As they say, Leaders are Readers. Many people ask me how I can still be so passionate and committed to my business. The simple answer is that I continue to strive for improvement through learning. Someone once said to me, if you start getting bored in your business either get a hobby or strive to be better. I chose the latter and as a result made a commitment to always learn. I have also been very passionate about then passing on my learnings with people who are interested. After all, successful people are generally those who continually add value to the lives of others.
Following is a more extensive list of books that I have read that I would recommend to anyone wishing to further develop themselves. It is a list that I provide the leaders in the Vision Personal Training network. I have included the title, author, the type of book that it is and how I found the book to read (Easy, medium or hard).
Business
| Title | Author | Type | Level |
| Forbes Success Stories | Allan Farnham | Business | Easy |
| Jacked Up: Story about Jack Welch | Bill Lane | Business | Medium |
| Small Giants | Bo Burlingham | Business | Easy |
| Business Owners Wisdom | Brett Kelly | Business | Easy |
| Collective Wisdom | Brett Kelly | Business | Easy |
| Universal Wisdom | Brett Kelly | Business | Easy |
| John Ilhan – A crazy life | Dabkowski and Reid | Business | Easy |
| Midas Touch | Donald Trump & Kyosaki | Business | Easy |
| Why we want you to be rich | Donald Trump & Kyosaki | Business | Easy |
| 100 Great Businesses and the Minds Behind Them | Emily Ross & Angus Holland | Business | Easy |
| 500 Award- Winning Small Business Secrets | Geoff Grist | Business | Easy |
| Onward – How Starbucks fought for its life | Howard Schultz | Business | Easy |
| What Would Google do | Jeff Jarvis | Business | Easy |
| Good to Great | Jim Collins | Business | Hard |
| Built to Last | Jim Collins | Business | Hard |
| How The Mighty Fall: & Why Some Companies Never Give In | Jim Collins | Business | Hard |
| McDonald’s Behind the Arches | John F Love | Business | Medium |
| The Invisible Partnership | Louise Woodbury & William De Ora | Business | Easy |
| Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking | Malcolm Gladwell | Business | Medium |
| The Tipping Point | Malcolm Gladwell | Business | Medium |
| Outliers – The Story of Success | Malcolm Gladwell | Business | Medium |
| Would you like Attitude with That? | Justin Herald | Business | Easy |
| The Tao of Warren Buffett | Mary Buffett and David Clark | Business | Easy |
| Beyond E-Myth | Michael Gerber | Business | Easy |
| The E-Myth | Michael Gerber | Business | Easy |
| The E-Myth Enterprise | Michael Gerber | Business | Easy |
| E Myth Mastery | Michael Gerber | Business | Easy |
| The E Myth Manager | Michael Gerber | Business | Easy |
| Toughen Up | Michael Hill | Business | Easy |
| Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination | Neal Gabler | Business | Medium |
| Carnegie | Peter Krass | Business | Hard |
| No Ordinary Disruption | Richard Dobbs et al | Business | Medium |
| Grinding it Out – The Making of McDonalds | Robert Anderson | Business | Easy |
| Losing my Virginity | Richard Branson | Business | Easy |
| Business Stripped Bare | Richard Branson | Business | Easy |
| Sam Walton – Made in America | Sam Walton with john Huey | Business | Easy |
| Firms of Endearment | Sisodia, Wolfe and Sheth | Business | Hard |
| Delivering Happiness | Tony Hsieh | Business | Easy |
| Scaling Up | Verne Harnish | Business | Easy |
Customer Service
| Title | Author | Type | Level |
| 101 Ways to Really Satisfy your Customers | Andrew Griffiths | Customer Service | Easy |
| Why men don’t listen & why women can’t read maps | Barbara and Allan Pease | Customer Service | Easy |
| Why Men Lie and Women Cry | Barbara and Allan Pease | Customer Service | Easy |
| The Ultimate Question | Fred Reichheld | Customer Service | Hard |
| The 5 Love Languages | Gary Chapman | Customer Service | Easy |
| The 5 Love Languages of Children | Gary Chapman | Customer Service | Easy |
| Selling The Invisible | Harry Beckwith | Customer Service | Easy |
| It’s not about the Coffee | Howard Behar | Customer Service | Medium |
| The New Gold Standard – The Ritz Carlton | Joseph A Michelli | Customer Service | Easy |
