Amazon’s 100 Leadership & Success Books to Read in a Lifetime
Amazon sent me an e-mail that they have added their latest “100 books” list:
Amazon’s 100 Leadership & Success Books to Read in a Lifetime (at AmazonSmile: benefit a non-profit of your choice by shopping*)
This list really intrigued me!
While I consider myself an eclectic reader, books about understanding your own behavior (and that of other human beings), especially in business situations, are amongst my favorites.
This is a sort of fuzzy categorization…you don’t usually see a section for “Leadership & Success” in a brick-and-mortar bookstore (I’m a former manager of one), and they make the point in their e-mail to me that there are “surprise adds” in this list.
They were nice enough to send me a version I can copy and paste (although I tweaked the formatting):
Title Author
1 #GIRLBOSS Sophia Amoruso
2 A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (Oprah’s Book Club, Selection 61) Eckhart Tolle
3 Andrew Carnegie David Nasaw
4 Awaken the Giant Within : How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny! Tony Robbins
5 Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear Elizabeth Gilbert
6 Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street John Brooks
7 Change Your Brain, Change Your Life (Revised and Expanded): The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Lack of Focus, Anger, and Memory Problems Daniel G. Amen M.D.
8 Chicken Soup for the Soul 20th Anniversary Edition: All Your Favorite Original Stories Plus 20 Bonus Stories for the Next 20 Years Jack Canfield
9 Choose Yourself! James Altucher
10 Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion Gary Vaynerchuk
11 Do Over: Rescue Monday, Reinvent Your Work, and Never Get Stuck Jon Acuff
12 Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us Daniel H. Pink
13 Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time Brian Tracy
14 Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future Ashlee Vance
15 Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ Daniel Goleman
16 Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less Greg McKeown
17 Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done Larry Bossidy
18 Find a Way Diana Nyad
19 First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently Marcus Buckingham
20 Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (Harper Perennial Modern Classics) Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
21 Flying Without a Net: Turn Fear of Change into Fuel for Success Thomas J. DeLong
22 Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything Steven D. Levitt
23 Getting More: How You Can Negotiate to Succeed in Work and Life Stuart Diamond
24 Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity David Allen
25 Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In Roger Fisher
26 Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success Adam M. Grant
27 Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t Jim Collins
28 How to Win Friends & Influence People Dale Carnegie
29 How Will You Measure Your Life? Clayton M. Christensen
30 Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Revised Edition Robert B. Cialdini
31 Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading Martin Linsky
32 Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead Sheryl Sandberg
33 Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die Chip Heath
34 Man’s Search for Meaning Viktor E. Frankl
35 Meditations (Dover Thrift Editions) Marcus Aurelius
36 Mindset: The New Psychology of Success Carol Dweck
37 Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics Richard H. Thaler
38 Oh, The Places You’ll Go! Dr. Seuss
39 Outliers: The Story of Success Malcolm Gladwell
40 Personal History Katharine Graham
41 Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions Dan Ariely
42 Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking Susan Cain
43 It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership Colin Powell
44 Siddhartha Hermann Hesse
45 Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action Simon Sinek
46 Steve Jobs Walter Isaacson
47 StrengthsFinder 2.0 Tom Rath
48 Stumbling on Happiness Daniel Gilbert
49 Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction Philip E. Tetlock
50 Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else Geoff Colvin
51 The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk! Al Ries
52 The 48 Laws of Power Robert Greene
53 The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich Timothy Ferriss
54 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change Stephen R. Covey
55 The Alchemist Paulo Coelho
56 The Art of Happiness in a Troubled World (Art of Happiness Book) Dalai Lama
57 The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere (TED Books) Pico Iyer
58 The Art of Strategy: A Game Theorist’s Guide to Success in Business and Life Avinash K. Dixit
59 The Art of the Start 2.0: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything Guy Kawasaki
60 The Art Of War Sun Tzu
61 The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine Michael Lewis
62 The Black Swan: Second Edition: The Impact of the Highly Improbable: With a new section: “On Robustness and Fragility” (Incerto) Nassim Nicholas Taleb
63 The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism Olivia Fox Cabane
64 The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right Atul Gawande
65 The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance—What Women Should Know Katty Kay
66 The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done (Harperbusiness Essentials) Peter F. Drucker
67 The Essays of Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America, Third Edition Warren E. Buffett
68 The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter, Updated and Expanded Michael D. Watkins
69 The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt T.J. Stiles
70 The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable Patrick Lencioni
71 The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book) Don Miguel Ruiz
72 The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are Brene Brown
73 The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work Shawn Achor
74 The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun Gretchen Rubin
75 The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers Ben Horowitz
76 The Innovator’s Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business Clayton M. Christensen
77 The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing. A Book of Practical Counsel (Revised Edition) (Collins Business Essentials) Benjamin Graham
78 The Last Lecture Randy Pausch
79 The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses Eric Ries
80 The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing Marie Kondo
81 The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM) Hal Elrod
82 The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play Neil Fiore
83 The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business Charles Duhigg
84 The Prince (Dover Thrift Editions) Niccolò Machiavelli
85 The Prophet (A Borzoi Book) Kahlil Gibran
86 The Road Less Traveled, Timeless Edition: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth M. Scott Peck
87 The Road to Character David Brooks
88 The Secret Rhonda Byrne
89 The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Practical Guide to the Fulfillment of Your Dreams Deepak Chopra
90 Thinking, Fast and Slow Daniel Kahneman
91 Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. Ron Chernow
92 Triggers: Creating Behavior That Lasts–Becoming the Person You Want to Be Marshall Goldsmith
93 Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life’s Greatest Lesson Mitch Albom
94 Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders L. David Marquet
95 Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance Jonathan Fields
96 Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives Dan Millman
97 What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful Marshall Goldsmith
98 Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength Roy F. Baumeister
99 Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person Shonda Rhimes
100 Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future Peter Thiel
I’ve actually written about a few of these before…here’s one instance:
A book I’m reading now: Thinking, Fast and Slow
Let’s see…of these, I’ve read:
Freakonomics
How to Win Friends & Influence People
Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
Predictably Irrational (I highly recommend this one)
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
The Art of War
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (worth reading)
The Last Lecture
Thinking, Fast and Slow
There are a few others about which I’m not sure. :)
Off the top of my head, I’d also recommend
Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales
The Man Who Lied to His Laptop by Clifford Nass
Brain Rules by John Medina
Interestingly, I would guess I was more influenced by fiction than by any of these. :) I still look at the Doc Savage oath from time to time, which says in part: “Let me strive, every moment of my life to make myself better and better, to the best of my ability, that all may profit by it. Let me think of the right, and lend my assistance to those who need it with no regard for anything but justice…”
What do you think of the list? Are there others you would recommend? Feel free to tell me and my readers what you think by commenting on this post.
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