Best Business Books of All Time: The Definitive Reading List for Ambitious Entrepreneurs
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Every year, over 10,000 new business books get published.
Most of the new books are average at best, while many others eventually disappear from memory. However, certain business books eventually acquire the characteristics of being a true classic because they change industries, start movements, and make billionaires out of ordinary people.
There is something involved with these classic business books that most average entrepreneurs don't know about. Warren Buffett reads 500 pages a day; Bill Gates reads 50 books a year; Mark Cuban spends 3+ hours a day reading — it can't just be a coincidence — these are the cheat codes that allow great entrepreneurs to rise above the rest.
By analyzing the "best of the best" business books, polling successful entrepreneurs, and identifying the business books that have been on almost all the best seller lists for the past 10 years or more, the "best of all time" business books truly transform the lives of business owners and entrepreneurs everywhere.
Would you like to create your own franchise-style, best-selling business book that people constantly refer others to read? Contact Rolling Authors today to find out how you can turn your vast knowledge and experience into your own timeless, best-selling business book.
Table Of Content
That is why these business books stand the test of time:
Longevity — These business books remain timeless in their application for 10, 20, 50 or more years (Think and Grow Rich was released in 1937 and continues to sell hundreds of thousands of copies annually).
Universal Application — Whether your business is based on an industry, size of organization, or the state of the economy, the information provided by these timeless business books will be helpful.
The Influence on Business: These books have had a significant impact on how businesses operate by changing the way products are built, as in Lean Startup, and influencing the business strategies of thousands of companies, such as Good to Great.
The Recommendations of Successful People: When the richest and most powerful business leaders in the world — such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Elon Musk — recommend the same books repeatedly, there has to be a reason that you should take note of.
Analytical Thinking vs. Doers: The books in this list teach you how to think as opposed to simply what to do. As strategies and tactics are used less and less, the mental models of how to think will always compound.
The Top Business Books of All Time: Strategy and Competition
1. "Good to Great" — Jim Collins (2001) – 5-Year Research Study — establishes commonalities between companies that move from good to great: level 5 leadership, first who then what, hedgehog concept, culture of discipline and technology accelerators. It has changed how businesses think about their strategy and execution.
2. "Blue Ocean Strategy" — W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne (2005) – Stop competing in "Red Oceans" (lose your bloody battles) and create "Blue Oceans" (new market space) through Value Innovation. Creates uncontested market space where your competition goes away!
3. "The Innovator's Dilemma" — Clayton Christensen (1997) – Provides a framework for understanding and responding to disruptive innovation, as well as why great companies are unsuccessful in the face of disruptive innovation — because they did everything correctly!
4. Peter Thiel's book, Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future (2014), illustrates the difference between zero and one (creating something new) and one and n (duplicating what others have done). According to Thiel, real innovation creates monopolies and competition is for losers (which has reshaped the way Silicon Valley thinks).
5. Stephen R. Covey's book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (1989) has sold over 40 million copies. He identifies the following habits: Be Proactive, Begin with the End in Mind, First Things First, Think Win-Win, Seek First to Understand, Synergize, and Sharpen the Saw. His work continues to shape how leadership is developed around the world.
6. Dale Carnegie's book How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936) has been published continuously since 1936 and has sold over 30 million copies. The fundamentals of sales, leadership, and networking include: 1 — Don't criticize; 2 — Customers appreciate honesty; 3 — Be genuinely interested in people; 4 — Good listeners are valued.
7. In Simon Sinek's book Leaders Eat Last (2014), he writes about how team members generally work better together if they believe their leaders are working to create an environment of safety and trust. He uses biological examples to help support various leadership behaviors and redefine leadership as the act of creating a service for others instead of a position of authority.
8. "The Hard Thing About Hard Things" — Ben Horowitz (2014) Focuses on topics often not mentioned in other business books, like layoffs, firing your friends, or demoting someone. No one has the right answer for how to get through hard times, but this author gave entrepreneurs permission to realize that those hard times are real.
Marketing & Sales
9. "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion" — Robert Cialdini (1984) Outlines six principles of persuasion: Reciprocity, Commitment & Consistency, Social Proof, Authority, Liking, and Scarcity. This book is based on decades of research. A must-read for anyone who wants to learn how to persuade others.
