Best Business Books For Entrepreneurs (List of 31 Quality Books To read)
In today's post, we cover the best business books for entrepreneurs.
A convenient and proven way is to learn through creative books, which truly saves you the time to start taking different online courses.
These business books for entrepreneurs can birth new ideas and advice, sharpen your business and entrepreneurial skills for success.
We've compiled 31 business book lists that have been highly recommended by hundreds of famous and successful CEOs and top entrepreneurs. We went further in our research by getting honest feedback from real readers who have actually bought these books and read them.
We got feedback from readers through Goodreads and a few from Amazon. And this is to let you know that we are not just picking a book at random for you to read. We suggest you take your time to get these business development books through each link and read them. They are never a waste of time.
Best Business Books For Entrepreneurs
1. Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
On our best business books for entrepreneurs. Think and Grow Rich is one of the most widely read books and has blessed a lot of people.
Otis Chandler’s Feedback About The Book:
“This is the best self-help book any entrepreneur could ever read. Perhaps the only one they need to. Truly transformative. I have it on audio too and listen to it at the gym often.
Napoleon Hill was tasked by Andrew Carnegie to write a book on what made a successful person succeed, and he spent 20 years researching and interviewing every great name of the day (Ford, Woolworth, Edison, etc), plus lots of people who failed (because you have to know what doesn’t work too). This book is the result.
It basically hammers home a single point, over and over again. Success comes from knowing what you want to achieve and having a burning desire to achieve it“
Overall Rating: 4.2/5 | Goodreads.
93% Google Users loved the book
2. Influence by Robert B. Cialdini
Mark Cheverton’s Feedback About The Book
“Required reading for all marketing professionals.” The book details the most common approaches to influencing the decisions of others, backed up by the author's time spent infiltrating direct marketing companies and the like. Offers handy hints on how to spot when you’re being manipulated and how to handle it.
A very enjoyable read should leave you much more aware of how you’re being played next time you’re in the market for a used car”
Overall Rating: 4.2/5 | Goodreads
87% Google Users loved the book
3. Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port
Farnoosh Brock’s Feedback About The Book:
“Most honest, USEFUL, brilliant & Actionable book & I AM getting booked solid!
Since I first heard about Michael Port, I changed the way I have my conversations with my clients, I became fully self-expressed and totally honest, I said no to lousy clients, I raised my rates 3 times, I shared my package pricing on my website for full transparency, and I am getting booked a lot more frequently.
I am still not even done with this book – I am doing the workbook and seriously paying attention to everything Michael says. His free webinars are full of the honest and solid training ground and he walks his talk, he is honest and he makes sense.
He is practical and not pushing out fluff or air. He is showing and leading by example. I know that this program is top notch and I would love to invest in it someday but I am not even a full-time coach, I am just doing it because I enjoy it and want to grow my brand.
I am splitting my time between coaching and writing books and creating a ton of content online for my brand, but let me tell you that I have tried a lot of other training material out there but none has met and EXCEEDED my expectations like that of Michael Port. For me, it’s been the VERY best. I would give it more stars if I could.
Thank you, Michael, for your true honesty and your unique writing and teaching voice. I LOVE IT”.
Overall Rating: 4.0/5 | Goodreads
4. Rework by Jason Fried
Algirdas Raščius’ Feedback About The Book:
“This book is a great collection of ideas that will help you to succeed in business. Although presented ideas are based on common sense, some of them strongly disagree with current usual business practices. Still, the problem is with current business practices and not with presented ideas.
Reading “Rework” can be a great motivator for starting work smarter (rather than harder), seeking long-term sustainable business (rather than achieving better financial results for the current quarter) and really serving customer needs (rather than trying to trick him into buying an irrelevant product).
There are two shortcomings of this book. First, a lot of ideas presented here are taken from another book by the same authors – “Getting Real”. Therefore, if you have already read “Getting Real”, reading some chapters in “Rework” will be deja vu experience. Second, if you work in “usual” company with no sufficient influence to change its business practices, reading this book can be a serious morale-killer.