| The Simple Truths of Service | Ken Blanchard & Barbara Glanz | Customer Service | Easy |
| Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach To Customer Service | Ken Blanchard, Sheldon Bowles | Customer Service | Easy |
| Whale Done | Kenneth H. Blanchard | Customer Service | Easy |
| Helping People Win at Work | Kenneth H. Blanchard | Customer Service | Easy |
| Building The Happiness Centred Business | Paddi Lund | Customer Service | Easy |
| Fish | Stephen Lundin, et al | Customer Service | Easy |
| Fish for Life | Stephen Lundin, et al | Customer Service | Easy |
| Fish Stick | Stephen Lundin, et al | Customer Service | Easy |
| Fish Tales | Stephen Lundin, et al | Customer Service | Easy |
| The Nordstrom Way | Spector McCarthy | Customer Service | Easy |
Finance
| Title | Author | Type | Level |
| Money – Master The Game | Anthony Robbins | Finance | Medium |
| Flipping Burgers to Flipping Millions | Bernard Kelly | Finance | Easy |
| How to make money out of thin air | Brian Sher | Finance | Medium |
| Richest Man in Babylon | George Calson | Finance | Medium |
| How to make one hell of a profit and still get into Heaven | John Demartini | Finance | Medium |
| The One Minute Millionaire | Mark Victor Hansen | Finance | Easy |
| Making Money | Paul Clitheroe | Finance | Easy |
| Cash Flow Quadrant | Robert Kyosaki | Finance | Medium |
| Rich Dad, Poor Dad | Robert Kyosaki | Finance | Easy |
Leadership
| Title | Author | Type | Level |
| Instant Cash flow | Brad Sugars | Leadership | Easy |
| Passionate Performance | Charles Kovess | Leadership | Easy |
| Everyone can Win – How to Resolve Conflict | Cornelius and Faire | Leadership | Medium |
| Fattitude | Craig Harper | Leadership | Easy |
| How to Win Friends and Influence People | Dale Carnegie | Leadership | Hard |
| Made to Stick | Dan and Chip Heath | Leadership | Easy |
| Guide to Wellness Coaching | Fiona Cosgrove | Leadership | Easy |
| Hooked – How Leaders Connect Engage and Inspire | Gabrielle Dolan | Leadership | Easy |
| What Clients Love | Harry Beckwith | Leadership | Easy |
| Who Stole my Customer | Harvey Thompson | Leadership | Medium |
| Hug Your People | Jack Mitchell | Leadership | Medium |
| Extreme Ownership | Jocko Willink and Leif Babin | Leadership | Easy |
| 21 Irrefutable laws of leadership | John Maxwell | Leadership | Easy |
| Developing the Leader Within You | John Maxwell | Leadership | Easy |
| Developing the Leaders Around You | John Maxwell | Leadership | Easy |
| Everyone Communicates, Few Connect | John Maxwell | Leadership | Easy |
| From Good to Great | John Maxwell | Leadership | Easy |
| Great Leaders are Great Teachers | John Maxwell | Leadership | Easy |
| How Successful People Think | John Maxwell | Leadership | Easy |
| Leadership Landmines | John Maxwell | Leadership | Easy |
| Mistakes I have made, Lessons I have Learned | John Maxwell | Leadership | Easy |
| Better People, Better Bottom Line | Judeth Wilson | Leadership | Easy |
| The Heart of a Leader | Kenneth H. Blanchard | Leadership | Easy |
| The Little Book of Coaching | Kenneth H. Blanchard | Leadership | Easy |
| The One Minute Manager | Kenneth H. Blanchard | Leadership | Easy |
| The One Minute Manager meets the Monkey | Kenneth H. Blanchard | Leadership | Easy |
| Putting the One Minute Manager to Work | Kenneth H. Blanchard | Leadership | Easy |
| Flow | Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi | Leadership | Easy |
| Leadership Transformed | Peter Fuda | Leadership | Easy |
| The Last Season : A Team in Search of Its Soul | Phil Jackson | Leadership | Easy |
| Firms of Endearment | Rajendra S. Sisodia, et al | Leadership | Easy |
| The 80-20 Principle | Richard Koch | Leadership | Medium |
| Influence Science and Practice | Robert B Cialdini | Leadership | Medium |
| Influence | Robert Cialdini | Leadership | Medium |
| Jack Welsh on Leadership | Robert Slater | Leadership | Easy |
| The Heart of Leadership | Sabina Spencer | Leadership | Medium |
| Leaders Eat Last | Simon Sinek | Leadership | Easy |
| Steve Jobs | Walter Isaacson | Leadership | Easy |
| HBR’s 10 must Reads – On Change Management | Miscellaneous | Leadership | Medium |
| HBR’s 10 must Reads – On Emotional Intelligence | Miscellaneous | Leadership | Medium |
