12 Books to Improve Your Business Skills

Want to be smarter – or at least feel like you are? Pick up one of these classic reads for great minds. The idea that reading makes you smarter has been proven by numerous research studies, including some that have identified improvements in crystallized, fluid and emotional intelligence in individuals emotional intelligence in individuals who read regularly. Reading can help expand vocabulary and understanding, and increase the ability to detect emotions and feelings in others for better communication and relationships.

Books to make you more intelligent

Here are 12 books that can enhance the intelligence boost you get from reading.

1. The Art of War by Sun Tzu

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While this ancient book might, at first, appear like a military manual, its ideas about strategy translate into successful tactics that anyone can use to create a more intelligent strategy for their company.

2. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

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So much of today’s success comes from having the right mindset for business. This book is dedicated to showing you how to think methodically and rapidly, as well as how to know when to make faster or slower decisions. You want to be quick on your feet, but you don’t want to rush into a decision that needs more contemplation. Kahneman teaches both a “fast system” and a “slow system” to help you determine when and how to use each speed of thinking. [Related article: What Are Decision Support Systems?]

3. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

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In this popular book, Bryson shares information across many areas of science related to the universe and how we got to where we are in human history. Along the way, Bryson adds some heavy information on physics, biology, chemistry and more. When you can discuss how and why we might be here, as well as our purpose, you could impress more than a few people in conversation.

4. The Greatest Secret in the World by Og Mandino

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First published in 1972, this book has stood the test of time and is on a number of must-read lists. Not only does this book make you more intelligent with insights on personal and financial success, but it also gives you the plan for developing the traits that will get you what you want. The transformational processes Mandino describes can also help you improve your relationships with all types of people. [Check out our top 10 must-read books for marketers.]

5. The Courage to Write by Ralph Keyes

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Those who write well are often deemed more intelligent than those who cannot. Pick up this manual, which serves as both a how-to book and a fountain of inspiration on bravery. This book gives you the information you need to improve your grammar, structure, tone and style.

6. Jump Start Your Business Brain by Doug Hall

Source: Amazon

This book is designed to enhance your level of intelligence around designing and launching a new product. It focuses on the skills and knowledge essential to making a viable product. Hall uses research and analyses to help you develop an effective sales process, marketing strategies and other business techniques.

7. Cosmos by Carl Sagan

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While you might think some aspects of this book are over your head, Sagan makes deep and expansive topics accessible. He covers areas such as religion, philosophy, history, culture and science, to make you feel more well-rounded, or at least deliver some tidbits you can toss into a dinner party conversation about the meaning of life.

8. Creativity Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace

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Creativity continues to be pegged as a critical success factor and a pathway to differentiation in business. Yet it can be one of the most difficult things for us to put into a defining practice for use. With examples from today’s biggest creative film successes, the book offers a glimpse of how to tap into the creative potential in all of us.

Tip: Want to share your own knowledge with readers? Learn how to write an e-book for your business.

9. You Are Not Your Brain by Jeffrey Schwartz

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Most of us need to practice greater discipline in how we think and act. This book offers tips on how to control your mind while managing any impulses that may be impacting relationships, productivity and overall success.

10. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

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While a high IQ is great to have, Outliers presents the logic behind why some people are more successful than others, illustrating that it is not always directly related to intelligence. Using findings from evolutionary psychology, Gladwell teaches you how to be smarter and more successful.

11. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg

Source: Amazon

Since we all seem to develop both good and bad habits in our lives, it is beneficial to understand why we do what we do, and the impact that our habits can have on us, our relationships and how well we do in the business world. This book can provide the inspiration and strategy to alter habits and develop ones that position us to be more admired, influential and successful.

12. Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Source: Amazon

Becoming more intelligent often requires changing perspectives and altering the way you think and make decisions. Through the use of diverse examples within this book, the authors offer a variety of steps to help readers begin thinking differently.

Bottom Line: A large part of success is listening to and attempting to understand others’ insights and experiences.

Whether these books change how you think, decide or act, others will begin to notice incremental improvements in your intelligence. This could mean greater respect at work, a jump in the influence you have over others or even a fast pass to a spot on Jeopardy.