10. "Made to Stick" — Chip Heath & Dan Heath (2007) The Successful Communications Framework, or "SUCCESs," is established — by using Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, and Stories when communicating a message, businesses will have better success with messaging.
11. "Crossing the Chasm" — Geoffrey Moore (1991) This book has become a guide for how early adopters and mainstream customers are so different in their behavior toward new ideas. What works with the Enthusiasts usually will fail with the Pragmatists. A great book for any company trying to understand their customers.
Execution & Operations
12. "The Lean Startup" — Eric Ries (2011) This book introduced the Build-Measure-Learn Feedback Loop, which is an essential platform for all startups globally today. Ries defined the Minimum Viable Product, Validated Learning, and Innovation Accounting.
13. "The E-Myth Revisited" — Michael E. Gerber (1995) Most entrepreneurs spend too much time working IN their business rather than ON their business. This book has helped millions escape the "self-employment trap."
14. Atomic Habits is James Clear's newest book from 2018 and explains how to create positive habit formation through four simple steps: Make it Obvious, Make it Attractive, Make it Easy, and Make it Satisfying. If you improve yourself by 1% each day for a year, you'll be 37x better after one year due to the compounding effect of improvement.
Finance & Economics
15. Kiyosaki's 1997 book Rich Dad Poor Dad has sold more than 40 million copies and is responsible for creating a worldwide movement around financial literacy by teaching people that through building assets and creating cash flow, the rich don't work for their money.
16. Benjamin Graham's 1949 book The Intelligent Investor contains some of the most fundamental principles and methods used in investing (value investing, Margin of Safety, and Mr. Market (parables)). Warren Buffett has stated it is the best investing book ever written.
17. The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman (2010) offers a complete overview of business fundamentals without the use of a $200k MBA program. Kaufman separates the material into five categories: value creation, marketing, sales, value delivery, and finance.
Psychology & Mindset
18. Thinking, Fast and Slow is the culmination of Daniel Kahneman's lifetime of research into decision making. It describes the two systems used in making decisions (System 1 — intuitive and quick) and (System 2 — rational and deliberate). This book greatly changed how the business world understood human decision making.
19. Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning contains one of the most profound quotes written in the 20th century: "Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space lies our ability to choose our response." Frankl's book has sold over 10 million copies.
20. Eckhart Tolle's (1997) The Power of Now. The only moment we have is right now; this provides us with clarity for better decision-making, lower anxiety, and higher concentration.
Biographies and Narratives
21. Walter Isaacson's (2011) Steve Jobs; an authorized autobiography sharing both Jobs' brilliance and faults as a visionary and ruthless businessman. His quest for product perfection; reality distortion field; the ultimate simple solution is the most sophisticated solution.
22. Phil Knight's (2016) Shoe Dog; a memoir about how Knight started by selling shoes from the trunk of his car to creating a huge global empire with Nike; a reminder that every successful entrepreneur has been close to failure at least once.
23. Brad Stone's (2013) The Everything Store; an in-depth account of Jeff Bezos's creation of Amazon; he is known for his obsession with customer service; long-term thinking vs. quarterly results; and two-pizza teams.
Innovation and Creativity
24. William Thorndike's (2012) The Outsiders; a book about 8 CEOs who greatly outperform their competitors through the unconventional use of capital allocation. Through centralized capital allocation and decentralized operations, these CEOs generate superior returns to those of their competitors.
25. Ed Catmull's (2014) Creativity, Inc.; a book about how to build a creative culture from the co-founder of Pixar. Brainstorming meetings; the protection of fragile ideas; and creating an environment that allows for creative safety. Sustained creativity requires an intentional culture to be built.
