13 Business Books That Will Change Your Thinking

In no particular order:

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink: If you supervise someone in your company, this book is a must. It shows that what scientists know about motivation, the economy is not put into practice. In fact, many of the incentives we can actually de-motivate our employees. If you are an incentive program that the financial reward for the work that your employees already enjoy offers, create, expect the results be negative. You have just destroyed their inner motivation. Equally important (and well documented within the book) is that internally motivated people succeed more often than externally motivated people, they keep making more and better work. Think about when you hire your next employee.

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip & Dan Heath: This is an essential read for anyone who is not in a managerial position. In fact, this is a book that people that force can not change other way to their targets. With an easy to understand and implement model of the rider, the elephant and the way the Heath Brothers do it again and shows us how to motivate people who can not be forced into action. There are great examples in the book from the world of trade and non-profit work. If you deal with customers (and who does not), this book shows how you can influence them to behave in a desired way, if you hire the "tab" (intelligence), the "Elephant" (ID or emotion) and make the "path" as clear and simple as possible to follow.

Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust by Chris Brogan & Julien Smith: There are many books that social media out-of-date before they are at once Amazon or your local bookshops, but Brogan & Smith to avoid this trap by talking more about the strategy as a specific platform ... something that continues to give value for as long as people do business with people, no matter what is the medium.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie: Talk about the timeless, there are few books that have the shelf life (no pun intended) by Dale Carnegie's classic. I mean, with all the recent discussion about the importance of the influence, I'm surprised this book is not more often quoted from. For years I have avoided in this book, thought it was "out-of-date and had little insight into the modern world. However, it is the only book on this list I have read and listened to the audiobook (twice.) There are not an operator in the world would not be more successful by picking How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Permission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers by Seth Godin: This book literally changed my life and the way I do business. I did not really know who was Seth Godin (although I recognized his bald head) when I downloaded this book from Audible, but I still remember when I first fired up on my iPod when I mowed the lawn that day. My neighbors have thought I was the number of times I hit my forehead in a moment that a mash-up of course, was crazy, "naturally" and "why I did not realize that before. "It is the way we marketed our own marketing company and how we help other companies to reach their audience.

Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presenting Design and Delivery by Garr Reynolds: This is the book I've read recently, and I'm glad I did. I can not remember who read the many books that I refer business / recommended this book ... I think it was mentioned a few times. I got it while I was there in the middle the same presentation in a series of marketing lectures was about five days. I promised myself I would not see until the show was over, because I'm afraid it would tell me was to change my presentation. Boy, I was right. I broke my own rule and ended up working in the hotel until after 2 clock in the morning alter my presentation as much as I could and getting up a 6:00 the next morning to the new version of the practice. For who do not present information to a group, and it was with PowerPoint or Keynote as a crutch, grave a copy of this book.

Freakonomics and SuperFreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner: Okay, I cheated: These are two books. However, if you read them, they are both basically the same: they move in various examples to show how people respond to incentives, but not always in the way we expect. These books work well with something written by Malcolm Gladwell, Daniel Pink, or Chip and Dan Heath. However, as I read them, I was constantly taking notes on what was our business to provide prospects and existing customers in the way of incentives (planned or not) and whether they intended with the results. I think the books are eye-opening in terms of forcing us to take a closer look at our offers, such as impact on our customers, suppliers and employees.

The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century by Thomas L. Friedman: This book has been to me, given the a customer of mine, and it sat on my shelf for over a year. It looked boring. It looked like it was geared to large corporations. I do not know what to give and take the leap, but after the first chapter I was hooked. Friedman's Guide in India offers to do his taxes. Friedman has the gentle man who says he is happy with his accountant back in the States. The guide says: "Oh, then chances are I'm at it your taxes." Once you realize that U.S. tax return can the world really flat now be outsourced. I finished the book this week.

Crush It! Why NOW is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk: Vaynerchuk, a force of nature, and that comes through this book read quickly. Part inspirational, part autobiographical, you can see what is in this new era is nothing holding you back from success except hard work and the use of the tools available to us. Vaynerchuk shows you how to brand yourself, no matter where your passion lies: how to great content, as you create distribute this content, and how to succeed. If you are still struggling, as all that with social media "stuff" can help you, this is the book to pick.

The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss: Ferriss has come after some of the topics in his book by reading the world flat. It is an excellent chapter on outsourcing, including a funny play about a journalist that his love life (e-mails and flowers to the woman, and so on) to India, only to find they have a better job of managing his relations as he outsourced. On a more serious note, though I never expected to work only four hours per week, (what would I do with my time), there is great insight into how bad customer remove fire, mind-numbing drudgery of your day, and free your time for more creative work and / or play. Even if only a fraction of the Ferriss advice (which is how I played it), you are in a better place to find.

Shogun by James Claville: I once read that in a survey of the most popular business books, the CEO only one book was mentioned twice: this. It's a great read and it shows how executives influence / manipulate people to achieve goals.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand: In this highly influential and yet controversial book, Rand paints a dystopian alternate universe of a world where government regulation of the country and the world is paralyzed. I would not be an exaggeration to say that this book rewired my brain in school. Unfortunately, the epic story in this tome is hindered by mediocre writing skills and characters that could only generously be described as two-dimensional.

The Knack: How Street-Smart Entrepreneurs Learn to Handle Whatever Comes Up by Norm Brodsky and Bo Burlingham: I wanted to at least one book that was dedicated to small businesses and the entrepreneurial spirit to have. This last book was in a tight race with Small Giants: Companies that Choose to Be Great Instead of Big by Bo Burlingham. However, The Knack has some priceless stories and advice that can not be overlooked. It is a collection of advice and anecdotes as they begin to grow and eventually sell a business from someone who helps been there (and a co-author, write columns.) Many of these stories were previously in Brodsky told's column for Inc . Magazine, but if you have not read them all, this book is a big task, curated and put them together in an order that every small business owner grow their business would help.