How reading helps you in business

Helps you become a better writer

Writing is a necessary skill for anyone involved in business. It’s used for memos, emails, social media and official documents. When you read, you expose yourself to a variety of voices and styles, which can help you learn different ways of communicating ideas. You will begin to pick up on what works and what doesn’t, how to communicate using details or evidence, and even how to engage others through various writing modes. In addition, reading allows you the opportunity to pick up new vocabulary.

Improves reading comprehension

Reading exposes you to endless pieces of information you might have otherwise never learned. Reading for 30 minutes or more every week gives you a 21% higher chance of increasing your knowledge, according to a Quick Reads report. In addition to gaining more expertise from the books you read, you’ll improve your ability to comprehend information. This makes it easier to read between the lines, understand any hidden messages in communications you receive from others and see the bigger picture.

Did you know? Reading can give you a stronger ability to see from different perspectives, especially if you read books from diverse authors.

Increases your communication skills

Listening to others’ ideas and how they communicate them can help you learn how to communicate more effectively and ensure your ideas come across clearly. This can help you with public speaking as you learn the flow of words and sentences, how conversations naturally occur, and what structures there are for expressing certain ideas or topics. This is useful when networking or communicating with people within your business. The Quick Reads report found that those who read at least 30 minutes a week are 27% more likely to have an easy time starting conversations, and others will find them more likable while they talk. Conversations will be more effective, and you will be seen as a great communicator with high emotional intelligence. [Read more about the importance of emotional intelligence in business.]

Reduces stress

In the sometimes chaotic and stressful world in the aftermath of COVID-19, it’s important to take breaks and relax your mind. As much as you value productivity, resting your brain is just as important. When you read, you can ease up while not fully unplugging your mind. Reading has been proven to reduce stress more than listening to music or exercising, and it can even lower your heart rate and blood pressure. Not only will you become more intelligent from reading, but your physical and mental health can improve at the same time.

Sean Peek contributed to the writing and reporting in this article.

Top 5 Books on Business Mindset

Before embarking on any business adventure it’s important to equip yourself with the right money mindset. Over the years we’ve witnessed countless new startups, particularly within eCommerce, just “do” without any business knowledge whatsoever.

Books to read for business mindset should be at the top of your radar to truly improve your business knowledge.

Let’s put it into perspective and context:

Would you really buy a car without knowing how to drive?!

Would you really attempt to build a house without having an architectural plan / blueprint?!

We’ve said it often, and we’ll repeat it again. Knowledge is power, power is money.

You need to adjust your mindset to understand what it takes to run a business, how to budget, when and where to invest, and anything that compounds over time.

You see, when done right a business becomes a phenomenal asset, just like buying a house, the value increases over time.

Related blog posts:

Below we’ve listed the best books on business mindset by reviews and popularity.

28 Great Books That Will Expand Your Knowledge and Open Your Mind

Reading Time: 13 minutes

Can books really open your mind, expand your knowledge, and transform the way you live?

YES! Three years ago, I stopped watching television and started devouring books. 100+ books later, I can confidently say it’s the best investment I’ve ever made.

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss

Books have expanded my knowledge and opened my mind. They have allowed me to solve hard problems and uncover new interests. They have helped me excel in life and business. Above all else, books have brought me closer to a meaningful and fulfilling path.

I recently re-read one of my favorite books, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. The novel is about a futuristic society in which people are banned from reading books. These people do not read, think independently, have meaningful conversations, or spend time in nature.

“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” – Ray Bradbury

Bradbury’s future is my nightmare, and it’s not that far off. If we continue to scroll our phones, wear Airpods as we walk around, and consume pointless news that makes us angry at each other and the world, we’re an inch away from living in Bradbury’s world.

So how do we prevent this nightmare from becoming a reality?

READ books! Otherwise, the sun will stop rising, the oceans will boil, and we’ll all…

Okay, it probably won’t be that bad, but we can all still benefit from more reading. To help you on your journey, I’ve curated a list of 28 great books that have profoundly expanded my knowledge and changed the way I think and operate.

My hope is that these books will expand your mind as well. And if you’re looking for good advice to help improve your life, check out these 40 pieces of advice that most people ignore.

P.S. If you enjoy the recommendations in this article, it’s worth checking out Foundations, a growing and fully searchable digital notebook with insights from 100+ timeless books.

Books to Expand Your Knowledge and Open Your Mind

1. Man’s Search for Meaning By Viktor Frankl “…Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” Rating: 10/10 Why it’s Great: This book changed my life. In it, Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl shows us that we have the ability to choose our response to every situation we face and that we can find meaning in our suffering. Get Book on Amazon

“Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed—and you haven’t been.”