Anyway, I highly recommend reading this book to everybody (and especially to everybody running some business or thinking about starting one)”
Overall Rating: 4.0/5 | Goodreads
5. Sacred Success by Barbara Stanny
1. Heidi’s Feedback About The Book:
“Stanny offers practical advice to encourage and empower women with how they view and achieve financial success. I learned so much about myself, my definition of success, where I give my power away, and how to better tune in and listen to my inner wisdom.
Stanny has taken a very difficult topic and has opened up the subject of financial freedom to encompass spiritual transformation. I appreciated the entire scope of her book and I am encouraged to change my thinking!”
2. Mary Frances’ Feedback About The Book:
“This book affirmed the process that I’ve been going through for the last year and helped me clarify my thinking about the future. I found the exercises to be helpful, and I usually skip that kind of thing. I learned less about finances than I expected, but what I did learn more than makes up for that.
I would not recommend this book to everyone because I believe that it requires a certain level of spiritual maturity and discernment if you see reality, particular Lu spiritual reality, differently than the author does”
Overall Rating: 4.2/5 | Goodreads.
Also Read: 8 Psychological Hacks That’ll Skyrocket Your Conversion Rate FAST [Infographics]
6. The ONE Thing by Gary Keller
Patrick Hayslett’s Feedback About The Book:
“Over 2,600 books have been written about time management. Why? Because they’re not working! There’s something everyone is missing…
We have books, blogs, apps, pep talks and lots of personal effort. The deck should be stacked in our favor. So how does time end up managing us more than we manage it?
“The One Thing” is the first resource I’ve come across with an answer that works.
It helps you move forward with purpose instead of being reactive to stay afloat.
The book teaches you to build a big vision, then zoom into a narrow focus that kills the most birds with one stone. This may not seem impressive, but the way it’s presented helps you TRULY understand. It guides you around landmines like productivity lies and productivity killers.
Most importantly, it gives you a plan that’s easy to understand and follow. The genius is in the simplicity. Please don’t let a craving for sophistication get in the way of forwarding progress toward awesome goals! Remember: people in the ivory tower tend to stay put.
This book has earned all fives stars from my rating, and that’s saying a lot. I’m a hard sell. Halfway through 2013, it’s by far the front-runner for my best book of the year.
If you read the reviews on Amazon, *please* take note:
1) There’s controversy over reviews showing up before the release date of the book, leading to accusations that it’s just a marketing tactic. Whether it’s true or not, ignore it. The results are real.
2) Some reviews say it’s nothing groundbreaking, that it’s good for the beginner only, and so on. They miss the point.
Give this book a chance. It passes my b.s. filter. You’ll be re-reading it and taking notes! “
Overall Rating: 4.2/5 | Goodreads.
86% Google Users loved the book
7. Zero to One by Peter Thiel
Andrew Garvin’s Feedback About The Book:
“Having worked with Peter – and the PayPal mafia more generally – for almost 10 years now, I have a unique perspective on Zero to One. Indeed, a lot of the ideas contained within are familiar to me. The launching point for the book is Peter’s stock interview question – a question he asked me 8 years ago.
‘What is something you think is true, but that most people disagree with you on?’
My answer at the time (2006) was: ‘There is a bubble in housing.’ Of course, that was cheating, since I knew this was a pet idea of Peter’s. Not surprisingly, he asked if I had another answer. I didn’t, but I extemp-ed some bs about how FDI in Iraq was a good idea. Luckily I was strong enough in other ways to make it through.
His breakdown of this question and why it’s so difficult to answer is incisive and in itself reveals a truth that is lying in plain sight. Very few ideas are both contrarian and correct. And, yet, finding that combination is critical to successful investing, entrepreneurship, or even career development.
The book moves at a quick, clear pace with examples generously distributed throughout. Even the Bible quotes (and nerd Bible quotes – i.e. Lord of the Rings) feel natural or at least refreshing. Moreover, as Peter is wont to do, there are several easter eggs or dog whistles in the text which hint at some of Peter’s more unique ideas. Of course, I am biased, but particularly in the ‘business’ category, Zero to One is a special and thought-provoking book”
Overall Rating: 4.16/5 | Goodreads.