| HBR’s 10 must Reads – On Leadership | Miscellaneous | Leadership | Medium |
| HBR’s 10 must Reads – On Managing People | Miscellaneous | Leadership | Medium |
| HBR’s 10 must Reads – On Managing Yourself | Miscellaneous | Leadership | Medium |
| HBR’s 10 must Reads – On the Essentials | Miscellaneous | Leadership | Medium |
Personal Development
| Title | Author | Type | Level |
| Be | A.C Ping | Personal Development | Easy |
| The Third Space | Adam Fraser | Personal Development | Easy |
| Switch on your Brain | Allan Parker | Personal Development | Medium |
| Awaken The Giant Within | Anthony Robbins | Personal Development | Medium |
| Giant Steps | Anthony Robbins | Personal Development | Easy |
| Notes from a Friend | Anthony Robbins | Personal Development | Easy |
| Unleash the Power Within | Anthony Robbins | Personal Development | Easy |
| Unlimited Power | Anthony Robbins | Personal Development | Medium |
| You were Born Rich | Bob Proctor | Personal Development | Easy |
| It’s not about the money | Bob Proctor | Personal Development | Easy |
| Psychology of Success | Brian Tracy | Personal Development | Easy |
| Eat that Frog | Brian Tracy | Personal Development | Easy |
| Focal Point | Brian Tracy | Personal Development | Easy |
| Goals | Brian Tracy | Personal Development | Easy |
| The Science of Self Confidence | Brian Tracy | Personal Development | Easy |
| Master Strategies for Higher Achievement | Brian Tracy | Personal Development | Easy |
| The Psychology of Achievement | Brian Tracy | Personal Development | Easy |
| Breaking the Success Barriers | Brian Tracy | Personal Development | Easy |
| Performance Revolution | Chris Howard | Personal Development | Easy |
| Master NLP | Chris Howard | Personal Development | Easy |
| Drive | Dan Pink | Personal Development | Easy |
| A Whole New Mind | Dan Pink | Personal Development | Easy |
| Focus | Daniel Goleman | Personal Development | Easy |
| The Magic of Thinking Big | David J Schwartz | Personal Development | Medium |
| Think like a Champion | Donald Trump | Personal Development | Easy |
| Think Big and Kick Arse | Donald Trump | Personal Development | Easy |
| Why We Do What We Do | Edward DeCi | Personal Development | Easy |
| To Be or Not to Be | F.R Schnackenberg | Personal Development | Easy |
| Personality Plus | Florence Littauer | Personal Development | Easy |
| The Success Principles | Jack Canfield | Personal Development | Easy |
| Day By Day | James Allen | Personal Development | Easy |
| Stress for Success | James Leohr | Personal Development | Easy |
| Getting Everything you Can out of All You’ve Got | Jay Abraham | Personal Development | Medium |
| Leading an Inspired Life | Jim Rohn | Personal Development | Easy |
| Your Best Year Yet | Jinny Ditzler | Personal Development | Easy |
| The Breakthrough Experience | John Demartini | Personal Development | Hard |
| Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus | John Gray | Personal Development | Medium |
| U Inc | John McGrath | Personal Development | Easy |
| You don’t have to be born brilliant | John McGrath | Personal Development | Easy |
| Coaching for Performance | John Whitmore | Personal Development | Easy |
| How to Lose Friends and Infuriate People | Jonar Nader | Personal Development | Hard |
| How would love respond | Kurek Ashley | Personal Development | Easy |
| It’s not about the Bike | Lance Armstrong | Personal Development | Easy |
| Every Second Counts | Lance Armstrong | Personal Development | Easy |
| Execution -The Discipline of Getting things Done | Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan | Personal Development | Medium |
| It’s called Work for a Reason | Larry Winget | Personal Development | Easy |
| People are Idiots and I Can Prove It | Larry Winget | Personal Development | Easy |
| Shut Up, Stop Whining and Get a Life | Larry Winget | Personal Development | Easy |
| Life in half a second | Matthew Michalwicz | Personal Development | Easy |
| Now, Go Put Your Strengths to Work | Marcus Buckingham | Personal Development | Easy |
| First Break All the Rules | Marcus Buckingham | Personal Development | Easy |
| Now, Discover Your Strengths | Marcus Buckingham & Donald Clifton | Personal Development | Easy |
