As I sit here in my office surrounded by more than 3,000 business books it's pretty
tough to narrow it down to just a handful of the very best. However, if I were going
to pick the top 60 (or so) books that I feel give the very best information for how to
run a business successfully, this would be my list:
** In no particular order**
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
In Search of Excellence -- Tom Peters
The Little BIG Things – Tom Peters
Good to Great -- Jim Collins
Built to Last -- Jim Collins
What Really Works -- Joyce, Nohria, Roberson
The Truth About leadership -- Kouzes and Posner
Authentic Leadership -- Bill George
Indispensable – Joe Callaway
Becoming a Category of One – Joe Calloway
The Discipline of Teams -- Katzenbach and Smith
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team -- Patrick Lencioni
Team Building (fourth edition) -- Dyer, Dyer and Dyer
Lessons in Excellence from Charlie Trotter -- Paul Clarke
Kiss Theory Goodbye -- Bob Prosen
Mavericks at Work -- Taylor and LaBarre
On Becoming a Leader -- Warren Bennis
The Great Game of Business -- Jack stack
The Starbucks Experience -- Joseph Michelli
The New Gold Standard -- Joseph Michelli
Customers for Life – Carl Sewell
At America's Service -- Karl Albrecht
The Northbound Train -- Karl Albrecht
Leading People -- Robert Rosen
The Definitive Drucker -- Elizabeth Edersheim
What the Best CEOs know – Krames
Teaching the Elephant to Dance -- James Belasco
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
59.
60.
61.
If Aristotle ran General Motors -- Tom Morris
The Rockefeller Habits – Vern Harnish
The Orange Revolution – Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton
All In – Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton
Nobel Enterprise – Darwin Gillette
Blue Ocean Strategy – W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne
Primal Leadership – Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee
The Leader of the Future – Hesselbein, Goldsmith and Beckhard
Execution – Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan
Love is the Killer App -- Tim Sanders 37. Start with Why – Simon Sinek
Up Your Business -- Dave Anderson
The 100 Best Business Books of All Time – Jack Covert and Todd Stattersten
Simply Better – Patrick Barwise and Sean Meehan
Referral Engine – John Jantsch
Duct Tape Marketing – John Jantsch
Managing with a Conscience – Frank Sonnenberg
Six Disciplines Execution Revolution – Gary Harpst
Repeatability – James Allen and Chris Zook
The Thank You Economy – Gary Vaynerchuck
Crush It – Gary Vaynerchuk
Firms of Endearment - Rajendra S. Sisodia, David B. Wolfe, Jagdish N. Sheth
Leading in a Culture of Change- Michael Fullan
Do It Marketing – David Newman
Who – Geoff Smart and Randy Street
Playing to Win – A.G. Lafley
Stick With It – Lee Colan
The Strategy Book – Max MeKown
The Little Black Book of Innovation - by Scott D. Anthony
The Decision Book - by Mikael Krogerus
Contagious - by Jonah Berge
Ctrl Alt Delete – by Mitch Joel
Nice Companies Finish First - by Peter Shankman
A World Gone Social - by Ted Coiné and Mark Babbitt
The Charge – Brendon Burchard
The 46 Rules of Genius – Marty Neumeier
2
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67.
The Brand Flip – Marty Neumiere
Out of Our Minds – Ken Robinson
The Truth About Leadership – Kouzes and Posner
BOLD – Peter Diamandis
Awesomely Simple – John Spence
Letters to a C.E.O. – John Spence
I could easily recommend 75 or 80 more, but I think that if you were to read these
books they would give you the best overall view on how to build, lead and grow a
highly a successful organization. If you do not see one of your VERY favorites, please
send me a note in case I have not read it yet.
John Spence
Author – Speaker – Trainer – Adviser
www.johnspence.com
[email protected]
Twitter: @AwesomelySimple
www.linkedin.com/in/johnbspence/
John Spence is the author of four books, a business management consultant, executive
trainer and speaker with a client list that includes numerous Fortune 500 firms, small to
medium-sized businesses and other organizations around the globe.
At 26 he was the CEO of an international Rockefeller foundation, overseeing projects in
20 countries. Just two years later he was an Inc. Magazine Up and Coming Young
Business Leader. Today, John is recognized as one of the Top 100 Business Thought
Leaders in America, one of the Top 100 Small Business Influencers in America and one of
the top 500 Leadership Development Experts in the World.
John is also one of the American Management Association’s Leaders to Watch in 2015
along with Sergey Brin, Larry Page and Jeff Bezos.
He has been a guest lecturer at more than 90 colleges and universities including MIT,
Stanford, Cornell and the Wharton School of Business, the owner or CEO of 10
companies and has made a career out of “Making the Very Complex… Awesomely
Simple”.
3