The Best Business Books of All Time seems like a subject that could have hundreds if not thousands of contenders.
If you are thinking that, well, you’d be right.
Let’s be clear this list is not a definitive guide to the best business books of all time, instead, it is a living, breathing, and constantly growing storehouse of the best business books that are relevant to any business in the twenty twenties – large or small.
Whether you are a seasoned CEO or entrepreneur or you’re an aspiring manager or new start-up founder, you will find something in this guide to the best business books of all time that will resonate with you and help you.
Whether you are looking to become a better leader, understand the psychology of business, transform your relationship with your staff, or function more creatively, my inventory of the best business books of all time will help you achieve your ambitions.
So, get choosing and get reading. These best business books of all time will help you and your business shift gear and achieve things you never thought possible.
What Are the Best Business Books of All Time?
In compiling this guide I have chosen books by some of the smartest business minds around including Simon Sinek, Ryan Holiday, and Tim Ferris to name just a few.
Not only that, I have sourced books from outside of the mainstream business category that includes titles from all round renaissance man Questlove, the greatest football manager of all time Sir Alex Ferguson, and author, journalist, and global thinker Malcolm Gladwell.
The books chosen offer a range of topics that have the potential to help every person and business to think differently and grow.
The subjects include:
- Customer Service
- Psychology
- Creativity
- Leadership
- Values
- Presentation Skills
- Physical Fitness
- Employee Wellbeing
- Entrepreneurship
- Success/High Achievement
The best business books of all time will continue to be updated and grow, so check back regularly to see any new additions.
Reading is an investment in yourself and the most accessible form of professional development you can do.
Prepare yourself to be inspired and educated as I take you through the 23 Best Business Books of All Time, 2023 Edition.
1. Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action – Simon Sinek
If you choose to buy only one of these books it should be Start with Why by Simon Sinek.
This book investigates why some people and organisations are more inventive, pioneering, and successful than others and why they can repeat the success again and again.
Back of the Book says: Steve Jobs, the Wright Brothers, and Martin Luther King have one thing in common: they STARTED WITH WHY.
2. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck – Mark Manson
Not everything in life is fair and sometimes you can’t control what is going on – there are winners and losers.
Mark Manson’s book focuses on learning to deal with it and appreciating that not everybody can be extraordinary.
Back of the Book says: Resilience, happiness and freedom come from knowing what to care about – and. Most importantly what not to care about. This is a masterful, philosophical, and practical book that will give readers the wisdom to be able to do just that.
3. Bounce – Matthew Syed
Technically a book about achieving success in the world of sport – this is the famous 10,000 hours book.
The lessons on offer here from Matthew Syed translate perfectly to the world of business.
Back of the Book says: Can we really ALL be the best? Is the idea of innate ability holding us back? Could the ability to fail – and then get over it – be fundamental to success?
4. The Obstacle is the Way – Ryan Holiday
The subtitle of this book is ‘The Ancient Art of Turning Adversity into Advantage’, which perfectly sums up the content of this internationally best-selling book.
Ryan Holiday, college drop-out and former Director of Marketing for American Apparel demonstrates that if your competition threatens you, then it’s time to be fearless and how an impossible deadline can be an opportunity to show how dedicated you are.
Back of the Book says: Manage your perceptions. Recognise when you can change things. Direct your actions. And learn to turn every obstacle to your advantage.
5. Creative Quest – Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson
Questlove is a man of many talents. Band Leader for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, drummer, DJ, Oscar-winning film-maker, culinary raconteur and author are a few of the hats he wears.
He has worked with hundreds of artists and creatives and in Creative Quest, he distils his knowledge and that of his collaborators into a guide for the role of creativity in everyday life.
Back of the Book says: Creative Quest is a comprehensive, funny and honest exploration of the artistic process.
6. Be Our Guest – Theodore Kinni
The Disney organisation has been known for decades for its flawless approach to customer service.
Theodore Kinni illustrates how exceeding customer expectations rather than simply satisfying them is the cornerstone of the Disney approach to customer service.
Back of the Book says: Be our Guest outlines proven Disney principles and processes for helping your organisation focus its vision and assemble its people and infrastructure within a cohesive strategy that delivers on the promise of exceptional customer service.
7. Tiny Habits – BJ Fogg
This book cracks the code on habit formation and demonstrates how to change and implement new and healthier habits that will benefit your life and your business.
BJ Fogg is a pioneering research psychologist, Silicon Valley legend and the founder of the Behaviour Design Lab at Stanford University.
Back of the Book says: Tiny Habits is a blueprint for redefining our approach to self-improvement.
8. The Ride of a Lifetime – Robert Iger
Bob Iger is the legendary CEO of Disney. As I write this Iger has returned to the helm at Disney to take over from his successor after only two and a half years in the job.
