There’s a common bond that the world’s most successful leaders and CEOs share – and you can find it on Amazon or the local library.
Think it’s a coincidence that the most successful people are obsessive readers? Over the past 30 years, Steve Siebold has interviewed 1,200 of the richest people in the world. The one common thread, Siebold noticed, is that they bypassed tabloids and magazines for knowledge-enhancing books.
“Walk into a wealthy person’s home,” Siebold wrote in his book, How Rich People Think, “and one of the first things you’ll see is an extensive library of books they’ve used to educate themselves on how to become more successful.”
If you’re ready to up your reading game and start 2021 with a bang, why not start with these 6 Corporate Edge approved books to inspire success:
Principles by Ray Dalio
Ray Dalio, one of the world’s most successful investors and entrepreneurs, shares the unconventional principles that he’s developed, refined, and used over the past forty years to create unique results in both life and business—and which any person or organization can adopt to help achieve their goals.
In Principles, Dalio shares what he’s learned over the course of his remarkable career. He argues that life, management, economics, and investing can all be systemized into rules and understood like machines. The book’s hundreds of practical lessons, which are built around his cornerstones of “radical truth” and “radical transparency,” include Dalio laying out the most effective ways for individuals and organizations to make decisions, approach challenges, and build strong teams.
The Success Principles by Jack Canfield
Jack Canfield reveals the simple set of rules for success that led him to become the multi-million copy bestselling author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, and shows how anyone can follow these principles to achieve their own dreams.
In this empowering read, Canfield highlights, that greater levels of performance and achievement are attainable by anyone. This book offers the proven self-empowerment tools and time-tested performance strategies that are the basis for personal and professional success.
The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker
The measure of the executive, Peter Drucker reminds us, is the ability to ‘get the right things done’. Usually, this involves doing what other people have overlooked, as well as avoiding what is unproductive.
He identifies four talents as essential to effectiveness, and these can be all learned. One of the talents is the management of time. Another is choosing what to contribute to the particular organization. A third is knowing where and how to apply your strength to best effect. Fourth is setting up the right priorities. And all of them must be knitted together by effective decision-making.
Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneham
Why is there more chance we’ll believe something if it’s in a bold typeface? Why are judges more likely to deny parole before lunch? Why do we assume a good-looking person will be more competent?
The answer lies in the two ways we make choices: fast, intuitive thinking, and slow, rational thinking. This book reveals how our minds are tripped up by error and prejudice (even when we think we are being logical), and gives you practical techniques for slower, smarter thinking. It will enable to you make better decisions at work, at home, and in everything you do.
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
We couldn’t leave this one off the list… The most famous confidence-boosting book ever published; with sales of over 16 million copies worldwide
Millions of people around the world have improved their lives based on the teachings of Dale Carnegie. In How to Win Friends and Influence People, he offers practical advice and techniques, on how to get out of a mental rut and make life more rewarding.
His advice teaches people how to make friends quickly and easily, persuade people to follow your way of thinking, enable you to win new clients and customers and boost enthusiasm among your colleagues.
Every leader should read this at least once in their life.
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do and How to Change It by Charles Duhigg
Why can some people and companies change overnight, and some stay stuck in their old ruts? The answer lies deep in the human brain, and The Power of Habits reveals the secret pressure points that can change a life. From Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps to Martin Luther King Jr., from the CEO of Starbucks to the locker rooms of the NFL, Duhigg explores the incredible results of keystone habits, and how they can make all the difference between billions and millions, failure and success – or even life and death.
The Power of Habit makes an exhilarating case: the key to almost any door in life is instilling the right habit. From exercise to weight loss, childrearing to productivity, market disruption to social revolution, and above all success, the right habits can change everything. Habits aren’t destiny. They’re science, one which can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.
In the comments below, we’d love to know, what book has had the biggest impact on your life?
