Become Better at Business
Whether you’re an ebook tapper or traditional page turner, there are thousands of books out there dedicated to becoming better at business. Áine Panter, Head of the School of Business at the University of Gibraltar has curated a list of must-reads that will inspire, inform, and equip you for success.
Dive into these recommendations to ignite your creativity and sharpen your strategic thinking.
Strategy Bites Back by Henry Mintzberg, Bruce Ahlstrand and Joseph Lampel
This is a great book on strategy with a focus on case studies from Gary Hamel (a global leader in strategy, innovation and management) to Napoleon, Michael Porter (renowned Harvard Business School professor and creator of Porter’s five forces model and credited with introducing the concept of competitive advantage) to Hans Christian Andersen. Henry Mintzberg himself is a renowned academic and author on business and management who has developed various management theories.
The Decision Maker’s Playbook by Simon Mueller and Julia Dhar
A handy reference book to guide decision making. It includes twelve straightforward mental tactics to aid in thinking more clearly, navigating uncertainty and ultimately making shrewder choices. Using models from different disciplines such as statistics, politics, economics, computer science, intelligence and psychology, it’s well laid out and easy to follow. It includes plenty of diagrams, for those visual learners amongst us!
Mindset, the new psychology of success, by Carol S Dweck.
Carol Dweck first introduced the concept of mindset in 2006 and the impact it can have on all aspects of our lives. It seems an obvious concept but yet, as we all know, it’s all too easy to get stuck in a fixed mindset i.e. that our abilities are fixed and cannot change, and thus limit our potential. Adopting a growth mindset on the other hand (i.e. acknowledging that our abilities can be developed), can open up avenues where we can flourish, ultimately leading to continuous personal development and growth, which in turn will have a ripple effect on any organisation.
Getting to Yes, negotiating an agreement without giving in, by Roger Fisher and William Ury
A great little book that simplifies the negotiation process and provides a framework for finding a solution regardless of the type of negotiation! It’s peppered with plenty of real-life examples to make the concepts relatable. Though first published in 1981, the book was updated and revised in 2011 and is still in print.
I’ll finish with two readers by Harvard Business School:
HBR’s 10 must reads on (i) Leadership and on (ii) Change Management.
HBR publish their “must reads” on a regular basis. Each book contains ten articles written by a mix of academic researchers and industry practitioners which originally appeared in the Harvard Business Review. Easy to read, the two books I’ve chosen provide good insights into different aspects of both leadership and change management and include a number of interesting and relatable case studies to explain different concepts.
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