Business Books to Read (Q1 2020 Edition)

business books to read

Most CEO’s read on average 4-5 books a MONTH.  The average American reads .11 hours a day.  That’s less than 7 minutes folks!!

Let’s break it down.  If a book takes on average 4 hours to finish, and CEO’s read 4 of them.  That’s 16 hours a month. Meaning they’re out reading the average joe 13 hours minimum.

If you want to live an extraordinary life, it requires extraordinary action. CEO’s reading habits demonstrate this.

So if you want to get ahead, and do so quickly, adopting a reading habit is a great place to start.  

I myself am an avid reader.  I read 2-3 on a good month.  Today I’m going to be sharing the books I read in January – March of 2020, and a quick review of them.  

After, you’ll have a list of books you don’t want to miss out on so you can start your own reading habit today.

Business Books You Need to Read

Profit First

This book completely changed the way I do my business accounting.  If you’ve found it difficult to post a profit regularly, this is a book you don’t want to miss.

Chasing the Bright Side

Chasing the Bright Side is an entertaining collection of stories from one of my speaking mentors, Jess Ekstrom.  As the founder of Headbands of Hope, the stories shared are a nice mix of personal lessons and business lessons.  

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

Essentialism is a great read if you find yourself overwhelmed and unsure of where to focus.  It helps you determine what’s truly “essential” and eliminate the other clutter in your life so you become more productive.

Your Money, Your Life

This was one of the better personal finance books I’ve read due in large part to how it challenges readers to view their finances.  It focuses a lot on minimalism and being very mindful on how you spend and how you work.  

The Successful Speaker

I literally read this book in one evening!!

If you are interested in breaking into the world of professional public speaking, this is a must-read!  Grant shares the entire business from top to bottom in this book.  It’s become a reference manual in my library.    

Deep Work

This book is all about how to get into a state of flow and focus that makes you a productivity machine.  

I took a lot of really helpful strategies from it, including time blocking and looking at my peak energy throughout the day and using the information to schedule tasks accordingly.

TED Talks

As you may or may not know, I was selected to give a TEDx talk this past March.  This book was assigned to me to read by the TED organization itself to help me prep for the event.

It doesn’t matter if you aspire to be a professional speaker, or just to impact people with your ideas, this book shares the most effective ways to utilize storytelling in a live setting.

In Summary

This sums up the 7 books I read between January and March of 2020.  

If I had to pick only three business books to read that you absolutely, should not miss as a business owner, it would be Profit First, Essentialism and Deep Work.  I’ll more than likely be suggesting these to my clients in the very near future.

business books to read

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