Can reading business books help you become better at what you do? The answer depends on you, your goals, and, of course, the quality of the book.
Good business lessons can come from many sources — a mentor, a colleague, a good novel, current event failures and successes, to name a few. While many business books fall more into the motivational category than the educational category, these books can be useful in stimulating your own lines of thought.
New business books for 2016
When you learn how someone else has worked through a business problem or set long-term goals, it can help you put your own situation in better perspective. The New Year brings us a bevy of new business books. Here are a few to help you get your year off to a profitable start.
New business books – How to Make Your Money Last: The Indispensable Retirement Guide by Jane Bryant Quinn (Simon & Schuster, Jan. 5)
The recent recession left many Americans either without their retirement savings or in a state of worry about losing those savings. In this book, personal finance expert Jane Bryant Quinn offers guidance on how to turn your retirement savings into a lifetime income stream.
Some of her long-term tips involve ways to earn higher returns from your assets, including your pension, Social Security, home equity, retirement accounts and savings.
Quinn, who has appeared on PBS and CBS, is the author of the Making the Most of Your Money Now, Smart and Simple Financial Strategies for Busy People and Everyone’s Money Book.
New business books – Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant (Viking, Feb. 2)
As the youngest tenured professor and highest-rated teacher at The Wharton School and as the author of the bestselling book Give and Take, Adam Grant often focuses on the importance of fresh ideas. In his new book, Grant offers ideas on how business leaders can encourage originality in their team members and in their overall organizations.
He uses stories and studies from sports, entertainment and politics to reveal how choosing to act at the right time –without fear of getting it wrong – can be life changing. You will learn insights about how rejecting the status quo might be just want you need to be successful.
Grant himself does not follow a clear-cut mold. Named one of the world’s top 40 business professors under 40, Grant is a former advertising director, a junior Olympic springboard diver and a professional magician.
New business books – The Domino Effect by E. Russell Braziel (NTA Press, Jan. 3)
How do energy and the international energy market affect the global marketplace and global politics? A respected expert in the field of energy management, E. Russell Braziel explores the “domino effect” of the shale revolution.
Braziel, president and CEO of RBN Energy, explains how prices, product flows, infrastructure and equity values of natural gas, crude oil and natural gas liquids impact the global energy economy both today and into the future. He also gives readers the know-how to determine investment and career opportunities that take advantage of the “domino effect.”
New business books – The Power of Broke: How Empty Pockets, a Tight Budget, and a Hunger for Success Can Become Your Greatest Competitive Advantage by Daymond John and Daniel Paisner (Crown Business, Jan. 19)
You may know him as one of the stars of ABC TV series “Shark Tank,” but Daymond John wasn’t always a TV star. He began his business career selling homemade t-shirts in his Queens neighborhood, and while doing so, implemented his own ideas for creative promotion.
He ended up founding Fubu, the casual clothing company, in 1992, with one of his creative schemes. Today, the brand is a $6 billion international success.
John shares with readers both his perspective and the experiences of others that demonstrate how being broke can be an advantage for the entrepreneur. He stresses that being broke forces you to take risks and to think creatively. If you are starting from the ground up, you will be inspired by John’s story and his ideas for making your mark.
New business books – The Age of Cryptocurrency: How Bitcoin and the Blockchain Are Challenging the Global Economic Order (Picador, Jan. 12)
What is cryptocurrency and its most famous incarnation, bitcoins? And, more importantly, why should you care about them? In this insightful book, Wall Street writers Paul Vigna and Michael J. Casey explain what you need to know about our economy that has changed significantly from one based on paper currency to one based on digital currency.
The authors take a seemingly dry subject and offer up stories and history lessons to answer your questions about cryptocurrency and to help you make the most of the changes it is carving in our economy.
