Success is often measured by what we see on the outside. But, of course, rich and miserable isn’t much of a goal. The same is true for being passionate and living in a storage closet. Success is a big prize you can better score with a blend of rewarding attributes. It’s a combination of a position of power, the ability to make an impact, and a sense of purpose. These 10 powerful books put those goals at your fingertips.
They’ll help open your mind, inspire better habits, build more wealth, sharpen your negotiation skills, embrace change, make better choices, and get the inspiration to pursue your goal all the way to the winner’s circle.
10 Books to Help You Be More Successful
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For Determination
1. Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight
If you want to know what a real path to success looks like, you’ll find it in Phil Knight’s story. It’s one that began with sheer determination. Knight made a deal to import Onitsuka Tiger running shoes from Japan that grossed his company, Blue Ribbon, $8,000 his first year. It led to founding the Nike brand, which, 60 years later, is an absolute behemoth.
His detailed account of the twists and turns offers valuable lessons, from needing to feel an attachment with the product you’re selling to remembering anything can be learned (“I had no idea how to run a factory,” he writes of the decision to open Nike’s first, “but I was willing to try. I was willing to learn.”) Bill Gates calls the book, “a refreshingly honest reminder of what the path to business success really looks like: messy, precarious, and riddled with mistakes, endless struggles and sacrifice.” Knight even discusses coming back from the edge of bankruptcy on several occasions.
A takeaway: “Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.”