5 Business Books to Read for New Perspectives and Inspiration
When you see a list of Top Business Books to read, you’ll find titles such as The Art of War, Business Adventures, How to Win Friends and Influence People, and The 4-Hour Work Week. Those books are undoubtedly must-reads… but maybe you are looking for something more?
Here are five great business books you should also add to your list.
Expect to Win: 10 Proven Strategies for Thriving in the Workplace
By Carla Harris
Carla Harris is a Harvard University grad, Morgan Stanley managing director and vice chairmen, and Wall Street powerhouse. Expect to Win and it’s sister, Strategize to Win, is a business must-read for any and all entrepreneurs, small business owners, professionals, business students, and just about anyone who has, is, or will work at some point in their lives.
“Be brave enough to live life creatively. The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. You can’t get there by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you’re doing. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover will be yourself.”
Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person
By Shonda Rhimes
Shonda Rhimes might not be the first person to pop into your head when you think business-woman, but this media powerhouse and creator of one of the longest running TV shows knows a thing or two about building something meaningful and maintaining it over the decades.
“I am not lucky. You know what I am? I am smart, I am talented, I take advantage of the opportunities that come my way and I work really, really hard. Don’t call me lucky. Call me a badass.”
“They tell you: Follow your dreams. Listen to your spirit. Change the world. Make your mark. Find your inner voice and make it sing. Embrace failure. Dream. Dream and dream big. As a matter of fact, dream and don’t stop dreaming until your dream comes true.
“I think that’s crap.
“I think a lot of people dream. And while they are busy dreaming, the really happy people, the really successful people, the really interesting, powerful, engaged people? Are busy doing.”
Leapfrog: The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs
By Nathalie Molina Niño
Nathalie Molina Niño is the founder and CEO of BRAVA Investments, just one of her serial tech successes, as well as a teacher at Columbia University. She’s here to give us solid business hacks that help entrepreneurs and small business owners “leapfrog” over business obstacles. While this book is useful for all business folks, it is especially aimed at all who are not rich, white, and male.
“Playing by the rules and waiting to be rewarded for doing so is how we get stuck playing small.”
“Your goal is to shape the dynamic in any room you enter, not be a victim of it.”
The Disruption Mindset: Why Some Organizations Transform While Others Fail
By Charlene Li
Charlene Li is a Harvard Business grad with over 20 years of experience in business and tech and one of the world’s go-to leaders on disruption, digital transformation, and business leadership. This book talks about the fallacy of being “innovative” and how organizations need to seek to be disruptive instead. Not sure what that means exactly? It’s all in the book.
“Like Knight Ridder, many other established companies make disruption their goal and hope that growth will follow. They believe that their innovation will disrupt their market and drive growth. But that’s not how it works: disruption doesn’t create growth; growth creates disruption.”
Find the book: The Disruption Mindset
Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader
By Herminia Ibarra
Herminia Ibarra is a Yale University grad and a former Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. As a current member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Councils, a jury member for McKinsey & Company, and a Professor of Organizational Behavior at London Business School, this businesswoman has a wealth of international business knowledge and leadership experience to share with the future leaders of the business world.
“It’s all too easy to fall hostage to the urgent over the important.”
“The paradox of change is that the only way to alter the way we think is by doing the very things our habitual thinking keeps us from doing.”
Find the book: Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader
Have you read any of these inspirational, educational, and perspective-changing business books? We’d love to hear your thoughts! What do you plan on reading next? Leave a comment below and share your favorite business books.