96% Google Users loved the book
8. The Innovators Dilemma by Clayton M Christensen
Rod Dunsmore’s Feedback About The Book:
“This is a great book on innovation and how start-up and entrepreneurs ought to fashion their company to go against entrenched incumbents.
The gist of the book is an interesting trend the author found when analyzing the industry. He found that certain innovations were “disruptive” — meaning they changed the way a market worked, and some were “sustaining” — meaning they were really just improvements on existing products.
The author traces disruptive innovations through the steel industry, where it took $100M + to build an integrated steel mill. Someone one day discovered a way to make steel with a much cheaper furnace — a “mini-mill”. This mini-mill made steel that was ugly and weak, compared to the integrated steel mills — but it was good enough for one type of steel: rebar. It could make rebar about 10x cheaper than the integrated steel mills, and it didn’t matter that it was ugly.
The integrated mills could not compete with the mini-mill due to costs. But, more importantly, they did not *want* to compete. Rebar was the lowest quality of steel, the most commoditized, and the customers were the least loyal and most price-sensitive (read: difficult). They were happy to walk away from that business…they really made no money in that market anyway. So the mini-mills experienced almost no competition from the incumbent.
After a few years, the mini-mills all experienced decreasing profits due to more mini-mills entering the market. Soon, someone discovered how to make the next level of steel — I forget what it was, elbow joints or something. The same cycle happened…the integrated mills walked away from a fight and the mini-mills saw huge profits for a few years until they all caught up.
Slowly, innovation after innovation ended up eating away all of the business from the integrated mills — who never once tried to compete for the business they were losing. Today there are no integrated mills in existence.
This is the gist of the book: if you are going to create a new company, you ought to learn from history and fashion a product that will have the existing leaders gladly walking away from the business you are fighting for.
Anyway, this is a long review. Great book, very thought-provoking”
Overall Rating: 4.0/5 | Goodreads.
9. How to Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Kendel Christensen’s Feedback About The Book:
“Save the gospel itself, and my mission president, this book has been the single most influential thing in my life. Insightful? Yes. Timeless, Absolutely. But for someone who had no social skills to speak of until his mission? Transformative.
Here are just a few of the nuggets in this amazing book:
“Every man I meet is my superior in some way. In that, I learn of him.”
(Emerson, As quoted by Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People, p. 31)
“You will never get into trouble by admitting that you may be wrong. That will . . . inspire your opponent to be just as fair and open . . . as you are. It will make him want to admit that he, too, may be wrong.”
(Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People, p. 125)
“Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain—and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.
“‘A great man shows his greatness,’ said Carlyle, ‘by the way he treats little men.’”
“Criticisms are like homing pigeons. They always return home. Let’s realize that the person we are going to correct and condemn will probably justify himself or herself, and condemn us in return”
“There is a certain degree of satisfaction in having the courage to admit one’s errors. It not only clears the air of guilt and defensiveness but often helps solve the problem created by the error.”
(Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People, p. 138)
But my #1, favorite principle from this book is DEFINITELY:
‘If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.’
“That is so simple, so obvious . . . yet 90 percent of the people on this earth ignore it 90 percent of the time.”
(Henry Ford, then Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People, p. 37)”
Overall Rating: 4.1/5 | Goodreads.
90% Google Users loved the book
10. The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco
Kingshuk Mukherjee’s Feedback About The Book:
“Rule number 1 of how to/self-help/business books- take advice from people who have lived what they wrote. If they are primarily writers and public speakers, and that is their business model, toss the book and move on. The best advice comes from people who have lived it. On to this book-
I don’t know why, but some of my favorite business books have had the scammiest titles ever. Regardless, this book has made me go “oh shit I didn’t think of that” just about every other page. I’m glad I read this before I started my first company- I was on the right track, but now I’m confident that I will succeed. MJ’s writing style is not bogged down in jargon and business language- he explains things using only what needs to be said.
