The number of new book titles published so far in 2023 has already exceeded 500,000, and the count keeps rising. With so many new books hitting the shelves, how do you determine which ones are worth your time? More importantly, which books have the potential to significantly impact your perspective? Here are books that change the world of business and transform your commercial thinking.

1. The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard & Spencer Johnson

The first “management book” you should read is The One Minute Manager. Like many junior managers, you might find yourself in a position where you’ve never been trained on how to manage people. If you’re an overachiever in a sector like hospitality, this can often lead to feelings of imposter syndrome, especially when managing older and more experienced teams.

To overcome this, consider taking formalized learning courses. The One Minute Manager could be part of your reading list, and it will likely stand out because it’s significantly shorter than many other recommended texts. You might even find yourself reaching for it first over weightier times. The principles in The One Minute Manager are straightforward and revolve around three “secrets”: one-minute goals, one-minute praisings, and one-minute reprimands.

2. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

This one may have been written in 1937, but its principles are still relevant today. Napoleon Hill introduces you to the concept of the Master Mind, a group of people coordinating their knowledge and effort in harmony to achieve a specific purpose. In other words, it’s about creating a team of supporters, coaches, and counselors who can help you reach your goals.

Hill was also a pioneer of positivity, famously stating: “whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve with a positive mental attitude.” You can even learn to develop a positive attitude, and the story reading app will help you with this. With the honest library that you can create right in the FictionMe application, you can train, develop and shape yourself. A novel app is your faithful assistant, and FictionMe is one of the best. applications that are created today. While this might sound a bit cheesy now, there’s immense power in the process of imagining where you want to be.

3. Black Box Thinking by Matthew Syed

What do the airline industry and the healthcare sector have in common? You might think they have very little in common, but in the captivating book Black Box Thinking, Syed shows how both deal with failure and the stark consequences of not learning from it.

Black Box Thinking is a new approach to high performance, a means for you to find an edge in a complex and fast-changing world. It is not just about sport but has powerful implications for your business and politics, as well as for parents and students. In other words, it’s relevant for all of us.

Drawing on an array of case studies and real-world examples, together with cutting-edge research on marginal gains, creativity, and grit, Matthew Syed tells the inside story of how success really happens—and how you cannot grow unless you’re prepared to learn from your mistakes.

4. The Art of War by Sun Tzu

Another ancient text, The Art of War, is a Chinese military treatise from the 5th century BC. Each of its 13 chapters delves into different aspects of warfare, marking it as a seminal work in military strategy and tactics. You might question the relevance of such an old text today, but you’ll find it’s about salesmanship at its finest. Interestingly, Fiction Me app users have discussed in some detail the intricacies of the book and its adaptation to other areas of life and business. When you apply the principles from The Art of War to the business world, you transform the work you do—and the gamesmanship involved—into an art form.

5. Good to Great by James C. Collins

As someone relatively new to an official leadership role in the past few years, you’ll find Good to Great both eye-opening and reaffirming. It reinforces the belief that great leaders are essential to a business’s success and that individuals can evolve into Level 5 leaders. You’ll appreciate the window-and-mirror analogy: when success happens under your leadership, you must look outward and acknowledge the team of people in the organization who make greatness possible every day. Conversely, when mistakes or missteps occur, you must look in the mirror, take personal responsibility, and do what it takes to make things better. Embracing vulnerability and honesty is essential and will go a long way in your journey to becoming a great leader.

6. The Power of Flexing by Susan Ashford

Drawing on decades of experience in management teaching and research, Susan Ashford, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, offers you an incredibly timely framework for leadership development. The challenges of the past two years have tested your resolve, even if you are an established manager. As Ashford writes in The Power of Flexing (Harper Business, 2021), “Growth is sometimes thrust upon you,” both as an individual and as a leader. Using dozens of examples and interviews, Ashford makes the case that honing a learning mindset is a foundational aspect of flexing.

Conclusion

What is the book that changes the way you think? It doesn’t matter whether it’s a book on this list or not. Share your experiences and opinions: “What is the best book to read for business?” Let this help the same entrepreneurs to form a healthy business that grows organically and does not cause trouble.