15 Books To Exercise Your Entrepreneurial Brain

Time is one thing busy entrepreneurs rarely have enough of. Yet, it is critical for hard working business leaders to reserve blocks of time to think, to concentrate and to take in a new book or two.

Reading a book is a leisure-time activity, but it’s also a plus from a neurological perspective. A new study conducted by Emory University found that reading a good book causes heightened connectivity in the brain and helps to develop something akin to muscle memory. In other words, sharp minds in and out of business, read books.

Of course, finding the truly “good books” takes a bit of research, and research takes time – the very thing busy business people lack.

In the interest of informing your next trip to the public library, online, or favorite bookstore, our staff has generated a list of favorite business books.

• Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
• Influence: Science and Practice by Robert B. Cialdini
• Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness by Jeffrey Gitomer 
• Greater Than Yourself: The Ultimate Lesson of True Leadership by Steve Farber
• Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins
• Strengths Based Leadership: Great Leaders, Teams, and Why People Follow by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie
• Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Liz Wiseman
• Mastering the Rockefeller Habits: What You Must Do to Increase the Value of Your Growing Firm byVerne Harnish

According to Pew, the typical American read or listened to five books last year. Of course, there are active readers who read one book each week. These super readers are also likely to recommend books and search for new books on social media platforms like Goodreads.com.

Here are seven more business books to read by firelight:

• How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
• Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt
• Six Pixels of Separation: Everyone Is Connected. Connect Your Business to Everyone. by Mitch Joel
• The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk
• Likeable Business: Why Today's Consumers Demand More and How Leaders Can Deliver by Dave Kerpen
• The Business of Belief: How the World's Best Marketers, Designers, Salespeople, Coaches, Fundraisers, Educators, Entrepreneurs and Other Leaders Get Us to Believe by Tom Asacker

Business is a dynamic system. It takes a real quest for knowledge to stay current and informed. If you have already read some of these fine volumes, our hat is off to you. If you intend to read them, and think that you want to discuss the ideas in these books, we welcome your feedback.

We’re bankers with an informed opinion. We trust you like it that way.