In every one of over 100 episodes of the Marketing and Finance Podcast, I asked my guest to recommend their favourite business books.

Most come up with more than one.

Some come up with a whole bunch.

Here collected together for the first time is the biggest ever best business book list.

Becoming a Category of One reveals how extraordinary companies do what they do so well and gives you the tools and ideas to help your business emulate their success.

Becoming a Category of One by Joe Calloway

Once more the “unconventional” Peters stimulates corporate thought processes. Along with the best of his columns, Peters includes questions and rebuttals that come from readers and listeners, as well as his own candid responses. A “must” read for every business person.

The Pursuit of WOW! by Tom Peters

The Little Book of Woww!™ is a delightful collection of ideas, tips, and tricks that have been tried and tested, all of which are sure to add that 5 star sparkle to the lives of each and every client!

The Little Book of Woww by Michelle Hoskin and Mike Morrow

In this succinct and inspiring guide, Sanborn shows us how we can all truly make a difference everyday and become a ‘Fred’, as well as how to recognise, reward and attract Freds into our lives.

The Fred Factor by Mark Sanborn

Providing excellent customer service is the surest way to greater success for your organisation and a more successful career for you. And it’s not half as difficult or time consuming to achieve as you might think!

5 Star Service by Michael Heppell

This book provides a simple and practical guide to planning your daily and long-term finances by understanding your objectives and motivations.

The Financial Wellbeing Book by Chris Budd

In his new bestseller, Seth Godin urges you to put a Purple Cow into everything you build, and everything you do, to create something truly noticeable. It’s a manifesto for anyone who wants to help create products and services that are worth marketing in the first place.

The Purple Cow: Transform your business by being remarkable by Seth Godin

This  handbook is a compilation of the most important and effective lessons and advice about the power of search engine optimization, social media, and email marketing.

Content Chemistry: An Illustrated Handbook for Content Marketing by Andy Crestodina

In Sticky Marketing Grant Leboff argued that the old marketing system of shouting messages at people was finished, replaced by providing value around your product or service: brands needed to become sticky.

Stickier Marketing: How to Win Customers in a Digital Age by Grant Leboff

In this hilarious, fascinating, timely must-read, Michael Lewis reveals the true natures of the countries caught up in – and exacerbating – our boomerang economies.

Boomerang (The Meltdown Tour) by Michael Lewis

Every single employer in the UK now needs to comply with automatic enrolment. “Three Circles” is a step by step nuts and bolts guide designed to help you through the automatic enrolment maze.

Three Circles: A practical guide to Automatic Enrolment Compliance

Discover the secret of the writing on the wall for yourself and enjoy less stress and more success in your work and life. Written for all ages, this story takes less than an hour to read, but its unique insights will last a lifetime.

Who Moved My Cheese? by Doctor Spencer Johnson

Master the essentials of the English language and write with greater confidence.

Improve Your Punctuation And Grammar by Marion Field

In For A Penny is a must read for anyone who wants to understand how the investment business works, what’s wrong with conventional management wisdom and what’s right about the true meaning of entrepreneurship.

In for a Penny: A Business Adventure by Peter Hargreaves

Written by an experienced entrepreneur and updated for a new global economy, this book contains the most up to date, fresh thinking and ideas, so you can overcome the challenges of a new business start-up and turn your entrepreneurial dreams into reality.

Start Your Business Week by Week by Steve Parks

If you thought Wall Street was about alpha males standing in trading pits hollering at each other, think again. That world is dead.

Flash Boys by Michael Lewis

Canny, infuriating, cynical and generous by turns, How To Get Rich is an invaluable guide to ‘the surprisingly simple art of collecting money which already has your name on it’.

How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis

How to Win Friends and Influence People will help you discover and develop the people skills you need to live well and prosper.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Whether your dream is escaping the rat race, experiencing first class world travel, earning a monthly five-figure income with no management, or just living more and working less, this book is the blueprint.

The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris

Entertaining and informative by turns, this is a fascinating and multi-faceted account of a key area of human behaviour.

Made to Stick – Chip and Dan Heath

In this brilliant and original book, Malcolm Gladwell explains and analyses the ‘tipping point’, that magic moment when ideas, trends and social behaviour cross a threshold, tip and spread like wildfire.

The Tipping Point – Malcolm Gladwell

Distinguishing genuine relationship-building from crude glad-handing, he draws out practical tips and engaging advice that can transform your network, career and life: don’t keep score, harness social media and, of course, never eat alone.

Never Eat Alone – Keith Ferrazzi

In order to thrive in these worrying times, this fascinating book proposes we head, uncomfortably, towards the unknown, rather than away from it.

