6 Business Books To Read Before You Launch Your Next Startup

You can greatly improve your chances at success with insights from these books

During this time of year, most aspiring Entrepreneurs and business-minded folks are usually busy making plans for the year ahead. Maybe you have big plans to start a new business next year. Or Perhaps you are looking to take your current business model in a new direction.

Maybe you are just looking to improve on what you already got going on. I, in either case, encourage you to spend some time this Holiday season reading at least on of the books on our list to help you prep for the next 12 months in business.

Wisdom at Work: The Making of a Modern Elder

Hospitality expert/mentor to the millennial founders of Airbnb, Chip Conley celebrates the value of wisdom in the workplace and shows older workers how to thrive in the second act of their careers.

In our increasingly accelerated world that venerates the new, bright, and shiny, many of us in mid-career are left feeling invisible, undervalued, and threatened by the "digital natives" nipping at our heels. But Chip Conley argues that experience is on the brink of a comeback. At a time when power is shifting younger, the need for wisdom, emotional intelligence, and the ability to collaborate and coach is greater than ever. Read today

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving--every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.

If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Read now

The Laws of Human Nature

From the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The 48 Laws of Power comes the definitive new book on decoding the behavior of the people around you.

Robert Greene is a master guide for millions of readers, distilling ancient wisdom and philosophy into essential texts for seekers of power, understanding and mastery. Now he turns to the most important subject of all - understanding people's drives and motivations, even when they are unconscious of them themselves.

Read now

Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs

Legendary venture capitalist John Doerr reveals how the goal-setting system of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) has helped tech giants from Intel to Google achieve explosive growth--and how it can help any organization thrive.

In the fall of 1999, John Doerr met with the founders of a start-up whom he'd just given $12.5 million, the biggest investment of his career.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin had amazing technology, entrepreneurial energy, and sky-high ambitions, but no real business plan. For Google to change the world (or even to survive), Page and Brin had to learn how to make tough choices on priorities while keeping their team on track. They'd have to know when to pull the plug on losing propositions, to fail fast. And they needed timely, relevant data to track their progress--to measure what mattered. Read now

Principles: Life and Work

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 1975, Ray Dalio founded an investment firm, Bridgewater Associates, out of his two-bedroom apartment in New York City. Forty years later, Bridgewater has made more money for its clients than any other hedge fund in history and grown into the fifth most important private company in the United States, according to Fortune magazine. Read now

Imagine It Forward: Courage, Creativity, and the Power of Change

From one of today's foremost innovation leaders, an inspiring and practical guide to mastering change in the face of relentless uncertainty.

The world will never be slower than it is right now, says Beth Comstock, the former Vice Chair and head of marketing and innovation at GE. But confronting the relentless pace of change is hard. Employees get downsized; companies find themselves disrupted as challengers steal away customers. To thrive in today's world, every one of us has to become a change-maker. Read now