He is slightly opinionated, but then again he has every reason to be, being a multi-millionaire and all. He talks a little crap on other authors, and he’s right about most of them. He had some low key jabs at Tim Ferriss, who I follow with great attentiveness, but nothing crazy. If you’re a fanboy of some of the more popular business books from the speaker circuit, be ready to get shit on. Anyway- great book.
If you are new to entrepreneurship, it will help you find the kinks and flaws in your logic and business model, things that prevent you from making stupid amounts of money. I highly recommend it.
Let me also say that he will not spoon feed you- It’s up to you to come up with the business you want to pursue. So if you’re expecting a book that is going to give you all the steps, doesn’t require hard work, this is not what you’re looking for”
Overall Rating: 4.1/5 | Goodreads.
Also Read: How to Bring Your Business to the Right Buyers? Use this PRO Instagram Marketing Tips
11. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
Robert Chapman‘s Feedback About The Book:
“This is a great book, and you need to read it. How is that for a definitive opening line? The reason it’s such a good book is because it uses research to explain how habits are formed and changed. Everyone knows someone who was out of shape, or was a smoker, and then in what appeared as if almost overnight, changed themselves in a short period of time. How did they do that? They formed new habits and changed old ones, that’s how.
Do something enough and it becomes a habit, good or bad. This is explained in the book by research on memory loss. For example, the research found that patients suffering from memory loss could not show someone where the kitchen is when asked, but once they got hungry the would get up and go to the kitchen automatically.
This is made possible by the habit loop of cue, routine, and reward. The cue makes the brain find the routine as it anticipates the reward. A classic example is stress and smoking, the cue is stress, the routine is smoking, the reward is the feeling the cigarette brings.
I was most interested in how the book described changing a habit. Let’s face it, we all have habits we want to change. To accomplish this we need to keep the cue and reward, but change the routine. I’ll use an example from my own life to illustrate. I love chocolate, and to make it worse I love to eat at it night. Well, I love to eat at night because that is how I formed the habit some time ago. I used the guidance from this book to change that habit. I kept the cue and reward, but I changed the routine to use apples instead of chocolate.
This logic flows into much larger problem sets such as organizations and communities. Focus on changing one thing, the keystone habit from which a cascade of other habits will form. The author illustrates this example by discussing how the company Alcoa was transformed by the keystone habit of a singular focus on safety.
The book flows really well and uses research throughout to substantiate the concepts presented. The audience who can benefit from this book is vast, from individuals to corporates to governments”
Overall Rating: 4.0/5 | Goodreads.
89% Google Users loved the book
12. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
Bill Harrison’s Feedback About The Book:
“This book has acquired an iconic status among business books published in the last few years. I was first given a copy at a technology conference in San Francisco last year and since then it seems that everyone in my business network has read and is discussing this book. For the most part, this popularity is justified. The book dissects the current trend toward quick, low-cost start-ups that focus on action over research, and on making mistakes over extended analysis. Its applicability is primarily with Internet-based businesses, but the concepts of rapid prototyping and quick pivots of business strategy are just as applicable for many traditional businesses too.
My complaints about this book are twofold. First, it is overly simplistic. It serves as a good primer for someone with no business start-up experience and it documents a start-up management ethic that is very much in vogue right now. But it does little more than treat the subject superficially. To be a 5-star book “The Lean Startup” would have to delve deeper into the “lean” practice in the context of business management history. My second complaint is that the author relies too heavily on his own experiences in tech start-ups. Too many of the stories are anecdotal and too many of the experiences are those of the author. A more balanced approached that drew upon the experience of a wide variety of start-ups would further legitimize the book and give the reader greater context of the lean start-up phenomenon.
Overall a very good book and a worthwhile read for anyone wanting to keep up with modern management thinking”
Overall Rating: 4.04/5 | Goodreads.
