Improving Your Office Game:  10 Books Every Professional Needs

Want to improve your leadership skills? Tired of cramming and beating deadlines? From leadership tips to time management techniques, you can learn a lot from books. Stay sane at work in the face of impossible deadlines, backstabbing co-workers and even surly bosses by having a look at this round of great business books from USA Today:

1. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. If you want to win at life, read this book. It gives you everything you need to know about effective communication. More than a guide book on speech, it’s the perfect guide book to life. By knowing how to talk to people, how to get the reaction you need—not through aggressive, hostile conversations—but by through sincere, genuine emotionally positive interactions, you’ll see a major difference in your professional and personal relationships. If there’s one book some of us wish we could’ve known when we started out in the business, it would be this book.
2. Effective Executive by Peter Drucker. Want to know how to run a tighter ship? This gem from Drucker teaches you how to identify five essential practices to help cultivate a culture of that gets things done. These include learning how to manage your time, determining what you might contribute, knowing what strengths you can leverage and where they’ll do the most benefit, determining the right priorities out of a sea of minor priorities and lastly, effective, incisive decision-making. By following these steps, you stand a chance of growing into an effective executive and a better leader.
3. Purple Cow by Seth Godin. If you’ve been in the online marketing business for years, you’d know Seth Godin. His Purple Cow, published 12 years ago, remains as relevant and important today. Tone, style and language make the book an engaging and easy read—which is important because the book offers a ton of insights. If you want to know how you could make your business stand out from the crowd, learn how to be a purple cow from the best. Purple cow is the book’s term for remarkable, awesome, work.

What’s great about business books is you can download them easily enough from eBook reading platforms straight into your portable Samsung Galaxy S2 tablet by Nook. Bring it anywhere so you can catch a few lessons in entrepreneurship, leadership and personal growth whether you’re on the train on your way home or getting ready for a business meeting across the Atlantic. If you need more books to pass the 16-hour flight, here are a few more suggestions from Business Insider and Business News Daily to keep you occupied:

1. So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport. Ever worry about what you’re good at? While most of us think following our passion is the right path to professional success, Newport argues that being good at something, mastering a skill, is another way to find what we’re passionate about.
2. Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg. Sandberg combines spot-on research and shows us examples of how successful women often undermine themselves. For anyone who wants a solid take on issues that surround women and leadership, this is an excellent read.
3. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. If you think this is another boring take on changing your habits, it’s not. Highly entertaining and infinitely valuable with its insights, Duhigg teaches you how to succeed at life by making small changes in your behavior every day.
4. Give and Take by Adam Grant. It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there and a lot of people believe in bringing that same cutthroat approach to work. Grant, however, disabuses us of the notion that this will be anything but destructive. Instead, he explains why give and take is the perfect principle out there, one that proves ultimately important on how we can create a better workplace culture.
5. Content Inc. by Joe Pulitzi. Pulitzi discusses the importance of insightful, valuable content that resonates with audiences over empty advertising. He cites this as the key to a successful content campaign. Delivering content that provides customers with value is one way to keep them coming back for more of you. Read on if you want to know more about that.
6. GirlBoss by Sophia Amoruso. A more personal account of success, this book is full or practical advice to help you find your passion, that one thing in life that makes you come alive. One lesson that’ll stay with you from the book is: expect tough times ahead but if you make it, it’ll be worth it. So have the fortitude to make it.
7. From Zero to One by Peter Thiel. In the past, you had to strike gold or work for years before you even got to be a billionaire. These days, with the silicon gold rush and dotcom success, twenty somethings are building startups and becoming billionaires of their own empires. Thiel shares with us a few insights into how these businesses are made and managed, showing you the ropes on how you can build your own.

Up your game at the office! Read through the list and apply the principles in and outside of work and watch your life change forever—as eBooks, there’s never a reason to be without one of these key titles!