9 business books picked by founders, CEOs, and industry leaders for people who don't want to go back to school to get an MBA
- The benefits to getting an MBA are networking and prestige, but the skills you need to be a business leader can also be learned from reading insights from top executives.
- These nine books, recommended by successful entrepreneurs, can teach you the right mindset, strategies, and starting points to becoming the next CEO or company founder.
- Authors include industry icons Mika Brzezinski and Peter Thiel.
- Some key takeaways are finding your niche, meditating, and attracting dedicated team members.
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In a 2019 Wall Street Journal article, author Andy Kessler lists the ability to get a job on Wall Street, a robust network, and learning opportunities as three potential benefits of earning an MBA.
But Kessler also pointed out one big drawback that keeps many people from being able to pursue a degree: The hefty price tag, which he noted can stretch into six-figure digits when total costs are factored in with tuition.
While reading top business books won't necessarily help you with networking or pedigree, select business tomes can help with the "learning opportunities" part of the equation.
With this in mind, Business Insider asked a group of successful industry leaders and executives for their recommendations for books that might be as good - on some levels - as earning an MBA.
1. "Work Rules! Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead" by Laszlo Bock"Work Rules" is a favorite of Carlos Castelán's, a Harvard MBA holder and the founder and managing director of business management consulting firm The Navio Group.
Author Laszlo Bock, cofounder and CEO of Humu, was formerly the senior vice president of people operations at Google. In his book, he shares fascinating insights "that show how the company succeeded in building perhaps the world's greatest collection of talent," explained Castelán.
Castelán added that part of the value in Bock's book is that one of the biggest challenges during corporate transformations is hiring, engaging, and retaining employees - and Google is among the pioneers in human capital management.
"[By] identifying a philosophy, important hiring practices, and engagement of talented individuals through goal alignment, Bock provides great detail relating to how companies can rethink an often overlooked function like HR that's critical to a company's success," Castelán said. "The book is a must read for leaders that seek to create lasting change by building high-performing teams."
2. "The One-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand Out From The Crowd" by Allan DibWill Manuel, president and CEO of Core Mobile Apps - which was named one of the top mobile app development companies in Florida for 2019 - shared that this book is "a great way to gain some valuable insight not just on marketing, but the business strategies around it that help make any message you put out there for your brand [and] business sing. It is written in very simple terms, so it is easy to absorb and, most importantly, put into practice."
The CEO added that even though he has been in the tech and marketing space for over two decades, he's still found "several gems" in this book and highly recommends it.
3. "Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One" by Joe Dispenza"Talk about wow, this book literally makes you reconsider every decision you've made in your life," Manuel said. "This book is mainly on meditation and mindset, both of which I believe are critical to understand how to run a successful business."
In "Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself," Dispenza explores the intersection between quantum physics, neuroscience, brain chemistry, and biology, offering tools to help readers make measurable changes in areas that they feel need improvement, whether professional or personal.
4. "The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure" by Grant CardoneManuel reads "The 10X Rule" whenever he needs a "motivational jumpstart."
He explained that the book is designed to help readers dissolve fear, increase belief in themselves, eliminate procrastination, and provide purpose.
"It is packed with real-world examples and motivational queues to keep you out of any rut and back into action," Manuel said. "I have personally read this book four times now."
5. "Crossing the Chasm" by Geoffrey A. Moore
"The book is focused on the specifics of marketing high-tech products during the early startup period," explained Teresa Mackintosh, the CEO of Trintech, who has an MBA from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. She has held several other senior leadership roles in finance and accounting, most recently as CEO at Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting.
The book is about how to bring cutting-edge products to larger markets and focuses on highlighting the gap between "early adopters" and the "early majority" in the technology adoption life cycle.
Hannah Nieves runs her own business, consulting on marketing and brand strategy through her firm Hannah Nieves, LLC, which works with a wide range of clients, including startup brands, entrepreneurs with multi-six-figure businesses, and influencers.
"Knowing Your Value," Nieves stated, is "a classic for women getting into business and a staple, in my opinion. [Brzezinski] teaches lessons on real-life experiences from the point of view as a female in business. It's a must read for young adults new in their career."
7. "Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business" by Gino Wickman"Traction" is based around the EOS (entrepreneurial operating system) model, which helps business owners build processes that can propel their organization forward, explained Anna Crowe, founder and CEO of award-winning public relations agency Crowe PR who scaled her firm to over $1 million in revenue in three years.
"The methodologies in the book aren't complex, but the book does a great job communicating how each department integrates into the organization and how to get the best business results," she added.
The founder said that her firm has implemented a number of tactics described in "Traction" at her own PR firm, to great success.
8. "Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future" by Peter ThielNick Macco is the cofounder and CEO of Legacybox, a leading digitizer of analogue home media. Since the company's inception nearly seven years ago, Legacybox has been named one of "America's Fastest-Growing Companies" by Inc. Magazine, with 1,076% growth in the past three years, and has reached $100 million in revenue.
Macco told Business Insider that one of the most memorable and influential business books he read was "Zero to One" by Peter Thiel, the well-known billionaire, PayPal cofounder, and venture capitalist.
"'Zero to One' is filled with counterintuitive ideas for startup founders and important lessons for innovation," Macco said. "You are sure to find important nuggets of wisdom in this book."
Macco noted that there are three big themes from "Zero to One" that he has successfully implemented in his own company: making products 10 times as good as the competition, jumping into a smaller market, and specializing your product to fit a need.
He and his cofounder, Adam Boeselager, began with a blank sheet of paper and envisioned what their product could be, designing the experience they wanted to deliver with every customer touch-point in mind.
Legacybox was rejected by investors, according to Macco, because of the perceived smallness of the company's market, which led them down a bootstrapping path. Macco and his cofounder trusted that they could scale by focusing on their niche and expanding from there. They took the first 10,000 customer service calls directly from their cellphones, which enabled them to draw insights about where they needed to improve their service and how they could innovate.
9. "Built, Not Born: A Self-Made Billionaire's No-Nonsense Guide for Entrepreneurs" by Tom Golisano with Mike WicksBryan Osima, CEO of Uvietech Software Solutions Inc., selected "Built, Not Born," which was written by the founder of HR company Paychex, Tom Colisano. Osima explained that the book distills a multitude of "concrete strategies, advisory, and philosophies" that entrepreneurs can use to ideate, launch, and grow both their business and brand.
Osima added that "Built, Not Born" goes beyond theoretical concepts, providing sound advice for becoming a better human being and maintaining your integrity, sanity, and wellbeing while on the entrepreneurial journey.
"Like the book title suggests, it's a no-nonsense, practical guide that exposes the demands, expectations, and realities of being a successful business owner, and offers guidance for how to plan for and deal with those realities to ensure success," Osima concluded.