If you are an aspiring CEO or want to learn how to be a better CEO read this book and learn from the man who crafted the deals that saw Disney take charge of Marvel, Pixar, Lucasfilm (Star Wars & Indiana Jones) and 21st Century Fox.
Back of the Book says: A grand vision defined: the CEO of Disney shares the ideas and values he embraced to reinvent one of the most beloved companies in the world and inspire the people who bring the magic to life.
9. The Chimp Paradox – Professor Steve Peters
The Chimp Paradox is a powerful mind management model that can help you understand, not only yourself but, others, allowing you to be more confident in life, business or sport.
It teaches you how to determine when the rational and irrational brain is at work and how to differentiate between them both.
Professor Steve Peters is a medical doctor who specialises in mental health and the functioning of the human mind.
Back of the Book says: The mind programme that helped me win my Olympic gold. Sir Chris Hoy
10. The Presentations Secrets of Steve Jobs – Carmine Gallo
Even after more than a decade since Steve Jobs died he continues to be the benchmark for corporate presentations.
Communications expert Carmine Gallo studied the best presentations given by the late Apple CEO and produced this road map designed to make you a better presenter, ensuring you will inspire, motivate and enthral your audiences.
Back of the Book says: Apple CEO Steve Jobs’s widely popular presentations have set a new global gold standard – and now this step-by-step guide shows you exactly how to use his crowd-pleasing techniques in your presentations.
11. Tools of Titans – Tim Ferriss
Tim Ferriss is the rock star technology investor/advisor and podcast host. His podcast is so influential he has been called the ‘Oprah of audio’.
In Tools of Titans, Ferriss distils the knowledge he has garnered from two hundred world-class overachievers who have been guests on his podcast.
He has written a playbook on delivering greatness both in life and business.
Back of the Book says: Tim Ferriss has collected the routines and tools of world-class performers around the globe.
12. The Customer Rules – Lee Cockerell
Another Disney Alum makes the list. This time it is former Executive VP of Walt Disney World, Lee Cockerell.
In The Customer Rules, Cockerell has set out 39 rules to teach you how to secure a reputation for excellent customer service.
No matter the industry, public or private sector, one-man band or global empire, The Customer Rules will give you the mindset to connect with your customers.
Back of the Book says: If you play by these rules you will win.
13. Presence – Amy Cuddy
Harvard professor Amy Cuddy holds the title of the second most viewed TED talk of all time. Her presentation on body language and how it shapes who we are has been viewed over 66 million times.
Her book, Presence, continues this theory and explains that if we adopt behaviours reflecting power and strength we free ourselves from the anxiety that obstructs us.
She illustrates her science with stories from individuals facing real-life obstacles, who have succeeded against the odds.
Back of the Book says: Reading this book will forever change how you carry yourself, and in doing so, will make you braver, bolder and better able to show up for all of your life’s greatest opportunities.
14. The 4-Hour Body – Tim Ferriss
Today we all know the benefits of regular exercise and movement. Yet, in the business world, a large number of people still choose to ignore those benefits and claim to have no time for the gym or exercise.
Superhero Tim Ferriss is back again and demonstrates how just 4 hours per week you can lose weight, improve your fitness and (according to the front of the book) have incredible sex.
Back of the Book says: Based on more than a decade of research, the collective wisdom of hundreds of elite athletes and medical doctors, as well as thousands of hours of jaw-dropping personal experimentation, Ferriss has finally perfected the way to rapid body transformation with minimal effort and maximum results.
15. Switch – Chip & Dan Heath
Most businesses struggle with change, even though for most successful businesses change is a constant.
Change IS hard. It doesn’t have to be.
The Heath brothers, Chip and Dan, demonstrate through scientific studies and real-life illustrations that deceptively simple methods can yield truly extraordinary results.
Back of the Book says: We all know that change is hard. It’s unsettling, it’s time-consuming, and all too often we give up at the first sign of a setback. The Heath brothers argue that we need only understand how our minds function in order to unlock shortcuts to switches in behaviour.
16. Blink – Malcolm Gladwell
This book is about those moments when we ‘know’ something without knowing why. A skill that could help any business owner, employee or executive. Surely, it’s just gut instinct and we can’t develop it?
In this fascinating book, cultural commentator, Malcolm Gladwell shows us that honing our instincts could change the way we think about thinking forever.
Back of the Book says: An art expert instantly spots a fake. A cop decides whether to shoot. A psychologist accurately predicts a couple’s future in minutes. This book is about those moments when we ‘know’ something without knowing it.
17. Everybody Matters – Bob Chapman & Raj Sisodia
As CEO of Barry-Wehmiller, Bob Chapman has pioneered a dramatically different approach to leadership that has created a high-performing and happy culture.
