I am a big believer in education and investing in myself to learn new things so I can better improve my life, my business and my relationships. Over the years I have become quite fond of many books and this list of books are ones that I believe every business owners must read.

1. Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

This book introduces you to the 15 laws of success and a must read for anybody looking to achieve success.

Hill also develops 13 principles in the form of a philosophy on personal achievement and provides stories to make his point.

2. E-Myth Revisited : Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael Gerber “Work on your business, not in it” is one of the valuable lessons taught in this masterpiece. Gerber encourages owners to develop systems that allow their companies to operate even without them and to focus your time and energy working on your business rather than becoming a slave to it.

3. Who Moved My Cheese by Spenser Johnson Using a wonderful story about mice, Johnson describes change in one’s life and work and four typical reactions to change during their hung for cheese.

This is a great way to educate yourself about change

4. Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success One Relationship at A Time by Keith Ferrazzi

The ultimate book on networking in my opinion. Ferrazzi discovered early in life, that all successful people master the art of relationships. He lays out specific steps and a mindset required for connecting with thousands of people to support your success. Business is not about being behind your computer, it is about connecting with people and developing relationships that propel your business.

5. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t by Jim Collins This book talks about finding what you are good at and creating a culture of discipline. It discusses multiple level of strategy and introduces you to 5 different leadership types and their approaches.

6. How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie Of course, your salespeople and managers should read this self-improvement classic. But Friends is also about leadership. “There is only one way under high heaven to get anybody to do anything,” writes Carnegie, “and that is by making the other person want to do it.”

7. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Don’t by Chip and Dan Heath The Heath brothers identify qualities of memorable and effective ideas wherever they occur, in one of the most useful and entertaining marketing books to come along in years

8. The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company, by Jack Stack The term open-book management didn’t exist when Stack, CEO of Springfield Re-manufacturing, started giving employees the education and the data to track their companies — and their own — performance. Stack is equally instructive and open in chronicling the experience.

9. Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham & Donald O. Clifton The authors help you identify your talents and build them into strengths so you can improve your performance every time. The program introduces you to 34 dominant themes and reveals how they can best be translated into personal and career goals using their Internet Based Strengths Finder Profile.

10. Execution: the Discipline of Getting Things Done, By Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan This book focuses on results and getting the job done no matter if you are running a company or a manager on the job. It is about setting your mind and delivering the results every time you set out to accomplish a task.