Top 100 Books for Faith Driven Entrepreneurs
#51 Why Business Matters to God
by Jeff Van Duzer
You knew we weren’t going to be able to stop at 50, right?
Jeff Van Duzer grew up thinking business was the source of much damage and evil in the world, the work of greedy capitalists polluting the environment. Thirty years later he was dean of a business school.
In the course of that remarkable transformation, Van Duzer found cause for both hope and concern. He discovered many business people achieving a great deal of good for society as well as a lot of illegal and unethical behavior.
This book explores the nature and meaning of doing business and finds it calls for much more than most think. Van Duzer presents a profoundly Christian approach that integrates biblical studies with the disciplines of business and economics. Looking beyond the place of ethical principles and the character of the individual, Van Duzer displays a vision of business that contributes to the very purposes of God.
#52 Fruit at Work
by Chris Evans
Do you feel as though you have to choose between growing spiritually and growing professionally? Does it seem like the pursuit of profit conflicts with honoring God's principles? Does your work environment undermine your faith and core values? Join successful entrepreneur Chris Evans as he explores how to develop the fruit described in the Bible and uncovers a natural and sustainable way to grow and demonstrate your faith at work.
Written in a clear, easy-to-read style, Fruit at Work gives the specific meaning of each word, provides biblical examples, and shares workplace stories where the fruit of the Spirit is having a dynamic impact. Fruit at Work is for people at any level of employment who seek a spiritual life that resonates not only in their personal lives, but also in their work. Evans provides guidance for tough situations such as managerial decisions, the need for approval, patience with coworkers, job loss, distraction, team dynamics, and job satisfaction.
Here is a new vision for work relationships―one based in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
#53 Sharpen
by Dan Cooper
Business owners and organizational leaders use instinct, crowdsourcing, market factors, compromise, and experience to make decisions. All of these are valid, but can still yield a limited perspective and dull overconfidence. This can result in poor decisions, expensive losses, and deep wounds.
Through their own entrepreneurial ventures, and in their work helping thousands of business leaders grow—personally and professionally, Dan and Drew help you:
Understand timeless leadership principles of Proverbs with application for today
Gain clarity on how to make wise decisions
Accelerate business growth and remove needless limitations
Become a better leader of yourself, your business, your employees, and your community
#54 To Change the World
by James Davidson Hunter
The call to make the world a better place is inherent in the Christian belief and practice. But why have efforts to change the world by Christians so often failed or gone tragically awry? And how might Christians in the 21st century live in ways that have integrity with their traditions and are more truly transformative? In To Change the World, James Davison Hunter offers persuasive--and provocative--answers to these questions. Hunter begins with a penetrating appraisal of the most popular models of world-changing among Christians today, highlighting the ways they are inherently flawed and therefore incapable of generating the change to which they aspire. Because change implies power, all Christian eventually embrace strategies of political engagement.
#55 The Motive
by Pat Lencioni
In what may be his edgiest page-turner to date, Lencioni thrusts his readers into a day-long conversation between rival CEOs. Shay Davis is the CEO of Golden Gate Alarm, who, after just a year in his role, is beginning to worry about his job and is desperate to figure out how to turn things around. With nowhere else to turn, Shay receives some hard-to-swallow advice from the most unlikely and unwanted source―Liam Alcott, CEO of a more successful security company and his most hated opponent.
#56 Beginner’s Pluck
There's no lack of people out there telling you to find your passion and dream big. But why does it seem like when we try, we so often end up more lost and overwhelmed than when we started?
Liz Forkin Bohannon wants you to rethink everything you've been told about finding your passion and following your dreams. Why? Hate to break it to you, but you're likely never going to "find your passion." Because your passion and purpose are something you build--actively--day by day. In her signature tell-it-like-it-is fashion, Liz shares 14 actionable principles that will teach you how to do just that.
With total transparency, Liz shares hilarious and heartbreaking stories of her journey of screwups and successes that illustrate the mindsets and principles that will give you a jolt of energy, inspiration, and direction toward your True North. By embracing your Inner Beginner, dreaming small, choosing curiosity over criticism, and so much more, Liz's story and the principles of Beginner's Pluck will have you on your way to building a life of purpose, passion, and lasting impact. Ready to rise to the occasion? It's time to make this life everything you want it to be.
#57 The Hard Thing About Hard Things
by Ben Horowitz
While many people talk about how great it is to start a business, very few are honest about how difficult it is to run one. Ben Horowitz analyzes the problems that confront leaders every day, sharing the insights he’s gained developing, managing, selling, buying, investing in, and supervising technology companies. A lifelong rap fanatic, he amplifies business lessons with lyrics from his favorite songs, telling it straight about everything from firing friends to poaching competitors, cultivating and sustaining a CEO mentality to knowing the right time to cash in.
Filled with his trademark humor and straight talk, The Hard Thing About Hard Things is invaluable for veteran entrepreneurs as well as those aspiring to their own new ventures, drawing from Horowitz's personal and often humbling experiences.
#58 Economics of Neighborly Love
by Tom Nelson
What does the good news of Jesus mean for economics? Too often, Christian teaching and ministry have focused only on the gospel's spiritual significance and ignored its physical, real-world ramifications. But loving our neighbor well has direct economic implications, and in our diverse and stratified society we need to grapple with them now more than ever. In The Economics of Neighborly Love pastor Tom Nelson sets out to address this problem. Marrying biblical study, economic theory, and practical advice, he presents a vision for church ministry that works toward the flourishing of the local community, beginning with its poorest and most marginalized members. Nelson resists oversimplification and pushes us toward more complex and nuanced understandings of wealth and poverty. If we confess the gospel of Jesus, he insists, we must contend anew with its implications for the well-being of our local communities. Together we can grow in both compassion and capacity.