| What they didn’t teach you at Harvard Business School | Mark McCormack | Personal Development | Medium |
| Psycho Cybernetics | Maxwell Maltz | Personal Development | Medium |
| The 10 Rules of Sam Walton | Michael Bergdahl | Personal Development | Easy |
| Think & Grow Rich | Napoleon Hill | Personal Development | Hard |
| Time to Think | Nancy Kline | Personal Development | Medium |
| The University of Success | Og Mandino | Personal Development | Medium |
| The Greatest Salesman in the World | Og Mandino | Personal Development | Easy |
| It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be | Paul Arden | Personal Development | Easy |
| The Alchemist | Paulo Coalho | Personal Development | Hard |
| 18 Minutes to Find your Focus… | Peter Bregman | Personal Development | Easy |
| NLP For Dummies | Ready / Burton | Personal Development | Easy |
| Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff – it is all about small stuff | Richard Carlson | Personal Development | Easy |
| You can be happy no matter what | Richard Carlson | Personal Development | Easy |
| If you Want to be Rich and Happy, Don’t go to School | Robert Kyosaki | Personal Development | Medium |
| The Monk who Sold his Ferrari | Robin S Sharma | Personal Development | Easy |
| The Greatness Guide: 101 Lessons | Robin S Sharma | Personal Development | Easy |
| Find your Why | Simon Sinek | Personal Development | Easy |
| Start with Why | Simon Sinek | Personal Development | Easy |
| The Speed of Trust | Steven Covey | Personal Development | Medium |
| 7 Habits Insights & Story’s of Courage | Steven Covey | Personal Development | Medium |
| The 8th Habit | Steven Covey | Personal Development | Hard |
| First Thing First | Steven Covey | Personal Development | Hard |
| The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People | Steven Covey | Personal Development | Hard |
| There are Two Times in Life – Now or Too Late | Terry Hawkins | Personal Development | Easy |
| I’m OK Your OK | Thomas Harris | Personal Development | Medium |
| The 4-Hour Workweek | Timothy Ferris | Personal Development | Easy |
| Don’t Die with the Music in You | Wayne Bennett | Personal Development | Easy |
| Don’t Oil a Squeaky Wheel | Wolf J Rinke | Personal Development | Easy |
| How to Get What you Want | Zig Ziglar | Personal Development | Easy |
| Over the Top | Zig Ziglar | Personal Development | Easy |
| See You at the Top | Zig Ziglar | Personal Development | Easy |
Sales and Marketing
| Title | Author | Type | Level |
| 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing | Al Reis | Sales & Marketing | Easy |
| Questions are the Answers | Alan Pease | Sales & Marketing | Easy |
| Write Language | Alan Pease | Sales & Marketing | Easy |
| The Negotiator’s Tool Kit | Allan Parker & Margaret Stuart | Sales & Marketing | Medium |
| The Psychology of Selling | Brian Tracy | Sales & Marketing | Easy |
| No B.S. Sales Success | Dan Kennedy | Sales & Marketing | Medium |
| The Ultimate Marketing Plan | Dan Kennedy | Sales & Marketing | Medium |
| The Ultimate Sales Letter | Dan Kennedy | Sales & Marketing | Medium |
| Magnetic Marketing | Dan Kennedy | Sales & Marketing | Medium |
| How I raised myself from Failure to Success in Selling | Frank Bettger | Sales & Marketing | Easy |
| Who Killed Creativity | Grant and Grant | Sales & Marketing | Medium |
| The Great Sales Book | Jack Collis | Sales & Marketing | Medium |
| The Sticking Point Solution | Jay Abraham | Sales & Marketing | Medium |
| The Sales Bible | Jeffrey Gitomer | Sales & Marketing | Medium |
| Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days | Levinson & Al Lautenslager | Sales & Marketing | Medium |
| Purple Cow and the Big Moo | Seth Godin | Sales & Marketing | Medium |
| Tribes | Seth Godin | Sales & Marketing | Medium |
| The One Minute Sales Person | Spencer Johnson | Sales & Marketing | Easy |
| Sell it Now Sell it Today | Tom Hopkins | Sales & Marketing | Medium |
| The Art of Selling | Tom Hopkins | Sales & Marketing | Medium |
| Blue Ocean Strategy | W. Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne | Sales & Marketing | Hard |
About Andrew Simmons
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Good job. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
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