Rating: 10/10

Why it’s Great: A life-changing collection of philosophical and spiritual thoughts from Marcus Aurelius, a Stoic and the former Roman Emperor.

“Culture tends to argue that it forbids only that which is unnatural. But from a biological perspective, nothing is unnatural. Whatever is possible is by definition also natural. A truly unnatural behaviour, one that goes against the laws of nature, simply cannot exist, so it would need no prohibition.”

Rating: 10/10

Why it’s Great: A refreshingly comprehensive, engaging, and scientific account of history that will make you a better-informed person and leader.

“The artist committing himself to his calling has volunteered for hell, whether he knows it or not. He will be dining for the duration on a diet of isolation, rejection, self-doubt, despair, ridicule, contempt, and humiliation.”

Rating: 10/10

Why it’s Great: Pressfield prepares and inspires creatives to survive and thrive the challenging journey to produce good work in the face of resistance.

“Because once we become comfortable with the fact of our own death—the root terror, the underlying anxiety motivating all of life’s frivolous ambitions—we can then choose our values more freely, unrestrained by the illogical quest for immortality, and freed from dangerous dogmatic views.”

Rating: 10/10

Why it’s Great: In this engaging and philosophical read, writer Mark Manson provides philosophical and candid thoughts on how we can live a better life.

“People do some of the most important things in life not for money, not for rational benefits, but for how it makes them feel.”

Rating: 9/10

Why it’s Great: A fantastic introduction to negotiation that arms you with the knowledge and strategies to help you get more out of your work and life.

“What is hard to avoid is the alluring temptation to throw your money away on short, get-rich-quick speculative binges.”

Rating: 9/10

Why it’s Great: A guide that blends history, economics, and behavioral finance to offer practical and actionable advice for investing and achieving financial freedom.

“Adversity can harden you. Or it can loosen you up and make you better—if you let it.”

Rating: 9/10

Why it’s Great: A practical and actionable philosophy on how to perceive, act, and thrive in an uncertain, difficult, and fast-paced world.

“Science may provide the most useful way to organize empirical, reproducible data, but its power to do so is predicated on its inability to grasp the most central aspects of human life: hope, fear, love, hate, beauty, envy, honor, weakness, striving, suffering, virtue.”

Rating: 9/10

Why it’s Great: While dying of lung cancer, neurosurgeon Paul Kalanithi confronts the unanswerable and difficult question of what makes life meaningful.

“Leaders must always operate with the understanding that they are part of something greater than themselves and their own personal interests.”

Rating: 9/10

Why it’s Great: Two Navy SEALs show you how to be a better leader by practicing extreme ownership, killing your ego, prioritizing, and executing.

“Conscious human malevolence can break the spirit even tragedy could not shake.”

Rating: 9/10

Why it’s Great: A profound and deeply philosophical read that shows us why we do what we do and how we can all live better, more fulfilling lives.

“To live only for some future goal is shallow. It’s the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top. Here’s where things grow.”

Rating: 9/10

Why it’s Great: Through an entrancing narrative of a man on a summer motorcycle trip with his son, Pirsig takes us on a deeply philosophical journey that explores society, values, and life’s big questions.

“Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.”

Rating: 9/10

Why it’s Great: This is the inspiring story of Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, and his struggles, victories, and lesson learned while building a billion dollar shoe giant.

“Play expands our minds in ways that allow us to explore: to germinate new ideas or see old ideas in a new light. It makes us more inquisitive, more attuned to novelty, more engaged. Play is fundamental to living the way of the Essentialist.”

Rating: 9/10

Why it’s Great: A practical philosophy about living consciously, focusing on the essential, and creating a life to achieve your highest point of contribution.

“You never know where somebody’s going to end up. It’s not just about building your reputation; it really is about being there for other people.”

Rating: 9/10

Why it’s Great: Adam Grant shows us how being a giver in our attitudes and actions towards others can fuel our long-term personal and professional success.

“All too often, the security of a mediocre present is more comfortable than the adventure of trying to be more in the future.”

Rating: 9/10

Why it’s Great: A comprehensive and invaluable guide to mastering your mind, body, emotions, and finances from leading life and business strategist Tony Robbins.

“The water is habits, the unthinking choices and invisible decisions that surround us every day—and which, just by looking at them, become visible again.”

