The best books for success in business

Why am I passionate about this?

Michael Beck is an executive coach, business strategist, author, and president of Eliciting Excellence. Over his 20 years as a professional executive coach, he has helped leaders improve their interpersonal skills, sharpen their strategic thinking, and enhance their judgment. Although he started his career as a poor leader, over the years, he learned how to be a good communicator, came to understand human nature, and developed into a business strategist. His engineering and business degrees, combined with his executive experience in a wide range of industries allows him to bring keen insights to readers and clients.


I wrote...

Eliciting Excellence: Bringing Out the Best in People

By Michael Beck,

Book cover of Eliciting Excellence: Bringing Out the Best in People

What is my book about?

Eliciting excellence is the essence of exceptional leadership. Everyone accepts that good leadership is important, but rarely is the question raised as to why and how good leadership makes a difference.Although developing good strategies and making smart decisions are important,bringing out the best in people is the most important ability a leader needs in order to produce great results.

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

Michael Beck Why did I love this book?

This is an excellent book on how to influence people. He explains how six factors influence people’s decisions to buy or take action. The principles can be applied to selling a thing or selling an idea. I find I am able to effectively apply these ideas when persuading people as a leader.

By Robert B. Cialdini,

Why should I read it?

23 authors picked Influence as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The foundational and wildly popular go-to resource for influence and persuasion-a renowned international bestseller, with over 5 million copies sold-now revised adding: new research, new insights, new examples, and online applications.

In the new edition of this highly acclaimed bestseller, Robert Cialdini-New York Times bestselling author of Pre-Suasion and the seminal expert in the fields of influence and persuasion-explains the psychology of why people say yes and how to apply these insights ethically in business and everyday settings. Using memorable stories and relatable examples, Cialdini makes this crucially important subject surprisingly easy. With Cialdini as a guide, you don't have…


Book cover of The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom

Michael Beck Why did I love this book?

A short but meaningful book on how to be a better communicator. In this book, the author helps readers understand the four principles to communicating and interacting effectively. Easy to put into action and important principles. I find I am always mindful of each of the four agreements in my communications.

By Don Miguel Ruiz,

Why should I read it?

13 authors picked The Four Agreements as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In The Four Agreements, bestselling author don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, The Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love.

•  A New York Times bestseller for over a decade
•  Translated into 46 languages worldwide
 
“This book by don Miguel Ruiz, simple yet so powerful, has made a tremendous difference in how I think and act in every encounter.” — Oprah Winfrey

“Don Miguel Ruiz’s…


Book cover of The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal

Michael Beck Why did I love this book?

This book shares the secrets to being highly productive. In the book, the authors explain that the key to high performance isn’t time management, but energy management. Applying these insights will allow a person to accomplish far more than most people. I know, because I have been applying them for over 20 years and they work!

Book cover of Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters

Michael Beck Why did I love this book?

The insights help readers understand how to develop effective strategies. The author explains the difference between strategies, tactics, goals, and platitudes. This understanding makes all the difference in strategy development (and achievement)! It has allowed me to help many clients develop strategies that are meaningful, but can actually be implemented and produce results.

By Richard Rumelt,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked Good Strategy Bad Strategy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

When Richard Rumelt's Good Strategy/Bad Strategy was published in 2011, it immediately struck a chord, calling out as bad strategy the mish-mash of pop culture, motivational slogans and business buzz speak so often and misleadingly masquerading as the real thing.

Since then, his original and pragmatic ideas have won fans around the world and continue to help readers to recognise and avoid the elements of bad strategy and adopt good, action-oriented strategies that honestly acknowledge the challenges being faced and offer straightforward approaches to overcoming them. Strategy should not be equated with ambition, leadership, vision or planning; rather, it is…


Book cover of Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant

Michael Beck Why did I love this book?

This book shares insights into why some strategies are far more effective than others. The authors explain the difference between a “red ocean” strategy and a “blue ocean” strategy. The book is filled with real-world examples of both strategies and the results they produced. I like this book because it is thought-provoking. It helps me think “outside the box”.

By W. Chan Kim, Renée a Mauborgne,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Blue Ocean Strategy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

OVER 4 MILLION COPIES SOLD
WALL STREET JOURNAL AND BUSINESSWEEK BESTSELLER
RECOGNIZED AS ONE OF THE MOST ICONIC AND IMPACTFUL STRATEGY BOOKS EVER WRITTEN

The global phenomenon that has sold over 4 million copies, is published in a record-breaking 46 languages and is a bestseller across five continents--now updated and expanded with new content. Named by Fast Company as one of the most influential leadership books in its Leadership Hall of Fame. A strategy classic.

In this perennial bestseller, embraced by organizations and industries worldwide, globally preeminent management thinkers W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne challenge everything you thought you…


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Native Nations: A Millennium in North America

By Kathleen DuVal,

Book cover of Native Nations: A Millennium in North America

Kathleen DuVal Author Of Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a professional historian and life-long lover of early American history. My fascination with the American Revolution began during the bicentennial in 1976, when my family traveled across the country for celebrations in Williamsburg and Philadelphia. That history, though, seemed disconnected to the place I grew up—Arkansas—so when I went to graduate school in history, I researched in French and Spanish archives to learn about their eighteenth-century interactions with Arkansas’s Native nations, the Osages and Quapaws. Now I teach early American history and Native American history at UNC-Chapel Hill and have written several books on how Native American, European, and African people interacted across North America.

Kathleen's book list on the American Revolution beyond the Founding Fathers

What is my book about?

A magisterial history of Indigenous North America that places the power of Native nations at its center, telling their story from the rise of ancient cities more than a thousand years ago to fights for sovereignty that continue today

Native Nations: A Millennium in North America

By Kathleen DuVal,

What is this book about?

Long before the colonization of North America, Indigenous Americans built diverse civilizations and adapted to a changing world in ways that reverberated globally. And, as award-winning historian Kathleen DuVal vividly recounts, when Europeans did arrive, no civilization came to a halt because of a few wandering explorers, even when the strangers came well armed.

A millennium ago, North American cities rivaled urban centers around the world in size. Then, following a period of climate change and instability, numerous smaller nations emerged, moving away from rather than toward urbanization. From this urban past, egalitarian government structures, diplomacy, and complex economies spread…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in persuasion, military strategy, and success in life?

10,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about persuasion, military strategy, and success in life.

Persuasion Explore 21 books about persuasion
Military Strategy Explore 12 books about military strategy
Success In Life Explore 245 books about success in life