6 Leadership Books Every Business Owner Should Read

About the author: Lamar Watson, CFP®, is a Fee-Only Financial Advisor in the Washington, D.C. area, that works with clients virtually across the country. Lamar's work with his clients focuses on budgeting, employee benefits, paying down debt, buying their first home, and investing. Lamar is the Founder of Dream Financial Planning, a virtual financial planning firm specifically designed to help young professionals and minorities take control of their finances and fulfill their dreams. Feel free to schedule a complimentary consultation to learn how we use the The DREAM Financial Planning Process ™ to help our clients achieve their goals. 

Being a business owner brings a mix of daily emotions. It can be incredibly hard, but also incredibly rewarding work. No matter how long you've been running your own company, even the best business owners need some help and guidance throughout their journey. Here are six leadership books that every business owner should read to help them be the best leader they can be. 

The Wisdom of Failure by Laurence G. Weinzimmer and Jim McConoughey

The Wisdom of Failure highlights that adversity and failure are inevitable in your journey to success. But how can you overcome adversity and learn from it? The Wisdom of Failure provides insights from a 7-year study with almost 1,000 managers across 21 industries about their failures and what lessons they’ve learned. 

Speak and Get Results by Sandy Linver

Speak and Get Results teaches business owners how they can speak up and get the results they want. Not all business owners can capture the whole room’s attention and make something happen, but it is a skill that can be learned. 

Take Care of Your People: The Enlightened CEO’s Guide to Business Success by Paul Sarvadi

As a business owner, your days are quite busy. You work each day to build a profitable brand and satisfy your stakeholders. However, amidst all this frenzy, you may lose your humanity, which could be detrimental to your business. Paul Sarvadi provides excellent insights into how you can take care of your people alongside building a profitable brand. 

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath

Change is hard, whether it’s in our companies, our careers, or in our lives. Often, our brains create this difficulty because we have both an emotional mind and a rational mind. However, we can overcome our resistance to change, and this book explains how.  

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg

Lean In is written by Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg, and is specifically for women business owners. Sandberg highlights that being a female leader in the business world is hard, and she provides solutions and tips on how women can progress and how more of them can get leadership positions. 

Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box by The Arbinger Institute

Oftentimes, what limits you from reaching your full potential is you. Self-deception causes leaders to fail, and this book reveals how you can catch your self-deceptions and break out of those patterns. 

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