95 Business Books for People Who Dream Big

After some requests for “further reading” on a variety of management concepts, my coworker Rebecca Corliss put together some internal resources — mostly books — for a bunch of our team members.

That resource list quickly expanded into not just management, but leadership resources. And then it propelled further into broader business concepts as people commented with their own favorite books on entrepreneurship, hiring, strategy, and a host of other topics.

So I took some time to put together my own list of recommended reading for people that really want to invest in their own business education outside of their day-to-day experiences (though I still maintain hands-on experience is the best source of education). Some will certainly be familiar to you, but I hope others are a surprise. Thank you to T. Blake Littwin for designing artwork that makes this massive list of reading a lot easier to, you know, read.

Please, leave more recommendations in the comments for business books others should be reading, and the topics they cover well.

Business Books on Innovation

• Non-Obvious: How to Think Different, Curate Ideas & Predict the Future, Rohit Bhargava
• The Industries of the Future, Alec Ross
• Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World, Adam Grant
• The Innovator’s Dilemma, Clay Christensen
• Tesla, Space X, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, Elon Musk
• Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space & Make Competition Irrelevant, W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne

Business Books on Vulnerability

• Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent & Lead, Brené Brown
• Mirroring People: The New Science of How We Connect With Others, Marco Iacoboni
• Year of Yes, Shonda Rhimes
• The Empathy Factor: Your Competitive Advantage for Personal, Team, and Business Success, Marie R. Miyashiro
• The Art of Empathy: A Complete Guide to Life’s Most Essential Skill, Karla McLaren

Business Books on Entrepreneurship

• The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers, Ben Horowitz
• The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It, Michael E. Gerber
• The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future, Chris Guillebeau
• The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, Eric Ries
• Rework, Jason Fried

Business Books on Failure

• The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well Is the Key to Success, Megan McArdle
• Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company, Andrew S. Grove
• Failure: Why Science Is So Successful, Stuart Firestein
• Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes Into Stepping Stones for Success, John C. Maxwell
• The Wisdom of Failure: How to Learn the Tough Leadership Lessons Without Paying the Price, Laurence G. Weinzimmer
• Rising Strong, Brené Brown

Business Books on Culture

• Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman, Yvon Chouinard
• The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work, Teresa Amabile & Steven Kramer
• Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose, Tony Hsieh
• Uncontainable: How Passion, Commitment, and Conscious Capitalism Built a Business Where Everyone Thrives, Kip Tindell
• Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business, Danny Meyer

Business Books on Decision-Making

• Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Malcolm Gladwell
• Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman
• Sprint: Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days, Jake Knapp
• Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, Richard H. Thaler & Cass R. Sunstein
• Contagious: Why Things Catch On, Jonah Berger
• Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company, Andrew S. Grove

Business Books on Confidence

• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, Susan Cain
• Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges, Amy Cuddy
• You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life, Jen Sincero
• Talking With Confidence for the Painfully Shy, Don Gabor
• The Gifts of Imperfection, Brené Brown

Business Books on Motivation

• Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, Simon Sinek
• How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert B. Cialdini
• Radical Focus: Achieving Your Most Important Goals With Objectives and Key Results, Christina Wodtke
• Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, Angela Duckworth
• Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, Steven Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
• Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t, Simon Sinek
• High Output Management, Andrew S. Grove

Business Books on Strategy

• The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization, Peter M. Senge
• Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell
• Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space & Make Competition Irrelevant, W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne
• In Search of Excellence, Thomas J. Peters & Robert H. Waterman Jr.
• Good to Great, Jim Collins
• The Halo Effect: And the Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers, Phil Rosenzweig

Business Books on Team Development

• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni
• Radical Focus: Achieving Your Most Important Goals With Objectives and Key Results, Christina Wodtke
• The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever, Michael Bungay Stanier
• Who: The A Method for Hiring, Geoff Smart & Randy Street
• The Synergist: How to Lead Your Team to Predictable Success, Les McKeown
• Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent, Sydney Finkelstein

Business Books on Productivity

• The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, Charles Duhigg
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey
• Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business, Charles Duhigg
• Manage Your Day-to-Day, Jocelyn K. Glei
• The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy, Charles Bailey
• Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, Cal Newport
• The 4-Hour Workweek, Timothy Ferriss

Business Books on Public Speaking

• Illuminate: Ignite Change Through Speeches, Stories, Ceremonies, and Symbols, Nancy Duarte & Patti Sanchez
• Talk Like TED: The 9 Public Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds, Carmine Gallo
• The Art of Public Speaking, Dale Carnegie
• How to Wow: Proven Strategies for Presenting Your Ideas, Persuading Your Audience, and Perfecting Your Image, Frances Cole Jones
• Speaking Your Way to Success, Sheryll Lindsell-Roberts
• Pitch Perfect: How to Say It Right the First Time, Every Time, Bill McGowan
• Lead With a Story, Paul Smith

Business Books on Relationship-Building

• Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, Steven Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
• The 11 Laws of Likability, Michelle Tillis Lederman
• How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships, Leil Lowndes
• How to Win Friends & Influence People, Dale Carnegie
• Rise, Patty Azzarello
• Never Eat Alone, Keith Ferrazzi

Business Books on Work/Life Fulfillment

• The Happiness Equation: Want Nothing + Do Anything = Have Everything, Neil Pasricha
• Born for This: How to Find the Work You Were Meant to Do, Chris Guillebeau
• The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future, Chris Guillebeau
• The Three Marriages: Reimagining Work, Self, and Relationship, David Whyte
• So Good They Can’t Ignore You, Cal Newport
• Beyond Happy: Women, Work and Well-being, Beth Cabrera

Business Books on Creativity

• Creativity, Inc: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration, Ed Catmull
• Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, Elizabeth Gilbert
• The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery, Sarah Lewis
• Wired to Create: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind, Scott Barry Kaufman
• How Successful People Think, John C. Maxwell

Business Books on Bringing Home the Bacon

• Stop Acting Rich, Thomas J. Stanley
• The New Elite: Inside the Minds of the Truly Wealthy, Dr. Jim Taylor
• Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki & Sharon Lechter
• Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, T. Harv Eker
• The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success, Darren Hardy
• Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill

Artwork by T. Blake Littwin