Top Business books recommended by experts

At MentorCruise, we are all about making the most out of the experience of others. As part of that, we've connected and asked dozens of experts and professionals about their favourite Business books – and here are the answers.

Table of Contents

Fundamentals of Business

Understanding the concepts of Business starts with understanding the fundamentals. On your way to mastery, it's crucial for you to understand how certain concepts were derived, and why things work like they do. Starting with these resources is the best way to do so.

The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future

Shortlisted for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Named a Best Book of 2022 by The Economist“A gripping fly-on-the-wall story of the rise of this unique and important industry based on extensive interviews with some of the most successful venture capitalists.” - Daniel Rasmussen, Wall Street Journal“A must-read for anyone seeking to understand modern-day Silicon Valley and even our…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things

Hidden Potential offers a new framework for raising aspirations and exceeding expectations. Adam Grant weaves together groundbreaking evidence, surprising insights, and vivid storytelling that takes us from the classroom to the boardroom, the playground to the Olympics, and underground to outer space.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take

The ex-Unilever CEO who increased his shareholders' returns by 300% while ensuring the company ranked #1 in the world for sustainability for eleven years running has, for the first time, revealed how to do it. Teaming up with Andrew Winston, one of the world's most authoritative voices on corporate sustainability, Paul Polman shows business leaders how to take on humanity's greatest and most u…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

The five dysfunctions discussed are absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results. At the end of the story, the main points are summarized, and clearly written suggestions and exercises are offered to help, bring about change.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

The Outsiders : Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success

A book that received high praise from Warren Buffett, The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success chronicles the unconventional techniques that led eight CEOs to outperform the S&P 500 by an astounding twenty times. The best CEOs are not managers, but capital allocators.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion

WeWork would be worth $10 trillion, more than any other company in the world. It wasn’t just an office space provider. It was a tech company—an AI startup, even. Its WeGrow schools and WeLive residences would revolutionize education and housing. One day, mused founder Adam Neumann, a Middle East peace accord would be signed in a WeWork. The company might help colonize Mars. And Neumann would b…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Additional Business Reading

These books are not required for you to learn Business, but they are highly recommended for you to deepen your knowledge.

The $100 Startup

The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau is a guide for aspiring entrepreneurs. It offers practical insights and case studies on starting and growing a business on a shoestring budget. The book emphasizes creativity, simplicity, and resourcefulness as key ingredients for success.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

HBR's 10 Must Reads on Mental Toughness (with Bonus Interview "Post-Traumatic Growth and Building Resilience" with Martin Seligman) (HBR's 10 Must Reads)

If you read nothing else on mental toughness, read these ten articles by experts in the field. We've combed through hundreds of articles in the Harvard Business Review archive and selected the most important ones to help you build your emotional strength and resilience--and to achieve high performance.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Blue Ocean Strategy

BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY is the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost to open up a new market space and create new demand. It is about creating and capturing uncontested market space, thereby making the competition irrelevant.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

The World Is Flat

The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century is a book by Thomas L. Friedman that analyzes globalization, primarily in the early 21st century. The title suggests the world has a more level playing field for commerce in which most competitors, except for labor, have an equal opportunity.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

The innovator's dilemma

The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton Christensen explains how successful companies fail by sticking to their established business models, overlooking disruptive innovations. It offers a framework to help managers anticipate and respond to market changes.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

Never Split the Difference takes you inside the world of high-stakes negotiations and into Voss's head, revealing the skills that helped him and his colleagues succeed where it mattered most: saving lives.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

This list is curated by MentorCruise and can include Amazon affiliate links. Have any other suggestions? Add here.

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