Read Like a CEO

CEOs from Bruce L. Christensen (PBS) to Dave Browne (LensCrafters) praise this 2000 leadership guide, which teaches readers how to harness self-awareness and reject the “truths” we create about those around us. According to a CNBC article, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield asked his entire executive team to read “Leadership and Self-Deception,” saying that it highlights the “key ways people and teams hold themselves back every day without even realizing it.”

Celebrated business consultant and bestselling author Collins (“Good to Great”) teaches leaders how to build companies with vision. “Built to Last” provides countless historical examples of successful companies to inspire a new generation of small business owners. “There is integrity in building a company that will stand the test of time,” says CEO Leigh Rawdon (Tea Collection). “The principles of this book have consciously and subconsciously guided the business and our brand since the very first day.”

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett agree that this collection of Brooks’ 1960s leadership articles, originally published in The New Yorker, is ideal for anyone interested in business. An entry on Gates’ blog reads, “Today, more than two decades after Warren lent it to me — and more than four decades after it was first published — Business Adventures remains the best business book I’ve ever read… It’s certainly true that many of the particulars of business have changed. But the fundamentals have not. Brooks’s deeper insights about business are just as relevant today as they were back then.”

CEOs including Jack Dorsey (Square) and Arianna Huffington (Thrive Global) rave about billionaire investor Dalio’s book. Turn your leadership potential into reality with these proven tools for decision-making, conquering challenges, and building strong teams from “the Steve Jobs of investing.”

It can be scary to enter the stock market with its highs and lows, bears and bulls, but this classic guidebook provides many keys to successful investing. In a letter to his Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, Warren Buffet writes of the book, “My financial life changed with that purchase… Ben’s ideas were explained logically in elegant, easy-to-understand prose.”

Rosenberg’s revolutionary communication guide teaches us how to replace judgment with compassion and understanding. “Upon becoming CEO, [Satya] Nadella confronted Microsoft’s legendarily combative culture by urging his new reports to read this book, which preaches the power of empathy, self-awareness, and authenticity in collaboration in the workplace, at home, and beyond,” says a FastCompany article on Nadella’s favorite leadership books.

There’s been much discussion about the “confidence gap” between men and women and how this leads to career disparity, but your talents deserve recognition. This book instills confidence even at the executive level, with Sheryl Sandberg (former COO of Meta Platforms and founder of LeanIn.org) saying, “Kay and Shipman shine a perceptive light on the crucial role that confidence plays in the ability of women to succeed. They offer women practical advice and the vision of a more hopeful future.”

Nike’s swoosh is one of the most recognizable icons around the world, so it’s no surprise this memoir by founder Knight is one of the most-lauded business books of all time. “Shoe Dog” is recommended by many CEOs, including Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway), Doug McMillon (Walmart), Amanda Bradford (The League), and David Segal (Firebelly Tea). “I think it is the most incredible story,” says Segal in 2021. “So many lessons from how to adapt when a supplier throws you a curveball to the power of being present and making people feel special.”

Harari’s new classic merges science with history to give a thorough saga of the human species, and it’s been recommended by leaders like President Obama, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Daniel Ek. In fact, Ek, CEO of Spotify, includes “Sapiens” in his top 10 favorite books.

Shetterly’s blockbuster book reveals the little-known history of the Black female mathematicians whose calculations were critical to winning the space race in a still-segregated America. This riveting true story inspired a 2016 film and is recommended by Jennefer Witter, the CEO and founder of The Boreland Group, Inc.