10 Books Entrepreneurs Should Read

There are a lot of books written about leadership by entrepreneurs and experts. This list features 10 books that entrepreneurs and business owners should read and find especially useful building the business they love! As it is great to read how entrepreneurs and great leaders think and how they were able to succeed in business and life.

Here are the ten books entrepreneurs should read:

1. The Virgin Way, Richard Branson

   Subtitle: How to Listen, Learn, Laugh and Lead

This is a book on leadership from someone that has never read a book on leadership. It provides his lessons in doing business and about leadership in the Virgin way.

Great Quotes:

• ” K-I-S-S and tell. (Keep – It – Simple – Stupid).”
• “ Burn down the mission statement.” Instead of hitting new employees with an ill-conceived blah mission statement, use a guide that has a pragmatic mini-mission statement that also acts as call to action.“

2. Winners and how they succeed, Alastair Campbell

Alastair Campbell was Tony Blair’s chief spokesman and strategist and helped guide the Labour Party to victory in three successive general elections. Alastair is fascinated by what it takes to win and sets a blueprint for winning that we can all follow. He is using his experience of politics and sports to get to the heart of success from Jose Mourinho, Garry Kasparov, and others.

Great Quote:

• “OST: the ABC of winning. O for Objective, S for Strategy and T for Tactics.”

3. High Performing Investment Teams, Jim Ware, Jim Dethmer, Jamie eigles, Fran Skinner, Michael J. Mauboussin

   Subtitle: How to Achieve Best Practices of Top Firms

This book describes seven behaviors and offers lessons for executives on boosting productivity and innovation. It investigates about the behaviors that are implied by values as accountability, lifelong learning and teamwork. What does it mean to be accountable or to be a great team player?

Great Quote:

• “Still companies emphasized finance over people! If you managed a baseball team, would you listen more closely to the team accountant or the director of player personnel?”

4. The 4-Hour Work Week, Timothy Ferris

   Subtitle: Escape 9-5, live anywhere and join the new rich.

The 4-Hour Workweek is the compass for a new and revolutionary world. 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. Whether your dream is escaping the rat race, high-end world travel, monthly five-figure income with zero management, or just living more and working less, this book is the blueprint. Great book to do what you love with Questions and actions after each chapter.

Great Quote:

• “Time Wasters: Become an Ignoramus. Implementing the twice-daily routine and move to once a day routine for checking email and turn off all audible alerts in your email program.”

5. The Saint, the Surfer and the CEO, Robin Sharma

This book is a story about a man who has set out on a search for wisdom to live a happier, healthier and more beautiful life and visits a saint, surfer and CEO. Life lessons transforming the lives of many thousands of people.

Great Quotes:

• “Love as a business tool: There are two states a human being can be in at any moment: fear or love.”
• “You will be happy in your life in direct proportion to the degree to which you will be helpful to the world.”

6. Question Your Thinking, Change the World, Byron Katie

In this powerful book the author talks about the most essential issues that face us all—love, sex, and relationships; health, sickness, and death; parents and children; work and money; and self-realization. The profound, lighthearted wisdom embodied within is not theoretical; it is absolutely authentic.

Great Quote:

• Thoughts Believed, Change Your World

7. Your erroneous zones, Dr Wayne Dyer

A positive and practical advice for breaking free from the trap of negative thinking and enjoying life to the fullest. There is only here and now—not yesterday, not tomorrow, only now.

Great Quote:

• Spirit is only here and now—not yesterday, not tomorrow, only now.

8. A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle

In this book Tolle gives his honest look at the current state of humanity: He implores us to see and accept that this state, which is based on an erroneous identification with the egoic mind, is one of dangerous insanity.

Great Quote:

• “You can’t argue with what is. Well, you can, but if you do, you suffer. Through allowing, you become what you are: vast, spacious. You become whole.”

9. Life Code, Dr Phil Mc Graw

   Subtitle: The New Rules For Winning In The Real World.

It’s time to learn how the world really works, Dr Phil offers a rare glimpse inside the minds of “bad guys” we all have in our lives, in the form of a “Secret Playbook,” that spells out exactly how the users, abusers and exploiters think and act.

Great Quotes:

• “If you have a problem with negotiating, get over it!”
• “When you get into an argument, sometimes you think your goals is to win, when in fact your goal should be to understood.”

10. The Power of The Heart, Baptist De Pape

This book contains the unprecedented convocation of eighteen of the world’s greatest spiritual thinkers, writers, and scientists, including Maya Angelou, Deepak Chopra, Paulo Coelho, and Eckhart Tolle, this beautifully designed full-color spiritual guide—which ties into a film of the same name—reveals how you can overcome limitations and fulfill your highest potential.

Great Quote:

• People First. Then Money. Then Things.- Suze Orman

What is your favorite book?

Marieke Stoop