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7 Books Every Business Student Should Read While at College

No matter how good you are at college, transitioning to the workforce comes with its own challenges. To begin with, you are starting at the bottom of the ladder. Even if you launch a business venture on your own, you still have to build it from the group up, 

In that regard, experiences and insights from people who have navigated the same waves before can be of immense help to you. You might be thinking that you don’t have sufficient time to manage coursework, let alone read additional books. 

But that is lesson 1 of business: time management. With academic services such as Write Paper rooting for you, finding breaks is no longer an issue. If you want to reinforce your business skills, these books would be able to point you down the right path. 

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

The Lean Startup comes out as one of the most recommended books in the business school reading list, with excellent reasons. As evident from the title, the book is all about steering your startup.

Ries talks about how founders spend months and even years perfecting a product without showing it to prospective clients. He emphasizes the key, which is “validated learning” through communicating, testing, and experimenting. 

The Lean StartUp caters to entrepreneurs of all levels and sizes to adapt and improve their products based on a scientific approach. Regardless of whether you want to launch your business or not, it is a book worth your time. 

Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne

The concept of Blue Ocean Strategy first appeared in a Harvard Business review article in 2004. Today, it is a widely acknowledged tactic of looking at your business’s success in the market-place. This piece gives you a different perspective on battling for competitive advantage. 

Kim and Mauborgne encourage and challenge businesses to create another market space where the competition is irrelevant. According to their research on 150 strategic moves, the authors argue that lasting success does not by fighting competition. 

They give out examples including Body Shop, the SONY Walkman, and other companies that succeeded by entering a market that was neglected before. The book is valid, especially if you decide to take up their challenge, master new skills, and make a shift in your business strategy. 

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell

The renowned New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell has managed to write a non-fiction book that is equally captivating as his articles. The tipping point, for him, is the moment when a particular idea or behavior crosses a threshold and spreads like wildfire. 

The book is an easy read. It is also thought-provoking. There are many cases that are applicable to business much like anything else. 

The book revolved around trends, how they start, how they spread, and who makes them happen. Though in the age of social media, some parts of the book may come across as insufficient, the key takeaways remain the same for any aspiring startupper

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

If there is one thing businessmen need to prepare for it is unforeseen events. The Black Swan takes upon the very same concept. Taleb talks about how the unpredicted impacts structured systems that are built based on certainties. When run solely on predictions, these organizations are more likely to collapse. 

The simple concept aside, the book is a challenging read. It makes you look at the commonly used business strategies, philosophies, economic theories, and other aspects in a different manner. If you have time to invest, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to pick up The Black Swan. 

Giants of Enterprise by Richard S. Tedlow

If you want to learn from the life journey of business giants, Tedlow gives you an entertaining read of life lessons. The book covers the accomplishments of Thomas Watson, Henry Ford, Robert N. Noyce, Sam Walton, Andrew Carnegie, and George Eastman. 

Although the examples may be older, their stories are still relevant. These businessmen owe their success to innovation in a world that challenged modern technologies. 

The book is excellent for students who seek motivation and want to pick up the common lessons shared by the great businessmen of the 20th century. As Tedlow is a historian, you will find the writing leaning towards an academic tone.

Rework by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson

The book’s content is not exactly earth-shattering. If you think about it, the notions are fairly obvious, yet many businessmen fail to implement them. 

The authors are software entrepreneurs with over a decade of success. Rework can essentially be considered a procedural guide on how you can drive business in the modern world. 

The advice is simple, straightforward, and can be translated into many industries. As a business student with no real-world experience, you will find this book compelling and convincing. 

The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen

Christensen is an Associate Professor at Harvard Business School. His book resonates with how modern world technology is critical for a company’s success. As a young student, you might already be aware of this. 

This book sheds light on why a business fails when they resist change in the dynamic world. The idea applies not only to technology but anything new. 

The book has found its way to the recommended reading list of many prominent business schools, including Stanford. The author discusses how a moral compass on the right practices can indeed put a person in a predicament. 

Wrapping Up

Though they cannot replace real experience, these books can help you understand the world of business better. The more you read, the more you will know if business milestones, practices, and theories can drive and define your success.

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