13. Positioning by Al Ries
Rum P.H. Shaker’s Feedback About The Book:
“True to this book’s title Ries and Trout deliver their strategy and tactics for “positioning” the mind of consumer or prospect. Anyone can “position” anything from merchandise, service, company, or oneself. The book goes into heavy introduction about the entire concept of “positioning”. It answers who, what, when, where, and most importantly why this concept is so important.
I like that the book is constructed in a textbook style, where PAR (Problem, Action, and Result) statements are given to scenarios observing the “positioning” technique.
I paid extra attention to the last three chapters where action plans are given to “position” yourself regarding career, your business, and how to maintain the “positioning game”.
I find this book to provide excellent strategies for marketing in this society, though the book may be outdated principles rarely change. I can’t wait to implement some of these techniques in my own businesses and career strategies. At the end of the day “anything worthwhile doing is worthwhile doing lousy”, right?”
Overall Rating: 4.06/5 | Goodreads.
14. Good to Great by Jim Collins
Amy Neftzger’s Feedback About The Book:
“Even though this book is over 10 years old, the concepts are still relevant and provide guidance on how to manage effectively for the long haul. Following the principles can assist with getting better employee engagement and formulating a business strategy designed for success. It’s important to note that many of these concepts will take some effort and that there are no “silver bullets” that can suddenly turn a failing company into a great one, however the author does a great job of explaining the principal differences between the companies that took off (what he refers to as the “fly wheel“) and those who remained stagnant or died.
I did some additional research and while the majority of the companies on the “good to great” list are no longer “great” – I found that many of these companies made changes that deviated from the principles outlined in the book. Would these companies have declined if they hadn’t made those changes? We’ll never know for certain since the research is merely inductive and there is no way to prove causation. I do know this is a wonderful book for mentoring new managers and getting them on course to be excellent leaders.”
Overall Rating: 4.0/5 | Goodreads.
84% Google Users loved the book
15. The Signal and the Noise by Jim Collins
David Feedback About The Book:
“This is a fantastic book about predictions. I enjoyed every page. The book is filled to the brim with diagrams and charts that help get the points across. The book is divided into two parts. The first part is an examination of all the ways that predictions go wrong. The second part is about how applying Bayes Theorem can make predictions go right.
The book focuses on predictions in a wide variety of topics; economics, the stock market, politics, baseball, basketball, weather, climate, earthquakes, chess, epidemics, poker, and terrorism! Each topic is covered lucidly, in sufficient detail, so that the reader gets a good grasp of the problems and issues for predictions.
There are so many fascinating insights, I can only try to convey a few. At the present time, it is impossible to predict earthquakes, that is, to state ahead of time when and where a certain magnitude earthquake will occur. But it is possible to forecast earthquakes in a probabilistic sense, using a power law. Likewise, it may be possible to forecast terrorism, because that too, follows a power law! (Well, it follows a power law in NATO countries, probably because of the efforts to combat terrorists. But in Israel, the tail of the curve falls below the power law, likely because of the stronger anti-terror emphasis there.)
The accuracy of weather predictions increases slowly but steadily, year by year. Ensembles of computer model runs are part of the story, but human judgment add value, and increases the accuracy. Weather forecasts issued by the National Weather Service are unbiased in a probabilistic sense. But weather forecasts by the TV weatherman are very strongly biased–the weatherman over-predicts precipitation by a significant amount.
Nate Silver shows that the people who are most confident are the ones that make the worst predictions. The best predictions are those that are couched in quantitative uncertainties. Silver shows how Bayes Theorem can be applied to improve predictions; it is all about probabilities”
Overall Rating: 4.0/5 | Goodreads.
16. The Effective Executive by Peter F. Drucker
Janet’s Feedback About The Book:
“I used to be a large reader of Jack Welch practices at GE until I read that he looked to Drucker. I’ve been reading Drucker and re-reading Drucker ever since. He is the master at learning how to be “effective” and from him, I learned how to filter what are the best effectiveness 21st-century leadership practices.