Not Knowing – Stephen D Souza

Permission Marketing enables companies to develop long-term relationships with customers, create trust, build brand awareness, and greatly improve the chances of making a sale.

Permission Marketing by Seth Godin

Here at last is an accessible interpretation of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War incorporating modern business lessons to make this classic text relevant and readable for today’s executive facing strategic and competitive challenges.

The Art of War for Executives by Sun Tzu

Do you have a hobby you wish you could indulge in all day? An obsession that keeps you up at night? Now is the perfect time to take that passion and make a living doing what you love.

Crush it – Gary Vaynerchuk

With its straightforward language and easy-is-better approach, Rework is the perfect playbook for anyone who’s ever dreamed of doing it on their own.

Rework – Jason Freed and David Heinemeier Hansson

Using the experience and insight of working with the leaders of the most innovative companies and organisations in the world, McKeown shows you how to put Essentialism into practice in your own life, so you too can achieve something great.

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less – Greg McKeown

Jack Welch was perhaps the greatest corporate leader of the 20th century.  He revolutionised GE’s entire corporate culture with his distinctive, highly personal management style: the individual appreciation of each of his 500 managers, the commitment to an informal but driven work style and the encouragement of candour were all part of the Welch approach.

Straight from the Gut by Jack Welch

Drawing on a lifetime’s experimental experience, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking.

Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Go it Alone! provides essential information for anyone who wants to get out of the rat race and work as a free agent, or start their own business.

Go it Alone by Geoff Burch

There isn’t a business book on the market that can show you how to apply the strategies, techniques, and skills necessary to generate new leads, add more clients, and increase profits through visuals.

Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port

TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE is a magical chronicle of time spent with a rediscovered mentor, through which Mitch shares Morrie’s lasting gift with the world.

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

Simon Sinek explains the framework needed for businesses to move past knowing what they do to how they do it, and then to ask the more important question-WHY?

Start With Why by Simon Sinek

From his childhood, rebellion at school, the early death of his father and conflict with his step-father, on to his exploits in the army in Korea, Egypt, Malaya, Oman, Borneo, the Sudan, the Falklands, and the Gulf War, this book chronicles the SAS General’s life.

Looking for trouble – General Sir Peter De La Gilliere

Many people claim that leadership qualities are innate and not learned. This book explodes that myth and shows how all aspiring leaders can rise to the challenge.

The Three Levels of Leadership by James Scouller

Driven by immersive reporting, this is a stunning, enraging revelation of the newest high-stakes divide in the US: between a lawless aristocracy of hyperwealth and everyone else, living under the shadow of an incipient American police state.

The Divide by Matt Taibbi

43 MISTAKES will make sure you avoid the most common business howlers, and is just as relevant if you are a sole-trader on the high street or a bond-trader in the City.

43 Mistakes Businesses Make and how to avoid them by Duncan Bannatyne

Learn the six universal principles, how to use them to become a skilled persuader—and how to defend yourself against them. Perfect for people in all walks of life, the principles of Influence will move you toward profound personal change and act as a driving force for your success.

Influence – The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B Cialdini

The phenomenal New York Times Bestseller by Nobel Prize-winner Daniel Kahneman, Thinking Fast and Slow offers a whole new look at the way our minds work, and how we make decisions.

Thinking Fast and Slow – by Daniel Kahneman

With clear and specific methods and advice, David Allen’s tried and trusted formula for business efficiency could transform the way you operate and your experience of work.

Getting Things Done – by David Allen

In a savvy, smart, fast-paced narrative reminiscent of Bryan Burrough and John Helyar’s Barbarians at the Gate and Michael Lewis’s The New New Thing, Stealing MySpace tells is the whole gripping story behind a breakout cultural phenomenon.

Stealing MySpace by Julia Angwin

Ideas are the true currency of the 21st century, and Carmine Gallo’s Talk Like TED gives readers a way to create presentations around the ideas that matter most to them, presentations that will energize their audiences to spread those ideas, launch new initiatives, and reach their highest goals.

Talk Like TED by Carmine Gallo

In this groundbreaking and fascinating book, two of the world’s most-respected data experts reveal the reality of a big data world and outline clear and actionable steps that will equip the reader with the tools needed for this next phase of human evolution.

Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work and Think by Viktor Myer-Shonberger and Kenneth Cukier

 

The Chimp Paradox is an incredibly powerful mind management model that can help you become a happy, confident, healthier and more successful person.

