Editor’s note: This article was first published in July 2015 for summer 2015. Roles are as of 2015: Laszlo Bock was Google’s head of people operations (he left in 2016), and Sheryl Sandberg was Facebook’s chief operating officer (she stepped down in 2022).
A promise is a promise, and we are not going to let our readers get bored this summer. So here is our selection of business and career books to read this summer.
We already recommended 8 business books last winter. We have also recently recommended several books on investing and the stock market, and a few books for rusty minds that will help you become smarter and make better decisions.
Work Rules! Insights from Inside Google, by Laszlo Bock
Laszlo Bock is Google’s vice president of human resources. In his book, he sets out to explain how Google manages to keep its best talent, people who do not stay at the company for the money.
In a previous article, Laszlo explained that a company’s best employees stay for only two reasons: 1. the quality of the people they are surrounded by at work, and 2. the feeling that the work they do is meaningful. A must-read for HR professionals and business leaders.
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, by Marshall Goldsmith
Goldsmith is an executive coach who has worked with the leaders of large companies such as Pfizer and Target. His approach can help you work out what is working and what isn’t at your company, and help you create new habits and processes to maximise your effectiveness.
The author starts from the premise that the business world already has plenty of good executives, smart and charismatic, but only a few will succeed in an organisation or in their own company. Which qualities and habits should we start working on to stand out and succeed? What is holding us back, and how do we fix it? Goldsmith tries to answer all of that in his book.
You’re in Charge, Now What?, by James M. Citrin
Ideal for people who have been promoted from within the company, or who have come from another company to take charge. In the book, the author offers advice on preparing yourself physically, mentally and emotionally, and on avoiding many of the mistakes new bosses tend to make.
Citrin will help you get through the phase that every new job or role brings with it: a temporary state of incompetence.
Free: The Future of a Radical Price, by Chris Anderson
As we can see, the future of business, at least in the world of technology ideas, tends to follow a pattern: offering users something for free. Facebook offers a free platform, Google offers a free service, we have free newspapers and hundreds of free services. And most of them have something in common: they make money hand over fist.
For entrepreneurs looking for business ideas, this book can help you spot a few if you read it with an open mind. Because, as the author says, free is not a marketing strategy but a highly profitable business model, if you know how to make the most of it.
Juan Roig, el emprendedor visionario, by Manuel Mira Candel
(In Spanish; the title means “Juan Roig, the visionary entrepreneur”.) I haven’t read this book, but from what I’ve been told it is worth reading from a business point of view. You may like Juan Roig more or less, but what is indisputable is that he has built one of the fastest-growing companies in Spain (the Mercadona supermarket chain).
What’s more, he grew his empire at a time when most business owners were pulling back their investments, while Roig kept investing. I’m sure the answer to how he did it holds some valuable business lessons.
Lean In, by Sheryl Sandberg
Sheryl Sandberg is Facebook’s chief operating officer. Before joining Facebook, she was Google’s vice president of global online sales and operations, and chief of staff at the US Treasury Department.
The book caused quite a stir in the United States, because Sheryl believes that most women are undervalued for senior positions in companies, and that women themselves undermine their own career progress.
As a result, it has become essential reading for any woman who wants to get ahead in a company, and the author offers guidance on exactly that. It is a book that will make readers of any gender question their assumptions about what it really takes to succeed. Sheryl is donating all the proceeds from the book’s sales to a non-profit organisation that helps women pursue their goals.
StrengthsFinder 2.0, by Tom Rath
Tom Rath starts from the premise that we should spend less time focusing on our flaws and weaknesses and more time focusing on our strengths. In other words, putting all our energy into the things we do, and do very well.
The book builds on an earlier work published by Gallup, so in this second edition the author includes a strengths assessment, along with the techniques needed to put those strengths into action.
In short, the author aims to help you find your professional niche and the ways you can contribute to society with those “hidden strengths” of yours.
Never Eat Alone, by Keith Ferrazzi
Ferrazzi attributes much of his success to the personal relationships he built and managed to maintain.
In the book, he explains how an ordinary person who grew up in a small town, the son of a labourer and a cleaner, used a few easy-to-follow strategies to reach the people he admired and work with them until he became successful.
Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson
In earlier articles I have broken down quite a few passages from this book: the only authorised biography Steve Jobs cooperated with, whose pages hold valuable lessons of every kind, in business and in life.
The book doesn’t just take you through the progress witnessed by a handful of young entrepreneurs who ended up changing the world. It shows every business move and strategy, as well as the internal plotting and backstabbing among Apple’s own executives. In my opinion, this biography is worth several years of university.
Featured image: cellanr, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