Now, after 14 years of running a company and 8 years of trying to create a leadership engine to run a company, I believe that the 21st-century practices for effectiveness in order of sequence:
1. Self-love & taking care of oneself daily (for me, taught by Richard Bach, M. Scott Peck, Gay Hendrix, others)
2. Life vision (parents’ life history, Richard Bach, Tao Te Ching, Tao of Mentoring)
3. Being resonant. Using a ratio of 7 PEA to 1 NEA(For me, taught by Resonant Leader and developing a self-care agenda)
4. Using Appreciative Inquiry style to help others get in touch with when they felt their highest when I feel my highest
5. Facilitative communication style (Roger Schwarz, other facilitator techniques)
I am still in process on learning on all these dimensions. As AA says, and M.Scott Peck quotes…”I’m not okay, you’re not okay and that’s okay.” Learning to forgive one’s self and others and accept the mystery of life is a life long leadership and life journey”
Overall Rating: 4.1/5 | Goodreads.
17. Getting Things Done by David Allen
Dianna’s Feedback About The Book:
“Recall the last time you went on a significant vacation from work: before you left you cleared all your to-dos, emptied your inbox, tied all the loose ends, and organized the things you’d tackle when you came back. Felt pretty good to leave that last day, right?
David Allen teaches you how to live your life this way: take all your to-dos, projects, etc. then organize them out into Projects, Next Actions, Someday/Maybe projects, Read and Review, and more if you want. Take the Next Actions and either do them, defer them, delegate them, and/or delete them. It’s really that logical and that simple. Now, make a weekly habit of reviewing all those categories. Now you’re “GTD”.
Just like it ought to, the book starts out broad, then each chapter goes into more detail of the system. Unless you’re some crazy detail-loving mogul, you only need to read about to the half-way mark. I went a bit further just because I loved it so much. For about three weeks now, it’s worked for me both at work and more loosely at home.
The chapter on organizing your email and keeping your inbox empty is BRILLIANT! If you want to see this book”
Overall Rating: 4.0/5 | Goodreads.
77% Google Users loved the book
18. Turning PRO by Steven Pressfield
Turning PRO is also on our list of the best business books for entrepreneurs
Feedback About The Book:
“This book is a serious challenge for any creative who wants to be considered a professional in their chosen sphere. Pressfield holds nothing back and this book seriously kicked my ass. He takes the excuses we all wheel out sometimes and blows them to pieces while telling of his own past, giving emotional resonance to some difficult life lessons.
The book underscores the fact that turning pro is not for everyone, that there is a considerable sacrifice. I was personally convicted on my habits and how distraction can sometimes ruin my creative time. Taking action on this book is difficult but necessary, and I start today. Highly recommended”
Overall Rating: 4.2/5 | Goodreads
19. Elegant Entrepreneur by Danielle Tate
Keli’s Feedback About The Book:
“Finally!!!! This is a book written to help women excel in the entrepreneur world that speaks to the way our brains work. Everything you need is in one elegant spot. I have recently started my first business, and the highlighter was working overtime. The way in which the author pieces together the information made perfect sense.
In fact, I immediately began implementing the tips and saw results. Additionally, the examples and tips from other entrepreneurs made every piece of the book relatable and relevant. Whether you are a small company of one or hitting the ground running as a big company, you do not want to miss the hidden dots that will undoubtedly make you successful“
Overall Rating: 4.6/5 | Goodreads.
Other Business Books For Business Owners
- Richest Man in Babylon by George S Clason
- Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy
- Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki
- The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
- The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt
- The 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran
- Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
- Drive by Daniel H. Pink
- The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss
- The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau
- Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Golman
- Give and Take by Adam Grant
Best Business Books For Entrepreneurs Summary
We hope you enjoy the list of the best business books for entrepreneurs.
It is quite understandable that there are numerous quality books for entrepreneurs and business owners. We only came up with the best few ones that came with a lot of good reviews and recommendations.
If you know or have read some quality and exceptional business books that wasn't listed above, please go ahead, share them in the comment section below.
