thomas
4. Company of One: Why Staying Small Is the Next Big Thing for Business by Paul Jarvis
5. Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
6. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t by Jim Collins
7.How to Be an Overnight Success: Making It in Business by Maria Hatzistefanis
8. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
9. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
10. Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg
11. Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godin
12. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck
13. Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss
14. Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
15. Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
16. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferriss
17. The Art of Learning by Joshua Waitzkin
18. The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman
19. The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber
20. The End of Procrastination: How to Stop Postponing and Live a Fulfilled Life by Petr Ludwig and Adela Schicker
21. The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz
22. The Innovator’s Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth by Clayton Christensen and Michael E. Raynor
23. The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
24. The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries
25. The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller (with Jay Papasan)
26. The Ten-Day MBA: A Step-by-Step Guide to Mastering the Skills Taught in America’s Top Business Schools by Steven A. Silbiger
27. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
28. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
29. Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers by Tim Ferriss
30. Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel with Blake Masters
Remember, reading is fundamental
Perhaps because it’s also a leisure activity, it can be hard to think of reading the best business books as part of your entrepreneurial journey. In a fast-paced, digital world, a leisurely activity like reading can seem like a waste of timeβ , but this isn’t true.
Reading is an exercise for your mind. We’d never think of jogging or lifting weights as a “waste of time” for an athlete, and reading shouldn’t be viewed as a waste of time for entrepreneurs.
Reading is learning: it helps us destress, while also nurturing skills in communication, problem-solving, and creative thinking that are necessary for being a better entrepreneur.
