There doesn’t seem to be any doubts that, in terms of books, 2014 will be a very generous and relevant year. Indeed, lots of great releases that do an amazing job at informing and educating but also at being very inspirational for our future endeavors. Below we offer you our picks of must read books – true ‘gold mines’ with reference to extremely compelling and even entertaining insight into current business issues.
FAST MBA: A Collection for Anyone Seeking to Master the Art of Business
For many professionals, enrollment in an MBA programme is no longer the most practical route to furthering career goals. Not only does it entail massive cost and ongoing debt, but the fast-moving nature of modern business has rendered large swaths of traditional curricula almost irrelevant. This collection offers an alternative to the traditional pathways of business learning.
Leadership Academy: The Only Leadership Book You Must Read
Leadership Academy is a stellar collection of successful leadership books by two renowned business writers, Can Akdeniz and Jonas Stark. Collectively, these four books – Cool Boss: Master 11 Qualities of Today’s Greatest Leaders, Happy Company: How to Create a Happy, Trustable and Successful Business, The 9 Routines of Successful People: A Guidebook for Personal Change, and Go Nuts: The Art of Creativity and Innovation – will help you steer both yourself and your company in a more successful direction. As you’ll learn, leadership skills can be developed in some pretty surprising ways – and innovation, positivity, and happiness all play major roles.
Problem Solver: An Amazing Way to Deal with Problems and Personal Challenges
Right from the start there’s one thing you can be sure of – all the successful people you will ever meet are highly resourceful when it comes to problem solving and they definitely have a thing or two you can learn from them. The more you get comfortable dealing with problems the more guaranteed your success is. This book will show you how.
9 Routines of Successful People: A Guidebook for Personal Change
In this book, Jonas Stark lays out some of the routines and principles that successful people tend to follow. Sometimes, even people who are successful aren’t able to outline exactly how they got there, but with a sharp and insightful analytical eye, Stark outlines those specifics with aplomb. As it turns out, implementing the routines of success – the things that make success a habit, not a rarity – is not as difficult as you may think.
MBA 2.0: Things You Won’t Learn in Business School
MBA 2.0 is way more exciting than sitting through actual MBA classes – and it teaches the reader all sorts of things you just won’t learn in business school. Even if you’re not a business owner, though, MBA 2.0 is filled with helpful insider info that will help along any career.
Cool Boss: The Art of Leadership in the 21st Century
This book is great for bosses who want to learn the secrets of being a better boss – but it’s also a must-have for anyone who wants to learn some serious leadership skills. Based on the knowledge of the best cool bosses in business, Cool Boss reveals secrets about leadership and image that you’ve probably never even considered.
Go Nuts: The Art of Creativity and Innovation
Go Nuts is the ultimate book for learning to pump up your creativity, no matter what field you’re in. See, you may be surprised to learn that there are certain things you can do and learn to increase your creativity – creativity isn’t something that’s entirely innate. No matter what field you’re in or where you are in your career, boosting your creativity is something that can help you in ways you might never be able to imagine.
Kill the Normal: The Secrets of Revolutionary Designs
This book is just plain interesting. Although it has a lot to teach about the culture of innovation, it’s also filled with interesting info about design innovations throughout history. Learn about the design innovations big names like Dyson, Apple, and Google came up with over the years and, more importantly, learn about the thought process that prompted those ideas. It’s informative and fun – and there’s no actual killing involved.
The Art of Hacking
This book celebrates the lives and achievements of some of history’s greatest hackers: from Tim Berners-Lee to Jack Dorsey, from Leonardo da Vinci to Steve Jobs. Learn about who they were and how they functioned. Discover the characteristics that allow hackers to keep pushing forward, innovating, revolutionizing industries and changing the world.
Happy Company: How To Run a Business Like Google, Facebook, Zappos, Amazon, Coca Cola, Ernst & Young, VW, Nike, Apple, GE, and Intuit
Although Happy Company sounds like a title geared toward CEOs who are interested in creating a happy company, it actually teaches a lot about happiness in general. The key to creating a happy company is creating a culture of happiness – which is something everyone could use in their lives.
Productivity Masterclass: Learning to Work Smarter and Faster
Everybody wants to work less and get more done. This book will help you do just that. Increasing your productivity will actually make you a happier person because you’ll have more time to enjoy your life and to do the things you want to do.
CEO School: Collective Wisdom of TOP CEOs
You don’t have to be a CEO to benefit from the motivational and inspiring advice of CEOs. This book includes 125 short pieces of advice from 25 different CEOs. These are just business pieces of advice, though; they’re also pieces of advice that will help you in navigating life in general. It’s a quick read and a must-have for anyone, CEO or not.
The 9 Foundations of a Succesful Career: A Guide for Reaching Success at Any Stage of Your Career
The 9 Foundations of a Successful Career is the ultimate coaching guide to achieving outstanding success in your continuously developing career, and an indispensable tool for everyone who encountered difficulties along their professional path and needed a new, unbiased perspective that would help them overcome their obstacles.
The Self Improvement Book: A Guide Book for Success and Personal Development
The book has a solid foundation of not only instruction and advice, but it gives you the hope, inspiration and motivation to improve yourself one day at a time. Mr. Akdeniz writes in an easy to understand and yet profound way, ensuing that you finish the book with a clear objective on just why and how you can change for the better. This is a book that is a smart and thoughtful personal transformation guide, one that gives you the tools and the mentality to succeed in life… whether that is in your personal life or your career.
The Design Book: A Guide Book for Designers
When it comes to design creativity and the ability to adapt to it is necessary, and in The Design Book Can Akdeniz skillfully explores the design world with an experienced eye. The author has written a sharp, engaging and informative book that really does provide a wonderfully thoughtful addition to any designers library. The book is smart and practical yet filled with a creative and adaptive vibe that just draws you in and lets you absorb the author’s insightful guidance. This is a fast, informative read that provides a great deal of worthy advice and an even higher amount of motivation to always create, grow and adapt to the world of design.