December 5, 2022

The 17 Best Business Books You Should Be Reading in 2023

Better business learning and growth don’t end with a degree. The best leaders, executives, and entrepreneurs continuously expand their knowledge, expertise, and skillsets by reading the best business books on self-help, mindset, psychology, leadership, business strategy, and more. And as things change in the business world and workplace and more people try their hand at small business and entrepreneurship, one can never learn too much. 

We’ve rounded up 17 of the best business books you should add to your 2023 reading list that can introduce you to new concepts, make you a better leader, teach you valuable business lessons, expand your mindset, and more. From books on better productivity to marketing strategies and beyond, here are some of the best business books to read this new year.

Best Business Books #1

Remote Work by Chris Dyer and Kim Shepard

Chris Dyer and Kim Shepard wrote the premier guide to building a better remote workplace, a necessity for the growing trend of working hybrid or remotely. The COVID-19 pandemic transformed how businesses perform their operations, leaving many floundering for good strategies. Remote Work provides deep insights into building a solid online organizational culture. This book can positively contribute to any organization’s pursuit of establishing an impactful and successful online business culture.

  1. The Power of Company Culture by Chris Dyer

A strong organizational culture is critical to achieving success in the market. Companies with influential corporate cultures get the highest ranking in the industry and have passionate and engaged employees. The Power of Company Culture, another bestseller by Chris Dyer, uncovers all the strategies businesses can use to develop and maintain a positive culture in the workplace. 

This book introduces the seven pillars of cultural success, which help companies improve their employees’ productivity and increase their reputation. The Power of Company Culture provides business leaders and HR managers with the tools to create an impactful organizational culture and achieve revenue goals more swiftly.

  1. Radical Candor (Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity) by Kim Scott

A New York Times and Wallstreet bestseller, Radical Candor will help you master your leadership position and do it directly. She explains how being a good boss requires both caring for your employees and challenging them. In this way, you can create a team that works well with feedback, is cohesive, and is able to speak required truths without disrespect. Find your balance in being a boss by utilizing Scott’s tips, and your team will thrive. 

  1. Crushing It: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence-and How You Can, Too by Gary Vaynerchuk

Four-time NYT bestselling author Gary Vaynerchuk is back with another business bestseller. Not to be confused with his 2009 business book, Crush It: Why Now is the Time to Cash in Your Passion, this new book offers readers brand new lessons, advice, strategies, and tactics gathered from his own business and entrepreneurial experiences and experiences from dozens of entrepreneurs across the globe. His business advice in this book is updated to fit the modern world, including how to build a household name brand on social media platforms and podcasting. 

If you’re looking to start or grow a profitable brand in 2023, this is a must-have on your reading list. 

  1. The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks to You by Julie Zhuo

Working as a leader in a new position is exciting and intimidating. But Julio Zhou has you covered. Management positions can’t be taken lightly, as people will be relying on you for answers and leadership. The Making of a Manager details how to build trust, hire the right employees, and where to start when you’re overwhelmed. She’s worked in management positions for many years on teams of all sizes and shares her expertise in working your way through having worked your way up. 

  1. The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz

Author Ben Horowitz is a co-founder and general partner of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. He’s gone from publishing his personal blog sharing business advice and his experience running start-ups to publishing this book, which is an adaptation of his original blog posts. It’s a fantastic narrative about successfully navigating the inevitable difficulties of business. Horowitz covers topics such as starting a business with friends, firing people, dealing with competitors, and cultivating a CEO mentality. 

  1. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell

This business book by Malcolm Gladwell argues the phenomenon of there being a magic tipping point at which a business idea, effort, movement, or something similar crosses the threshold of adoption and begins to spread rapidly. In this book, he explains this tipping point and why that happens. Gladwell argues that certain personality types purposefully push things to the tipping point, and he discusses what these people do to find this tipping point naturally. He also gives readers practical strategies to replicate this successfully on their own. 

  1. The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business by Josh Kaufman

Bestselling author Josh Kaufman is not a fan of the traditionally taught Masters in Business Administration (MBA) programs. In this book, he shows readers how these programs often teach irrelevant theoretical information that doesn’t help graduates’ ability to succeed in business. Kaufman argues that instead of getting a costly MBA, you can learn about business with practical experience as long as you read and learn about the fundamentals of modern business along the way. He designed this book to provide relevant business education on the reader’s own time.