The Chimp Paradox – The Mind Management Programme for Confidence, Success and Happiness by Professor Steve Peters

 

Forget everything you thought you knew about how to motivate people – at work, at school, at home. It is wrong. As Daniel H. Pink explains in his paradigm-shattering book Drive, the secret to high performance and satisfaction in today’s world is the deeply human need to direct our own lives,
to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and the world.

Drive: The Surprising Truth about what Motivates us by Daniel H Pink

Find Your Lightbulb answers all the questions you have about starting your business, helping you to harness your ability to make millions from nothing more than a simple idea.

Find Your Light Bulb: How to Make Millions from Apparently Impossible Ideas by Mike Harris

You’re not alone: modern society is in a state of information overload. The Organized Mindinvestigates this phenomenon and the effect it has on us, analysing how and why our brains are struggling to keep up with the demands of the digital age.

The Organized Mind by Daniel J Levitin

Sticky Wisdom gives you the power, insight, and courage to capture the essence of creativity at work.

Sticky Wisdom. How to Start a Creative Revolution at Work by Dave Allan, Matt Kingdon, Kris Murrin, and Daz Rudkin

In this book, the authors argue that the most successful everyday innovators break down the innovation process into six manageable steps.

The Other Side of Innovation by Vijay Govindaranjan and Chris Trimble

 

Reading this highly personal book is like spending a day with the world’s foremost expert on business leadership. You’re sure to walk away inspired–and armed with the tools you need to inspire others.

Leading Change by John P Kotter

 

We’re here to win the battle for attention. Content Warfare is a work in defiance of mediocre content marketing.

Content Warfare Book by Ryan Hanley

 

In Priceless, bestselling author William Poundstone reveals the hidden psychology of value and explores how we react to the most pervasive persuader of all: price.

Priceless: The Hidden Psychology of Value by William Poundstone

What is a good psychopath? And how can thinking like one help you to be the best that you can be?

The Good Psychopath’s Guide to Success by Doctor Kevin Dutton and Andy McNab

Paul McGee′s international bestselling personal development heavyweight S.U.M.O. has helped hundreds of thousands of people around the world fulfil their potential, seize opportunities, succeed at work, and respond to adverse situations with a positive attitude.

S.U.M.O (Shut Up, Move On) by Paul McGee

Small business consultant and author Michael E. Gerber, with sharp insight gained from years of experience, points out how common assumptions, expectations, and even technical expertise can get in the way of running a successful business.

The E Myth Revisted by Michael E Gurber

Virtual Freedom is the ultimate resource of the knowledge and tools necessary for building your dream business with the help of virtual staff.

Virtual Freedom by Chris C Ducker

Life’s a Pitch is a round-breaking and genre-busting, it will transform the way you think about the art of persuasion forever.

Life’s a Pitch by Stephen Bayley and Roger Mavity

Assume nothing, question everything. This is the message at the heart of Freakonomics, Levitt and Dubner’s rule-breaking, iconoclastic book about crack dealers, cheating teachers and bizarre baby names that turned everyone’s view of the world upside-down and became an international multi-million-copy-selling phenomenon.

Freakonomics by Steven D Levit and Stephen J Dubner

Ken Smith is an experienced insurance sales and marketing executive who knows firsthand the challenges of the sales profession. He passes along the wisdom of “The Masters” to a new generation of agents.

Sales Lessons from the Masters by Ken Smith

Marius Barnard is best known as a member of the pioneering medical team that performed the world’s first human heart transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital in 1967, with his brother Chris.
With candour, authenticity and charm, Defining Moments presents the formidable challenges and spellbinding successes in the life of this international medical icon.

Defining Moments by Dr Marius Barnard

 

In Hooked, Nir Eyal reveals how successful companies create products people can’t put down – and how you can too.

Hooked – How to Build Habit Forming Products by Nir Eyal

Dweck explains why it’s not just our abilities and talent that bring us success-but whether we approach them with a fixed or growth mindset.

Mindset – How You Can Fulfil Your Potential by Dr Carol S Dweck

We give up too easily. With a simple change of attitude, what seem like insurmountable obstacles become once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.

The Obstacle in the Way by Ryan Holiday

From Paul Mason, the award-winning Channel 4 presenter, Postcapitalism is a guide to our era of seismic economic change, and how we can build a more equal society.

Post Capitalism by Paul Mason

 

Learn how small changes can make a big difference in your powers of persuasion with this New York Times bestselling introduction to fifty scientifically proven techniques for increasing your persuasive powers in business and life.

Yes: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive by Noah Goldstein

Now it’s your turn:

If you worked your way through that list all the way down here – well done. If you don’t think this is the biggest ever best business book list, and something is missing, let me know. Leave a comment below.