For anyone who knows me in real life or follows me on the interwebz, it’s no secret I have a problem. You see… I’m a junkie.
Every day I wake up and live a life of servitude to my addiction. It’s all consuming. It’s obsessive. And at times, it’s truly a burden for those close to me.
I’m a remorseless education junkie.
At this point in my life, I like to diversify my education portfolio. As a speaker or attendee, I’m usually at one or two conferences per month. I also sign up for courses and hire coaches for myself (and the MFF team) when I want more targeted help. Most important of all, I learn from the school of hard knocks; this often takes the form of candid feedback about where I’m getting in my own way and negatively impacting Mark Fisher Fitness (thanks MFFers!).
But my first love has always been, and always will be, books. In addition to spending time reading each day, audiobooks are a pillar of my book consumption. I’ve trained my ear to be comfortable with 1.5x - 2x speed, which has been a large part of my ability to consistently get through 8-12 books per month.
A few thoughts on this list:
- Want to learn more about how I get through so many books? Lucky you! Since writing the original version of this post, I’ve outlined my entire system in this post HERE.
- After I prepared this list, I realized I’d read (or listened to) 28 of the 48 books at least twice. Repetition is the mother of mastery.
- I’ve read (or listened to) the following books three times:
- This is exclusively books I’ve found directly useful for my business pursuits. That said, I did include a small personal development section, as this is always a rate limiting factor on professional development. This is the section that feels most arbitrary, as I could have easily added another 10-15. But… CONSTRAINTS.
- I purposely excluded some of my favorite topics if they didn’t relate directly to business: psychology, social philosophy, sociology, personal finance, and biographies. While I could (and do!) make the case these are foundational topics for business success, in the interest of focus, they are not included.
- If you want to see a list of my most recent All Time Top 20 (including the above excluded subjects), you can check it out on this Instagram post HERE. You can also follow me while you’re there.
- My speed and volume of consumption isn’t something that will make sense for most people. I realize some people may find a list like this overwhelming. My suggestion is to focus on the topic you think would have the biggest impact on your professional effectiveness.
- And finally, books are awesome, but they’re really just one piece of the puzzle. Most adults don’t truly learn without putting their knowledge into action. This usually requires some kind of “learn-by-doing-with-feedback” component.
Would love for you to leave a comment and let me know if there are other must-reads you’d add.
BOOKS!
Personal Development
Man’s Search For Meaning - Viktor Frankl
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen R. Covey
The Four Agreements - Don Miguel Ruiz
Flow - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Mindset - Carol S. Dweck
Ego Is The Enemy - Ryan Holiday
Business Strategy & Operations
Good to Great - Jim Collins
Ready, Fire, Aim - Michael Masterson
Traction - Gino Wickman
E-Myth Revisited - Michael E. Gerber
Communication
Thanks For the Feedback - Douglas Stone & Sheila Heen
Crucial Conversations - Kerry Patterson
Radical Candor - Kim Scott
The Elements of F*cking Style - Baker and Hansen
Bird By Bird - Anne Lamott
Leadership
Leaders Eat Last – Simon Sinek
The Lapsed Anarchist’s Guide to Being A Better Leader - Ari Weinzweig
Extreme Ownership - Willink and Babin
Leadership and Self Deception – The Arbinger Institute
Management
First Break All the Rules – Gallup Press
Growing Great Employees – Erika Andersen
The Hard Thing About Hard Things – Ben Horowitz
Principles – Ray Dalio
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There – Marshall Goldsmith
Culture
Tribal Leadership – Dave Logan & John King
Delivering Happiness – Tony Hsieh
The Advantage – Patrick M. Lencioni
Legacy - James Kerr
The Speed of Trust – Stephen R. Covey
Marketing
Influence – Robert B. Cialdini
Getting Everything You Can Out Of All You’ve Got – Jay Abraham
Viralnomics – Jonathan Goodman
Building A StoryBrand - Donald Miller
This Is Marketing - Seth Godin
Sales
To Sell Is Human – Daniel H. Pink
Ultimate Sales Machine – Chet Holmes
SPIN Selling – Neil Rackham
Ultimate Sales Letter – Dan S. Kennedy
Customer Service
Secret Service - John DiJulius
Peak – Chip Conley
Setting the Table - Danny Meyer
Business Finance
Simple Numbers – Greg Crabtree
Profit First – Mike Michalowicz
Networking
Never Eat Alone – Keith Ferrazzi
How To Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
Time Management
Getting Things Done – David Allen
Essentialism – Greg McKeown
Deep Work - Cal Newport
Love this list Mark. I have read 33 of the 48, so I have some work to do. One of the things I like to do is listen to the audiobook and then follow up by taking notes in a print copy. I know writing in books drives some people nuts, but they are meant to be used and put into action, not sit on the shelf as a museum piece. Jim Collins just released a monograph called “Turning The Flywheel”, which expands on that concept which he talked about in Good To Great.
Yeah, I actually like that most of my books look very used haha. And I’ve seen that book but haven’t read it yet. Have you read it? Recommend?
I do recommend it Mark. It makes you answer some challenging questions in order to identify the components of your own company’s flywheel. In the process I found we had some work to do.
How close was The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A Fvck from making the personal development list? As an education junkie too, I had it right after Frankl and Dweck. It’s probably my most gifted book.
Very close! I do love that book. Admittedly, the personal development category was hardest for me, and Subtle Art could very well be a great addition.
Thanks for the list Mark. Love it!!
Thanks friend!
You inspire! Have you read Nonviolent Communication by Marshal Rosenberg? If not I highly recommend. Audio book it! He reads it himself.
YES! I have listened to that audiobook, great stuff!