10 Influential Business Books of 2018 You Need to Read

As the year cruises along and we pass the halfway point it is time to take a look at where we are and where we are going. Are our businesses moving in the right direction? Are we accomplishing our goals, or are we letting the year get away from us? To make sure you stay on course or to get back on track and focused if needed, we have compiled a list of the hottest business books so far in 2018. These include best sellers and trending books with the best tips, suggestions, and motivation to propel you with success through the rest of 2018 and set you up to end the year with a bang. Enjoy!

1.      Bad Blood by John Carreyrou

Bad Blood, one of 2018’s fastest-selling books, allows you to dive into the full story of the rise and surprising collapse of the multibillion-dollar biotech startup Theranos. Get the story from the person who knows it best, John Carreyrou, the award-winning journalist who first broke this shocking news story about the lies and deception within one of the fastest and most successful startups of our time and how he followed the company’s demise through to the end.

2.      Brotopia by Emily Chang

Emily Chang, Bloomberg Technology host, and executive producer knows her way around the Silicon Valley where many of the most powerful people in tech can be found. In Brotopia, Chang takes a look at the big problem looming within the allure of glory in Silicon Valley; there are no women allowed. With her brilliant critique of well-known tech powerhouses, Change suggests that it is high time to break up the boys club and provides the potential blueprint found in her interviews with women who are established tech giants, including Face-book’s COO Sheryl Sandberg, former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, and YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki.

3.      Principles by Ray Dalio

Take in the proven Principles of entrepreneur giant and savvy investor Ray Dalio and learn how to apply them to your personal finances, life, and business, while achieving your goals. In his new book, Dalio illustrates how anyone can improve their decision-making and strengthen their teams just as he did and has continued to do throughout his lucrative forty-year career. Follow his three principle system, improve your decision-making, and launch your life or business down a successful path.

4.      When to Jump: If the Job You Have Isn’t the Life You Want by Mike Lewis

Find out “When to Jump” as you follow Mike Lewis’s personal account of going from a ‘good’ comfortable job to leaving it all behind in pursuit of his dream and true passion: squash. Join Lewis as he takes you through his four steps to pursuing your dream career and introduces you to others, like Lewis, who have risked comfort for happiness. Find out what you must get out of your job in order to be fulfilled and ‘When to Jump” for it.

5.      The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups by Daniel Coyle

Laszlo Bock, the former senior vice president of People Operations at Google, has dubbed Daniel Coyle’s The Culture Code as a “must-read” for 2018. Coyle, a New York Times bestselling author, gives you the secrets of successful groups he has studied in-depth, such as US Navy SEAL Team Six and teams from Pixar. Coye’s conclusion: safety, shared risk, and purpose differentiates a great group performance from mediocre disjointed teams.

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

Gary Vaynerchuk, the four-time New York Times bestselling author, looks to inspire men and women to chase their business dreams and start doing what they love in Crushing It. Vaynerchuk draws from both his own experience of leaving a stable career path to build a successful business of his own and the experiences of other entrepreneurs who found success in the same way. Find your inspiration and build your passion as Vaynerchuk discusses the principals he and other entrepreneurs adopted to live their dreams and surpass their goals.

7.      The CEO Next Door: The 4 Behaviors That Transform Ordinary People into World-Class Leaders by Elena Botelho, Kim Powell

Elena Botelho and Kim Powell debunk many of the widely accepted and preached myths about how to rise to the top and expose the surprising truth on how to become a successful CEO through their extensive research and analysis. The four behaviors they have determined to “transform ordinary people into world-class leaders” were born out of Botelho and Powell’s studies of over 2,600 leaders taken from a database of more than 17,000 CEOs. Learn what actually sets apart successful CEOs and use their many lessons to improve your career. Rise to the top with Botelho and Powell’s four key behaviors of success that everyone can learn to master.

8.      MEASURE WHAT MATTERS by John Doerr

John Doerr teaches us how to Measure What Matters by setting our goals and achieving them through clear and focused objectives that produce key results. With his unique approach, spelled out in his new book, Doerr gives businesses the know-how to make the tough choices in their business and always come out on top. With exclusive case studies of success stories including Bill Gates and Bono, Doerr demonstrates the real power behind his methods backed up with real people’s successes.

9.      Thinking, Fast and Slow Daniel Kahneman

Nobel laureate, and one of the great minds in the psychology of our time, Daniel Kahneman, gives us access to his thoughts on our mind’s two ways of operating. In, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman explains the two systems of thinking we all have that drive the way we make decisions. Learn how our fast-paced emotional thought connects with our slow and logical rationale to provide us with our decision-making abilities and fully understand the benefits of each thought process to our businesses and personal lives.

10.  Rise and Grind by Daymond John

The biggest secret to success is no secret at all; it takes hard work. New York Times best-selling author, Draymond John, explores the mindset and habits that characterized his success and continue to today. As John explains in his new book, Rise and Grind, his path was shaped by tried and true methods: grit, perseverance, and hard work. Learn how to Rise and Grind as John takes you down his path to success and fills you in on the old recipe and secrets of other individuals who have “grinded” their way to the top.

We hope you enjoyed our list and have found the next book to fill your daily reading time. Know of a great book from 2018 that we missed and needs to be on our list? Share it with us on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Face-book! Don’t forget to share our list with your friends, colleagues, and on social media!