Top 20 Startup, Small Business and Entrepreneurship Books of 2014

11. Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds

by Carmine Gallo (Tweet This)

Ideas are the true currency of the twenty-first century. So, in order to succeed you need to be able to sell yourself and your ideas persuasively. The ability to sell yourself and your ideas is the single greatest skill that will help you accomplish your dreams. TED Talks have redefined the elements of a successful presentation and become the gold standard for public speaking… Many people have a fear of public speaking or they’re insecure about their ability to give a TED-worthy presentation. Talk Like TED will give you the tools to create presentations around the ideas that matter most to you, the skill to win over hearts and minds, and the confidence to deliver the talk of your life.

12. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich (Expanded and Updated)

by Timothy Ferriss (Tweet This)

Forget the old concept of retirement and the rest of the deferred-life plan–there is no need to wait and every reason not to, especially in unpredictable economic times. Whether your dream is escaping the rat race, experiencing high-end world travel, earning a monthly five-figure income with zero management, or just living more and working less, The 4-Hour Workweek is the blueprint.

13. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

by Stephen Covey (Tweet This)

Internationally renowned leadership authority and bestselling author Stephen R. Covey presents an integrated, principle-centered 7 Habits philosophy that helps readers find solutions to their personal and professional problems and achieve a life characterized by fairness, integrity, honesty, and dignity. Covey’s tried and true step-by-step approach is explored even more fully in this workbook, which leads readers through the 7 Habits and shows them how to put these ideas into action everyday.

14. The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance—What Women Should Know

by Kattie Kay and Claire Shipman (Tweet This)

Combining cutting-edge research in genetics, gender, behavior, and cognition—with examples from their own lives and those of other successful women in politics, media, and business—Kay and Shipman go beyond admonishing women to “lean in.”Instead, they offer the inspiration and practical advice women need to close the gap and achieve the careers they want and deserve.

15. The Future of Work: Attract New Talent, Build Better Leaders, and Create a Competitive Organization

by Jacob Morgan (Tweet This)

Throughout the history of business employees had to adapt to managers and managers had to adapt to organizations. In the future this is reversed with managers and organizations adapting to employees. This means that in order to succeed and thrive organizations must rethink and challenge everything they know about work… This is a book about how employees of the future will work, how managers will lead, and what organizations of the future will look like.

16. The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses

by Eric Ries (Tweet This)

Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched… Rather than wasting time creating elaborate business plans, The Lean Startup offers entrepreneurs – in companies of all sizes – a way to test their vision continuously, to adapt and adjust before it’s too late. Ries provides a scientific approach to creating and managing successful startups in a age when companies need to innovate more than ever.

17. The Obstacle Is The Way

by Ryan Holiday (Tweet This)

We are stuck, stymied, frustrated. But it needn’t be this way. There is a formula for success that’s been followed by the icons of history—from John D. Rockefeller to Amelia Earhart to Ulysses S. Grant to Steve Jobs—a formula that let them turn obstacles into opportunities. Faced with impossible situations, they found the astounding triumphs we all seek. These men and women were not exceptionally brilliant, lucky, or gifted. Their success came from timeless philosophical principles laid down by a Roman emperor who struggled to articulate a method for excellence in any and all situations. This book reveals that formula for the first time—and shows us how we can turn our own adversity into advantage.

18. The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business

by Josh Kaufman (Tweet This)

The Personal MBA distills the most valuable business lessons into simple, memorable mental models that can be applied to real-world challenges… True leaders aren’t made by business schools – they make themselves, seeking out the knowledge, skills, and experience they need to succeed. Read this book and you will learn the principles it takes most business professionals a lifetime of trial and error to master.

19. Think and Grow Rich

by Napoleon Hill (Tweet This)

Think and Grow Rich has been called the “Granddaddy of All Motivational Literature.” It was the first book to boldly ask, “What makes a winner?” In the original Think and Grow Rich, published in 1937, Hill draws on stories of Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and other millionaires of his generation to illustrate his principles. In the updated version, Arthur R. Pell, Ph.D., a nationally known author, lecturer, and consultant in human resources management and an expert in applying Hill’s thought, deftly interweaves anecdotes of how contemporary millionaires and billionaires, such as Bill Gates, Mary Kay Ash, Dave Thomas, and Sir John Templeton, achieved their wealth.

20. Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters (Tweet This)

The great secret of our time is that there are still uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create. In Zero to One, legendary entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel shows how we can find singular ways to create those new things. Information technology has improved rapidly, but there is no reason why progress should be limited to computers or Silicon Valley. Progress can be achieved in any industry or area of business. It comes from the most important skill that every leader must master: learning to think for yourself. Zero to One presents at once an optimistic view of the future of progress in America and a new way of thinking about innovation: it starts by learning to ask the questions that lead you to find value in unexpected places.

What is your favorite book that every entrepreneur should be reading? Let us know in the comments section below.