Rating: 9/10

Why it’s Great: A digestible, comprehensive, and transformative guide to understanding why habits exist, how they work, and how you can change then.

“He who has learned to disagree without being disagreeable has discovered the most valuable secret of negotiation.”

Rating: 9/10

Why it’s Great: International hostage negotiator Chris Voss provides a practical set of principles to improve your effectiveness in getting what you want.

“Smile when you enter a room. As soon as you walk in a club, the game is on. And by smiling, you look like you’re together, you’re fun, and you’re somebody.”

Rating: 8/10

Why it’s Great: A fascinating and in-depth look at how journalist and author Neil Strauss became a well-respected leader in the pick-up artist community.

“Every problem, every dilemma, every dead end we find ourselves facing in life, only appears unsolvable inside a particular frame or point of view. Enlarge the box, or create another frame around the data, and problems vanish, while new opportunities appear.”

Rating: 8/10

Why it’s Great: 12 helpful and inspiring practices from a conductor and a psychotherapist that will fuel your personal and professional success.

“The idea that the future is unpredictable is undermined every day by the ease with which the past is explained.”

Rating: 8/10

Why it’s Great: An engaging and comprehensive introduction to the psychology of decision making and judgment by one of the pioneers in the field.

“Our convictions about who we are carry us through the day, and we are constantly interpreting the things that happen to us through the filter of those core beliefs.”

Rating: 8/10

Why it’s Great: An examination of the human tendency to self-justify everything we do that will reshape your understanding of your memory, beliefs, and actions.

“The Deep Work Hypothesis: The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As a consequence, the few who cultivate this skill, and then make it the core of their working life, will thrive.”

Rating: 8/10

Why it’s Great: Georgetown Professor Cal Newport shows us how to increase our focus and produce deep, meaningful work in a hyper-distracting world.

“The secret language of statistics, so appealing in a fact-minded culture, is employed to sensationalize, inflate, confuse, and oversimplify.”

Rating: 8/10

Why it’s Great: A great reminder of the basic principles of statistics and how they are often violated in the data we use and see in work, the news, and our personal lives.

“To complain is always non-acceptance of what is.”

Rating: 8/10

Why it’s Great: Eckhart Tolle takes you on a journey that explores presence, thinking, spirituality, and how to reduce pain in your life.

“Meditation is neither shutting things out nor off. It is seeing things clearly, and deliberately positioning yourself differently in relationship to them.”

Rating: 8/10

Why it’s Great: A complete introduction to how and why to practice meditation and mindfulness that will help you live with more clarity, acceptance, and presence.

“When we believe something is wrong with us, we are convinced we are in danger. Our shame fuels ongoing fear, and our fear fuels more shame.”

Rating: 8/10

Why it’s Great: If you have ever struggled with self-compassion, this book is for you. Clinical psychologist and meditation teacher, Tara Brach, introduces a fantastic approach to better relating to your experiences and emotions.

“Until you learn to trust your own actions and learn to pursue women with your own unique style and personality, you have learned absolutely nothing.”

Rating: 8/10

Why it’s Great: An honest and helpful dating guide for men that will allow you to better connect with women in an authentic and effective way.

Final Thoughts and Tips on How to Get Started

For more good book recommendations and lessons, check out Foundations, a growing digital notebook with lessons from 100+ timeless books across categories.

If you haven’t read a book in a while, check out How to Read a Nonfiction Book. Yes, I know you know how to read, but this article will help you get the most out of the time you spend reading, and it starts with the topic of book selection.

If you struggle to read, try listening to audiobooks with Amazon Audible. If you want to easily track notes and highlights from books you read, I’m a big fan of Readwise.

Check out 21 Best Personal Development Books and 11 Great Books for Decision Making.

Like with relationships, timing is everything with books. I’ve found that reading books that explore and solve problems I’m currently facing resonate the most. Start with a book that looks interesting based on your current life challenges.

Don’t feel the need to finish a book that isn’t working for you. Drop it and move on.

I think everyone should own a Kindle, so if you don’t already, consider buying one. I’ve read 5x more books with a Kindle, and it’s super handy for when you’re traveling.

Finally, I send out a weekly Sunday newsletter, Life Reimagined, with helpful ideas and quotes from good books. If you want to receive small nuggets of wisdom and recommendations for future reading every week, you can sign up below.