A number of my social media followers have asked me to recommend books and articles that I have read so that they could also level up their thinking and improve their mindset for this new decade.

Between my MBA, mentors, my own reading and my work experience, I have pulled together a list of 20 things that I know will improve your business mindset, overcome many of your fears and get you to not only think bigger but execute unlike ever before. I didn’t want to include the usual books like ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ or ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ even though they are excellent and I do recommend them. I am focused on some other books and content.

5 Videos

1. How the economic machine works — https://youtu.be/PHe0bXAIuk0
2. How to escape poverty: Is your thinking keeping you poor? — https://youtu.be/_ruRiTeX1jE
3. Simon Sinek: The Finite and Infinite Games of leadership — https://youtu.be/_ruRiTeX1jE
4. The single biggest reason why startups succeed — https://youtu.be/bNpx7gpSqbY
5. Bill Ackman: Everything you need to know about investing — https://youtu.be/WEDIj9JBTC8

10 Books

1. Profit First — Mike Micahlowicz
2. Built To Sell — John Warrillow
3. The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time — Verne Harnish
4. Building a StoryBrand — Donald Miller
5. Measure What Matters — John Doerr
6. What It Takes — Stephen Schwarzman
7. Delivering Happiness — Tony Hsieh
8. The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck — Mark Manson
9. Principles — Ray Dalio
10. The New Rules of Marketing and PR — David Meerman Scott

5 Articles

1. How Will You Measure Your Life — Clayton M. Christensen
2. How Successful Managers Think — Roger Martin
3. If Private Equity Sized Up Your Business — Robert Pozen
4. Reinventing Your Business Model — Mark W. Johnson et. al
5. The Four Things a Service Business Must Get Right — Frances X. Frei

These are all things that have contributed to my growth mindset and heavily influenced the way I think about starting and scaling businesses. Not enough people put in the effort to improve their cognitive abilities or to understand how successful people think.

Check these out and I guarantee that you will level up yourself.