When was the last time you got a really great book recommendation? One so good you just had to follow it up and read it straight away? If you’re on the hunt for your next favourite book, or you’re looking for a bookish gift for your favourite book worm, then check out our round up below.
The Whin’s Business Book Roundup 2020
If you’re anything like us, you’re always on the lookout for the next great read, especially if you love learning new ways to make a positive impact on your business or your own personal development.
Over at The Whin Big Podcast, we get awesome book tips on a fortnightly basis. Our podcast guests come armed with their favourite business and self development books to share with you, our listeners.
Warning! May cause excessive book shopping!
Thanks to our inspiring guests, The Whin Big Podcast listeners (and everyone on the podcast team) has an ever-growing pile of Tsundoku.** Be warned that you’ll no doubt end up buying a few extra books for your own pile after reading The Whin’s 2020 Business Book Roundup.
Most recommended
The 3 most recommended Whin Big Podcast books of 2020 are…
Atomic Habits* by James Clear
Make tiny changes for huge leaps towards your goals
Get Rich, Lucky Bitch* by Denise Duffield Thomas
Break through your money mindset for transformation in your life
Building a Story Brand* by Donald Miller
Focuses on telling your story in a way that engages people.
Best Business Books for 2020 and beyond
Super Forecasting – the art and science of prediction* by Philip Tetlock & Dan Gardner
Practical advice on using predictions for your own benefit
The Founder’s Dilemmas* by Noam Wasserman
Anticipating and avoiding the pitfalls that can sink a startup
The Lean Start-up* by Eric Ries
How constant innovation creates radically successful businesses
Company of One* by Paul Jarvis
This book focuses less on scaling and growing a large business and instead on the positives of keeping it small.
Contagious: Why Things Catch On* by Jonah Berger
How to build word of mouth in the digital age
Psycho-Cybernetics: Thoughts to Live By* by Maxwell Maltz
Understanding how the mind works and how you can use that knowledge to visualise success and achieving your goals. The audio book version of this book does not come recommended by our guests!
The Multi-Hyphen Method* by Emma Gannon
A book about about working in different areas that excite you and inspire you. You can have a portfolio career and have great success.
The Indie Roller Handbook by Leona Thrift-ola
A business handbook for creative small business
Sticky Branding* by Jeremy Miller
Another great read about building a strong brand.
Start with Why* by Simon Sinek
How great leaders inspire everyone to take action
Pitch Anything* by Oren Klaff
An innovative method for presenting, persuading and winning the deal
All Marketers Are Liars Tell Stories by Seth Godin
Explains how marketing really works and proves that authenticity is the best marketing of all
Hype Yourself* by Lucy Warner
A no-nonsense PR toolkit for small business
Personal Development
The Obstacle is the Way* by Ryan Holiday
The ancient art of turning adversity to advantage
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People* by Stephen Covey
Advice on taking control of your life, teamwork, self renewal, proactivity and other paths to private and public victory.
Playing Big* by Tara Mohr
A practical guide for brilliant women
Dare to Lead* by Brene Brown
Daring greatly and rising strong at work
Miscellaneous
Shoe Dog* by Phil Knight
A memoir by the creator of Nike. Recommended as it’s a great reminder that you don’t start off really successful. It’s a valuable lesson in how you have to keep going.
Bad Feminist* by Roxanne Gay
Essays that look at the ways in which culture we consume becomes who we are, and an inspiring call-to-arms of all the ways we still need to do better
Between the World and Me* by Ta-Nehisi Coates
A book to tackle racism. Drives home the point that racism is a visceral experience
Your book recommendations
When you’re looking to learn something new for your business, or improve your own development in some way – what books do you turn to again and again?
We’d love to know which books would feature in your list for getting through challenging times in 2020. Would any of our featured books make your roundup?
If you’d like to recommend a book for future business and self development round ups, please email Katie Goudie at The Whin
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* Links marked with a star are affliate links to Bookshop.org. When you buy through these links, a small portion of the cost of the book goes to supporting your local bookshop, and a small portion comes to The Whin. The books won’t cost you any extra!
** Nerdy book fact: Tsundoku is the Japanese word for a pile of unread books intended to ‘read later’.