If you employ people and you truly want to care for them, this could be the most important book you ever read.
Chapman demonstrates the steps required to transform any workplace, regardless if you employ one person or ten thousand people.
Back of the Book says: A lot of leaders talk about this. See what happens when you actually do it.
18. Creativity, Inc. – Ed Catmull
Ed Catmull is the co-founder of one of the most ground-breaking, genre-changing businesses in the entertainment industry, Pixar. The company that brought us Toy Story and changed animation forever.
Creativity, Inc. is a manual for owners/managers who strive for originality and want to lead their teams to new heights.
Forbes Magazine said this ‘Just might be the best business book ever written.
Back of the Book says: This book should be required reading for any manager.
19, Crushing It – Gary Vaynerchuck
Gary Vaynerchuk (if you’ve been living under a rock) is the 100mph, constantly swearing marketing guru that has transformed the lives of countless people through his dominance of social media.
Crushing It is the follow-up to the 2009 bestseller ‘Crush It’. Picking up from where the last book finished, Crushing It continues the theme of building a vibrant personal brand and utilising the power of social media.
It is a blueprint for everyone, not just entrepreneurs, to start living life on their terms.
Back of the Book says: Gary is helping to calibrate the desires and expectations of a new generation searching for a way to break through the noise.
20. Leaders Eat Last – Simon Sinek
This is a book about being the best leader you can be and by taking care of your people, they will take care of you.
It’s another home run from the magnificent Simon Sinek. The latest edition even includes a chapter on how to lead millennials.
The book investigates how great leaders from the Marine Corps inspire their troops and how these skills can be translated into the workplace.
Back of the Book says: Why some teams pull together and others don’t.
21. Leading – Alex Ferguson & Michael Moritz
The greatest football (soccer) manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson reveals his secrets behind leading successful teams.
He looks at discipline, control, teamwork and motivation and perhaps most powerful – how to deal with failure.
If you need any reassurance that the skills in this book are transferable to business, take heart in the fact that Ferguson signed up with Harvard University in 2014 to teach leadership in their business school.
Back of the Book says: I think he’s one of the world’s all-time great leaders. Professor Anita Elberse, Harvard Business School.
22. Shoe Dog – Phil Knight
The memoir of a true entrepreneur, Phil Knight, founder of Nike, borrowed $50 from his father to start a sneaker company that is now a multi-billion dollar sportswear company.
The man behind the ‘swoosh’ details building something from nothing, warts and all, and how that company is now one of the world’s most recognisable brands.
Knight has always been a bit of an enigma, he tells his story with humility and humour.
Back of the Books says: An inspiration for everyone with an unconventional dream.
23. Outliers – Malcolm Gladwell
Another appearance on our list from the great Malcolm Gladwell.
Why do some people achieve so much more than others?
In Outliers, he dissects success and reveals that it’s as much about where we are from and what we do, as who we are – and that no one, not even a genius, ever makes it alone.
Back of the Book says: Malcolm Gladwell looks at everyone from rock stars to scientific geniuses to show that the story of success is far more surprising and inspiring than we ever imagined.
The Best Way to Read the Best Business Books of All Time
As I said at the start of this article, reading is an investment in yourself and the most accessible form of professional development you can do.
Even if you only choose one of the Best Business Books of All Time, you will help make a difference to your business.
But I understand that some people are more natural readers than others. I know that I struggle to read unless I make time for it.
I’m also aware that we are all busier than ever, so carving out the time to read can be difficult.
So here are a few tips to help you read more and learn more:
- Schedule time to read. For me creating a specific time to read helps get through the book, even if it is only 10 – 15 minutes.
- Don’t read in bed. Controversial – I know. When I go to bed I’m tired. If I’m lucky I’ll maybe get through a page and a half before falling asleep. Your bed is for sleep and rest – don’t get your mind racing.
- Sit up when you read. It is easier to hold the book when you are sitting upright rather than lying down. Otherwise, you may fall into the trap of falling asleep again
- Take notes – in the book. If you own the book – take notes in the margin or at the bottom of the page. You’re learning – so take study notes.
- If you really can’t make the time to read, use a service like Audible to listen to the audio versions of your book.
Wrapping Up – The Best Business Books of All Time
When you are involved in the day-to-day running of a business it can be difficult to find time to develop yourself and learn new skills, strategies or techniques.
What books give us is a method of learning that allows us to choose when and where we learn and for how long. They are portable and highly accessible.
I hope you agree with my choices for the Best Business Books of All Time. It is a list that will be constantly updated, so remember and check back regularly for updates.
Until then, pick a book, buy it and get started. It could change your business and life for good.
