Another year has begun! And, while it is important to maintain hope and optimism, we must also exercise caution.
Because being cautious is part of our quest to be more prepared.
Many of the issues that arose last year did not magically vanish at midnight on December 31st. And I believe you, entrepreneur or future business owner, understand that.
So, here are some of the greatest books for entrepreneurs, managers, and business professionals that I read in the last 3 years (meaning that they were selected among a pool of over 100 books).
The Best Negotiation Book
Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It
by Chris Voss
Chris Voss, the author, has worked as one of the FBI’s top negotiators in scores of crises, both domestic and international. He negotiated the release of captives held by Abu Sayyaf, an ISIS-affiliated terrorist organization, in the Philippines, for example. Later on, he became a popular masterclass teacher.
In his book, Chris describes amazing tactics, effective in many types of negotiations, using all of his career knowledge. For example, he teaches us about the critical skills to learn in order to prevent the fight or flight mentality, which causes both parties to lose.
When I read a good book, I take notes, but only the most important points. While reading Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It, I made almost 5 pages of notes on A4 paper. This should put into perspective how many useful points there are in this book. My best takes on this book are in this article about negotiation strategies.
The Best Book on How to Manage People
High-Performance Management: Everything a manager needs to know to manage teams and stay focused on results
by Andrew S. Grove
A masterpiece by an author with respectable credentials. Andrew Grove was Intel’s third employee (the founders were the only ones before him), and later its CEO, becoming one of Silicon Valley’s most iconic executives.
The book was first published in 1983, so it could be called old by today’s standards, but it isn’t. In fact, the fact that it has withstood the test of time makes it one of the best books on how to manage people.
Andrew Grove doesn’t hold back his remarks and isn’t scared to hurt people’s feelings. He stated unequivocally what he truly applied to his outstanding career. For example:
- How to find out why your team isn’t getting good results.
- For each indicator, have a counter-indicator, which is especially useful when defining your business goals.
- How performance monitoring should be done.
- How to respond when someone asks you if you have a spare minute and avoid losing your most talented employees.
It is a book full of outstanding and important lessons for anyone in charge of a team, whether it is a single intern or a multinational corporation with thousands of employees.
The Best Book about Being Productive
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
by Cal Newport
Deep Work is that kind of book that helps us acquire a meta-skill, or, in other words, a skill that helps us acquire other skills.
At times, you’ll be concerned about how deeply ingrained distraction is in our daily lives and how much we can accomplish if we can break free from these nets of superficiality.
It is not an exaggeration to claim that using the strategies presented in this book has the potential to boost your knowledge acquisition efficiency by orders of magnitude.
The application of deep work in my life was alone one of the most significant productivity boosters I experienced.
The 2nd Best Book about Being Productive
Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life
by Nir Eyal
This is a revealing book about digital addictions.
These addictions are frequently brought on by apps and the usage of psychological tools, which are modern-day versions of cigarettes from earlier centuries. The Hook model outlined by Eyal can be found in a wide range of items that we use on a daily basis. And these products attempt to mold our habits.
It is our responsibility to use them wisely and to create antibodies against dependence.
The Best Book on Growth Hacking
Hacking Growth: How Today’s Fastest-Growing Companies Drive Breakout Success
by Morgan Brown and Sean Ellis
The best part of this book is how full of practical examples it is. The two authors, Sean and Morgan, have a solid career helping companies drive growth and put the best of their experience on these pages.
The methodology outlined in the book makes perfect sense: it’s data-backed, customer-focused, and easy to implement.
The basic assumption of Hacking Growth, and perhaps my single most important takeaway, is that firms that learn faster, grow faster. And the book’s multiple examples make it easy to see how companies can establish a huge edge by taking advantage of numerous modest wins over time.
The example of the neighborhood market is the best of all.
The Best Self-Improvement Audio Book
Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers
by Tim Ferriss
Tools of Titans is a quite long book (more than 700 pages) with two major (and really great) ideas:
1st —It’s a collection of the most memorable moments from Tim Ferriss’ podcast conversations. The author and presenter chatted with top athletes, entrepreneurs, scientists, and philosophers in their respective disciplines. Some of them, such as Jocko Willink, Marc Andreessen, and a dozen more names, are already worth the book’s price.
2nd —Tim’s list of reading suggestions at the end of the book. This significantly expanded my “books to read soon” queue. That’s because each person Tim interviews recommends an author or a book, and all of their recommendations are combined at the end of Tools of Titans.
Many of the interviews are similar in content to what I read in the outstanding book written by US Navy Captain Michael Abrashoff.
The Overall Recommendation among the Best Books for Young Entrepreneurs
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
by Stephen R. Covey
This was, as far as I can remember, the first personal development book I read. It is also one of the most read books ever on this kind of subject.
And here’s a confession: I was initially skeptical about the idea of ​​reading a self-help book.
But The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People was a recommendation from a friend I trust. He said the lessons went far beyond the usual cliché of “hacking your way to success”. It is true. The entire book is not about quick fixes and techniques for success. It’s not even about success in the strictest sense, but about principles.
The author shares a series of personal stories to illustrate his point: principles and values ​​(the transformation from the inside out) are the first steps on the journey to an effective life.
Extra: A Book for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
All the Hows of a First-Time Business Owner
By Levi Borba
Over 430 000 readers later and inputs to publications like Entrepreneur’s Handbook and The Washington Post, I wrote on this book things learned either by trial or error at my 3 businesses or by meeting mentors and other entrepreneurs.
You will discover:
- How to Write an Impressive Business Plan.
- How to Make an Electrifying Job Description in Only 3 Sentences
- How to Assess Business Failure Risk Like a Pro
- How to Make a Great Job Interview by Asking 3 Things
- How to Negotiate Better Prices, Rent, and Salaries as a Small Business
- How 4 Systems Can Strengthen Your Company
- How to Turn Your Business into a Talent Magnet
- How to Get the Ally That Can Skyrocket Your Business
- How to Survive Price Wars and the Power of Disciplined Entrepreneurship
Best Books for Young Entrepreneurs in 2022: Conclusion
Books are a great way of obtaining information in a quick and easy manner. Whether you are an employee or employer, books can help you learn new information, sharpen your skills and also provide your mind with valuable insights. They can be inspiring and also help improve your personal as well as professional life.
Books provide you with the right knowledge and inspiration to become better at what you do. They can make you more successful, both personally and professionally.
Here are my choices in each category for the best books for young entrepreneurs in 2022 (it does not mean that they were written in 2022, obviously):
- The Best Negotiation Book: Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
- The Best Book on How to Manage People: High-Performance Management by Andrew S. Grove
- The Best Book about Being Productive: Deep Work by Cal Newport
- The 2nd Best Book about Being Productive: Indistractable (How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life) by Nir Eyal
- The Best Book on Growth Hacking: Hacking Growth (How Today’s Fastest-Growing Companies Drive Breakout Success) by Morgan Brown and Sean Ellis
- The Best Self-Improvement Audio Book: Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss
- The Overall Recommendation among the Best Books for Young Entrepreneurs: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey
- Extra recommendation: All the Hows of a First-Time Business Owner, by yours truly, Levi Borba.
This post was initially published on the Small Business Hack blog. In February 2024, the blog was bought by Blogelist and later integrated into the existing ecosystem. Any (potential) changes in content after that date were not consulted with the initial author and come from the current staff.
