Considering CAT is an exam for entrance into ‘Business'-schools, it is almost self-explanatory why you need to read books from this category. The world's most successful entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and others always have been voracious readers. Besides, as quoted by Margaret Fuller, ''Today a reader, tomorrow a leader." What more reason would be required to convince management aspirants to develop a healthy habit of reading?
Further, when you can easily pick up on the minds of brilliant business authors and leaders via their books, why not avail the opportunity? Business books work great for prepping you for the world of business and management. In this article, we list down top business books along with their brief description.
Why Read Business Books?
Business books benefit the readers in myriad ways. Go though the key advantages of reading these books:
Right Mindset: Business books are packed with stories of inspiration, grit, and determination. In other words, you get familiar with the personality traits required to become a successful entrepreneur. These books open up your mind to a wide range of perspectives and smart ways of thinking though common business issues.
Appropriate Vocabulary: Business knowledge is more than just concepts and standard practices. While reading business-related books, you come across popular words used by budding and accomplished business people. A strong business vocabulary will also help you get through different selection stages of MBA admissions.
Contextual Understanding: These books shed light on the various challenges and opportunities you are likely to face in the business world. At the same time, you learn about suitable alternatives and solutions to apply during complex and conflicting situations.
General Awareness: Managers and leaders are expected to know a little about every aspect of the corporate arena. Business books endow you with such knowledge in an interesting and succinct manner.
Top Business Books for CAT
Here, we have listed the best five business books with immense learning value and knowledge.
- The Google Story by David A. Vise and Mark Malseed: The Google Story is a book about the Internet success of Google. It is the story of Google's founders; Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and starts with how they dropped out of graduate school at Stanford University before creating the search engine.
- Good to Great by Jim C. Collins: This is a management book by Jim C. Collins that aims to describe how companies transition from being average to great and how they can fail to make the transition.
- The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen: The Innovator's Dilemma is the most well-known work of the Harvard professor and businessman Clayton Christensen. First published in 1997, the book suggests that successful companies can put too much emphasis on customers' current needs, and fail to adopt new technology or business models that will meet their customers' unstated or future needs.
- The Toyota Way by Dr. Jeffrey Liker: The Toyota Way is a set of principles and behaviours that underlie the Toyota Motor Corporation's managerial approach and production system. Toyota first summed up its philosophy, values and manufacturing ideals in 2001, calling it "The Toyota Way 2001".
It consists of principles in two key areas: continuous improvement, and respect for people. In 2004, Dr. Jeffrey Liker, a University of Michigan professor of industrial engineering, published The Toyota Way. In his book, Liker calls the Toyota Way "a system designed to provide the tools for people to continually improve their work."
- The Lean Startup by Eric Ries: The Lean Startup is a New York Times bestseller by Eric Ries. It is based around the business approach of the same name that aims to change the way that companies are built and new products are launched. The book explains concepts that are aimed at revolutionizing the startups and business environment.
Apart from the aforementioned, there are several other good business books available for aspiring managers and entrepreneurs. Here is a list of other popular books to choose from:
Additional Reading:
- Rework by Jason Fried
- How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
- Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
- Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer
- The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber
- Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
- Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath
- Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose (Hardcover) by Tony Hsieh
- Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by James C. Collins
- The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
- Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godin
- The One Minute Manager by Kenneth H. Blanchard
- The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson
- The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman
- Winning by Jack Welch
Read as much as you can and you will notice a positive change in the way you solve RCs, build vocabulary and interpret the given information. As more and more successful entrepreneurs are spilling out their business secrets, greater number of business-related books are getting published every year. However, it is crucial to diversify your reading to ace the CAT exam. From the given links, you can learn about the books belonging to other important areas.
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