  1. Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts by Brené Brown

New York Times Bestseller Brené Brown provides an incredible guide on how to be a leader. Utilizing research from change-makers, cultural shifters, and leaders, she demonstrates how to take concepts and theories and put them into practice. Brown explores how leadership can look like asking questions, sharing power, and putting in the work. Taking the time to commit to work and the unavoidable challenges of being a leader can allow you to succeed. This book will teach you how to be daring and feel more prepared to lead others through some great unknowns. 

  1. Permission to Screw Up: How I Learned to Lead by Doing (Almost) Everything Wrong by Kristen Hadeed

Kristen Hadeed has written away the narrative that leaders must be perfect. Relearn how to fail and find lessons in your failures by reading her story about starting a business and all of the pitfalls involved. This book will teach you how to avoid the mistakes Hadeed made and show you how to learn from the new ones you will make while leading. Embrace exploration of the safety of stagnancy, and find grace in things going wrong. 

  1. Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work by Chip and Dan Heath

In this book, Chip and Dan Heath share their immense knowledge of how people do business and live their personal lives in order to help readers make better decisions. Decisive explores how psychologically our decisions are disrupted by an array of biases and irrationalities and how what we need to know to change and make better decisions in the long run. This book gives readers a four-step process to counteract these biases and make stronger decisions.

  1. Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes

Ever wondered how to truly get out of your shell? Want to take advantage of every opportunity coming your way but worried you might be missing them? The answer could be in one simple word: Yes. Shonda Rhimes said yes to everything for a year and shares her journey of how that changed her life. She details all of the differences it made in her life and the possible ones it could make in yours. Follow this award-winning writer and show producer, and learn how to say yes. 

  1. The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8 AM) by Hal Elrod

Some say that the key to success is in your morning routine. In this book, Hal Elrod suggests that you should wake an hour before you usually do and spend about 10 minutes doing one of these key intention-setting activities: meditating, saying affirmations, visualizing, exercising, reading something constructive, and writing. Inside the book, he provides you with easy tweaks and habits you can use to wake up every morning with more energy, motivation, and focus. And as the title suggest, the idea is that with the right morning routine, you can start your day off in a manner that transforms your mindset and trajectory.

  1. The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks than Others Do in 12 Months by Brian Moran and Michael Lennington

The 12-week year concept has taken off amongst entrepreneurs, leaders, and ambitious goal-setters looking for a more effective way to set goals, plan, and achieve milestones. In this book, rather than a traditional 12-month business year, the authors suggest only planning for 12 weeks or a quarter. With a 12-week cycle, there will be no slack times, and you can more easily stay focused on the entire period and celebrate your successes at the end of the 12-week period before planning the next 12 weeks. 

  1. Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg

This book has received a lot of well-deserved hype for its honesty about the experiences of women in business. Sandberg encourages women to be voracious, courageous, and strong-willed in their careers to help themselves, as well as help the future of upcoming women in business. This book touches on multiple game-changing topics, including how to find a mentor, negotiate for what you want, voice your opinions, become a leader, and more. 

  1. Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry

Emotional intelligence is the new IQ and is just as important. The premise of this book is that emotional intelligence (EQ) is one of the most fundamental foundations for building a solid character. And in a business sense, it is also essential for strong and successful leadership. Emotional Intelligence 2.0 gives you a step-by-step program to improve your EQ through self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. 

  1. The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business by Erin Meyer

With digital and remote work growth, the business world is global now. However, cultures still present a certain level of separation and barrier, even in this globalized business world. There are numerous case studies where global brands have gotten things horribly wrong in local markets because they didn’t make an effort to understand the local culture. Erin Meyers helps readers understand cultural differences in business and raises readers’ awareness of cultural issues encountered in business dealings outside of one’s home. 

What Book is Going on Your 2023 Reading List?

Feeling ready to take on the new year with a new reading list?  Many of these best business books provide well-rounded information, advice, and concepts to aid in business success from every angle. After reading even a few of these best business books, you’ll feel more motivated and prepared to meet your business goals. And if you want to continue learning and improving your business acumen, there are many great courses to help you grow and improve.