Books by Category
Top 5 Strategy Books:
Jim Collins' Good to Great
Kim and Mauborgne's Blue Ocean Strategy
Clayton Christensen's The Innovator's Dilemma
Peter Thiel's Zero to One
A.G. Lafley and Roger Martin's Playing to Win
Top 5 Leadership Books:
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek
The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Dare to Lead by Brené Brown
Top 5 Marketing Books:
Influence by Robert B. Cialdini
Made to Stick by Chip Heath & Dan Heath
Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore
$100M Offers by Alex Hormozi
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries & Jack Trout
Top 5 Execution Books:
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Traction by Gino Wickman
High Output Management by Andrew S. Grove
Top 3 Finance Books:
The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki
The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman
How to Read Business Books for Maximum Return on Investment (ROI)
The Active Reading System
Before You Read:
Identify your primary reason for reading this book (setting a clear intention)
Skim the book's table of contents
Write down three questions that you want this book (the author) to answer for you
While You Read:
Strategically annotate (write notes in the margins, highlight key passages, etc.)
Relate concepts discussed in this book back to the company you work at (why do these concepts matter)
After completing each chapter, take some time to pause and reflect on what you read
After You Finish Reading:
Create a one-page summary of the key findings (3–5 key points)
Teach someone else what you learned
Schedule a day and time (with calendar reminders) to implement what you have learned
The 1-3-12 Rule: One principle implemented gives you more benefit than 10 principles not implemented. Three main ideas per book is sufficient for success; 12 books in a year with full implementation is better than 52 books only read at a surface level in a year.
Your Reading Plan for the First Year
The categories to read in order to build the foundation for strategic planning.
Quarter 1 — Fundamentals:
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Covey)
The Personal MBA (Josh Kaufman)
Good to Great (Jim Collins)
Quarter 2 — Strategy & Execution:
4. Blue Ocean Strategy — Kim & Mauborgne
5. The Lean Startup — Eric Ries
6. The E-Myth Revisited — Michael Gerber
Quarter 3 — People & Influence:
7. How to Win Friends and Influence People (Dale Carnegie)
8. Influence (Robert Cialdini)
9. Leaders Eat Last (Simon Sinek)
Quarter 4 — Advanced Topics:
10. Thinking, Fast and Slow (Daniel Kahneman)
11. Atomic Habits(James Clear)
12. The Hard Thing About Hard Things (Ben Horowitz)
4 Reasons Entrepreneurs Should Write Books
Positioned as an authority: By publishing a book, you will position yourself as a leader in your industry.
Generate leads: Books are the best way to generate leads for your business.
Greater author fees: An author earns a fee that is 3–10 times greater than what a non-author earns.
Leave a legacy: Your book will be a blessing for future entrepreneurs and, when you are gone, your book will not be forgotten.
Books allow you to reach thousands of people; your hours don't scale up; books do.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1. What is the first step an entrepreneur should take in determining which business books to read?
As an entrepreneur, your first step should be to read foundational books (books that have strongly influenced how people think about business) like "Good to Great", "The Lean Startup", and "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People." These types of foundational books will give you a solid foundation for thinking strategically, executing your business strategy, and learning how to lead others; and from these foundations, you will have solid ground to build upon when you start to read the more advanced topics such as innovation and psychology.
2. Is reading business books going to help me become successful as an entrepreneur?
No. While reading business books provides you with frameworks and mental models for your work as an entrepreneur, the only way to be successful is by implementing what you have learned through reading. By taking even one of the key lessons that you have learned from reading the books "Atomic Habits" or "The E-Myth Revisited" and implementing it into your business, you will have more success than reading dozens of business books and never taking action.
3. Why would an entrepreneur want to write a book?
Writing a business book helps an entrepreneur: develop a position of authority, create a personal brand and create long-term opportunities for their business. Many founders have used their books as lead generation tools, for obtaining speaking events and establishing themselves as experts in their field and sharing their unique knowledge with a much larger audience.
Write Your Business Book Now!
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Our Process for Creating Your Book:
Strategy session to define your unique framework.
Interview a qualified expert to pull out the valuable information from you.
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The Question Is — Can You Afford Not To Write Your Book?
Your competition is reading this as well. The only question is: will you act on it?
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Visit our website to schedule a consultation to learn more about how we can assist you in creating your "business classic"!
Remember — Every book on this "All-Time Best Seller" list was created by someone who chose to share their wisdom… the readers waiting for your book are out there.
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