Swati Mor
There was a time when the business segment was believed to be men’s territory. And due to this thinking, for many decades women were either side-cornered or were kept away from it. But now the time has changed, and so has women. Nowadays, women are not only proving their mettle but are also excelling in businesses. They are writing their stories and sharing their experiences in the form of business tales.
So, Let’s Look at the Top 7 Inspiring Business Books That Are Written by Influential Women Authors.
1. ‘Working Identity’ by Herminia Ibarra
In this book, Herminia has discussed 9 unconventional ways by which a person can reactivate his/her career. She mentioned that change is a very important part of life. And ‘change’ is only possible through trying different paths in terms of planning, thinking and strategies in business. These unconventional ways include exploring new paths, achieving short-term goals, sometimes taking time for reflection and always remain open for new exciting opportunities in business.
2. ‘Thrive’ by Arianna Huffington
In her book ‘Thrive’, Arianna not only discuss success but also the elements of success that are quintessential to live a happy life. She explained that success is often misunderstood as the result of efforts, but in actual, it is the result of quality time a person puts in. That’s why she talked about 3 lessons to thrive in business as well as in life which are as follows :
- Upgrade your definition of success
- Rely on your inner wisdom whenever in doubt
- Avoid checking your smartphone constantly
3. ‘Grit’ by Angela Duckworth
Angela Duckworth talks about the importance of grit to achieve long-term goals and dreams. She defined ‘grit’ as the conglomeration of two elements, that is, passion and perseverance. She underlined 4 steps to develop grit from inside-out to accomplish the desired goals that are listed below:
- Discover your interest zone so that you can work passionately for your goals
- Develop a particular skill and become an expert in it so that it gives you an edge over others
- Develop a sense of purpose with your work
- Nurture hope that you will surely accomplish your target fruitfully
This book talks about the fundamental ideology of grit that ‘one needs to double the amount of efforts and skills for earning fame and success in business.’
4. ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’ by Renee Mauborgne
‘Blue Ocean Strategy’ is an interesting book written by the prominent author Renee Mauborgne. This book discusses the 8 principles of the blue ocean strategy to achieve sustained profitability in the business field.
- Recreate market boundaries by innovating new tools and policies
- Concentrate on the big picture
- Reach beyond the already defined demands as this will keep the business in check of the new challenges that are going to arise in the market
- Get the blueprint of your plan sequence right
- Overcome crucial organizational hurdles
- Forge implementation into your own strategies
- Line up the profit, value and people proposition in business
- Renovate the blue ocean by considering the present scenario of business
This book presents practical strategies and tools for strongly creating and capturing the deep blue ocean of competition.
5. ‘Quiet’ by Susan Cain
‘Quiet’ is a distinctive book that talks about the power of an introvert person and how to utilize their full potential in business and other walks of life. She highlighted a few points in the book that are as follows:
- A person needs to understand his/her nature and personality type as this gives clarity about his or her inner core
- Adapt to our environment to bring the best out of you
- Give a ‘me time’ to yourself regularly
- Understand the difference between quiet and shy
- Use your soft power of being introvert
This book talks about valuing your inner self by identifying your true personality traits. Because only then, a person will be able to use his/her full capability and potential in an implicit manner.
6. ‘Presence’ by Amy Cuddy
Amy Cuddy has described ‘Presence’ as ‘confidence without arrogance’. This book is all about expressing one’s thoughts, passion and feelings fearlessly with confidence. She talks about 4 qualities by which a person can make his/her presence felt powerful.
- Command respect by inspiring others
- Speak with grace and clarity to build a stunning impression
- Become naturally and easily liked by others through your work and behaviour
- Start and flourish an inner sense of confidence that makes you feel good about yourself and automatically help you grow in life
Apart from this, she talks about some tips regarding body language and mindset to self-induce presence and experience it by implementing.
7. ‘The Scout Mindset’ by Julia Galef
‘The Scout Mindset’ is a unique book that talks about two different modes of human thinking – soldier thinking and scout thinking. The book discusses that human-beings naturally develop a ‘solider mindset’ while growing-up due to which we have a robust mindset and shield our beliefs belligerently without releasing that it could be wrong. Julia presents 5 ways by which a person can inherit better decision-making power naturally and come in the category of ‘scout mindset’.
- Collect information from more than one source to cross-check its validity and credibility.
- List out short-term and long-term gains from that decision to have better clarity.
- Subdue inherently developed biases so that clarity comes in your decision.
- Rise above the tribal thinking so that it doesn’t affect your decision.
- Evade self-deception so that you can come to better conclusions through the choices you make.
She presented these ‘5 ways of better decision-making’ with the help of stories to make it interesting which is the plus point of this book.
Read a book or have specific book suggestion? Come, let’s discuss.
