Amazon recently published a list of their TOP 100 best-selling books on motivation, team building, leadership, time management and building businesses. No, we haven’t read them all yet. Nevertheless, we’ve read more than a half and made a shorter list for you.
First, Break All the Rules – Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman
This book sits on the desk of the Lori Goler, Facebook’s Vice President of People. We tried to call her to get a comment, but she was unavailable. Nevertheless, she gave a comment to “Business Insider” saying that this book influenced her profoundly that and she had used almost all the advice from this philosophy for personal motivation and building the Facebook team. The essence of the book boils down to the fact that it is worth concentrating on the strengths of both individual employees and the team as a whole.
Freakonomics – Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Levitt is an economist and Dubner is a journalist from the New York Times. Together they hacked the world’s economy and wrote a manual for dummies explaining the laws of economics using examples such as cheating on an exam or a child asking for an ice cream. This book provides the reader with the needed motivation to keep track of your personal finances, learn what your accountant actually does and to budget everything in a smarter way. If you are too lazy to read the entire book and still want to understand how to make money, you can read their blog or even listen to their podcast under the same name – Freakonomics.
Drive – Daniel H. Pink
If you’ve been waiting for the moment when we would introduce a book pertaining to the motivation of the employees, then you’ve waited long enough. Daniel Pink is the author of many popular books on building and managing businesses, Drive is his gift to all bosses, who love to keep things cheap yet effective. He created a scalable model of in-house corporate motivation. He outlined the scheme by which the non-material motivation of the employee is all that is needed to achieve long-term team success. The author convinces us that the sense of autonomy, mastery, individual importance for every contribution to the common cause is far more meaningful than simply collecting a paycheck.
Business Adventures – John Brooks
Since 1996, this book of a compiled collection of articles from The New Yorker remains one of Bill Gates’s favorite books (write this in case you still remember who he is). However, the first to find it, read it and recommended it was Warren Buffett. Cramming into this post all that Gates and Buffett said about this book would mean compiling another book. The author’s ability to spread motivation and give practical advice without patronizing the reader is Brooks’ great talent. Be sure to also check out Brooks’ seven simple and understandable lessons of cultivating business.
#Girlboss – Sofia Amoruzo
Firstly, #Girlboss is a book about running a business from a female’s perspective. Secondly, it is a delight to read and good for self-motivation. Sofia Amoruzo is the creator of the brand “Nasty Gal”. In this book, she does not share “wisdom” or “advice” in a conventional sense. She shares crazy stories from her youth, for example, stealing a garbage truck. In the end, it was these experiences that led her to success. The book has a lot of practical advice about life and career. It motivates you not to be afraid, not to give up and to be free to act the way YOU see fit. I have a direct quote from the author for you to get the feel for Amoruzo’s philosophy: “It will not be fucking easy. But it’s worth it!” Netflix has already made a TV series based on #Girlboss.