#59 Excellence Wins
Horst Schulze knows how to win. As the co-founder and former president of Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co., Schulze fearlessly led the company to unprecedented multi-billion dollar growth, setting the business vision and people-focused standards that made the Ritz-Carlton brand globally elite.
Schulze's principles are both versatile and utterly practical to leaders of every age, career stage, and industry. You don't need a powerful title or a line of direct reports - you have everything you need to use them right now.
If you're searching for the blueprint to beating the competition and out-performing everyone around you, look no further than Excellence Wins. Schulze pulls no punches as a masterful guide to becoming the very best in a world of routine compromise.
#60 Love Works: 7 Timeliness Principles for Effective Leaders
by Joel Manby
Before Joel Manby won the respect of America with his appearance on the CBS reality TV series Undercover Boss, he was a highly successful corporate executive. After the show aired, many of the 18 million viewers wrote to him about the profound impact of his servant leadership. In Love Works, Joel Manby introduces us to the power of agape love in the workplace.
After years of leading thousands of men and women, Manby has proven that leading with love is effective, even in a business environment. Manby challenges leaders to allow integrity and faith to guide leadership decisions, outlining seven time-proven principles that break down the natural walls within corporate cultures, empowering managers and employees, disarming difficulties, and cultivating an atmosphere that builds long-term success. Manby also leverages the undeniable truth that love builds healthy relationships at home---why not use the same behavior to build healthy relationships at work?
#61 Business for the Glory of God
by Wayne Grudem
Can business activity in itself be morally good and pleasing to God? Sometimes business can seem so shady-manipulating the "bottom line," deceiving the consumer, or gaining promotions because of whom you know.
But Wayne Grudem introduces a novel concept: business itself glorifies God when it is conducted in a way that imitates God's character and creation. He shows that all aspects of business, including ownership, profit, money, competition, and borrowing and lending, glorify God because they are reflective of God's nature. Though Grudem isn't naïve about the easy ways these activities can be perverted and used as a means to sin, he knows that Christians can be about the business of business.
This biblically based book is a thoughtful guide to imitating God during interactions with customers, coworkers, employees, and other businesses. See how your business, and your life in business, can be dedicated to God's glory.
#62 Giftology
by John Ruhlin
Radical generosity is the against-the-grain secret weapon of real influencers, and it will allow you to boost referrals, retention rates, and ROI like few other strategies.
But be warned, gifts with strings attached backfire. There is a right, and wrong, way to give. Through poignant personal stories and data-backed evidence, Ruhlin breaks down how anyone from mail clerk to managing director can master the magic of Giftology; with these and more:
Mastering reciprocity, the hidden bottom line booster Laser-targeting whom to give a gift and when to use thrift Uncovering your client s inner circle and becoming part of it
Give wholeheartedly to Giftology and reap the rewards of an expanding business and fruitful relationships, professional and personal alike.
#63 Refugee Workforce: The Economic Case for Hiring the Displaced
Refugee Workforce weaves dynamic stories of refugees and the companies who have engaged them with hard facts to provide readers with a compelling case for hiring refugees in the American workplace.
Refugee Workforce was born out of the experience of launching a staffing company serving resettled refugees in Clarkston, GA. Author, Chris Chancey and his family moved to the fringe of Clarkston, known as the most diverse city in America, in 2013 and started a business, Amplio Recruiting, to connect refugees with open positions in the Atlanta job market a year later. For the past 5 years, Amplio has grown steadily now operating in Houston, Dallas, and Raleigh in addition to Atlanta while helping over 4000 refugees gain access to full time employment. Observing the interaction between the companies Amplio serves and the dependable refugee community, helped Chris begin to recognize the tremendous economic value generated from resettled refugees. They were not a charity case as often portrayed in the media and they were not terrorists with ill intentions as some may wish to believe. They represent a workforce of people with a strong motivation to work, add value to a local company, pay taxes and provide for their families. The most underrated workforce, if we choose to recognize it, is the one best positioned to stimulate America’s future economic growth.
#64 Business with Soul
by Michael Cardone
Faith. Prayer. Generosity. Servant leadership . . . While such words rarely make the cut in today’s business acumen, CARDONE Industries has put them into action for nearly four decades to build one of the nation’s most successful manufacturing firms.
With more than 5,000 employees worldwide, Michael Cardone Jr., president of CARDONE Industries, argues that no matter the economic climate, leaders can establish sound principles that will strengthen any company’s bottom line.
Cardone writes, “Deep within, I know I am a ‘businessman with a soul,’ and as a natural extension of myself, I want to create a ‘business with soul.’” And what he started with his father 40 years ago is more profitable, better focused, and stronger than ever.
#65 The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace
by Gary Chapman and Paul White
Dramatically improve workplace relationships simply by learning your coworkers’ language of appreciation.
This book will give you the tools to improve staff morale, create a more positive workplace, and increase employee engagement. How? By teaching you to effectively communicate authentic appreciation and encouragement to employees, co-workers, and leaders. Most relational problems in organizations flow from this question: do people feel appreciated? This book will help you answer “Yes!”
Take your team to the next level by applying The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace.
#66 The Soul of the Firm
by Bill Pollard
The Soul of a Firm is about people and values. It demonstrates the difference they can make in the ultimate success of any organization, not simply because of their work ethic and commitment to success, but because of the impact that all of us can make in the lives of those we have the opportunity to associate with and serve. Leadership in the firm has a responsibility to the ethical, professional and personal development of every individual in the organization. This can be accomplished only through the belief that all of us are created in the image and likeness of God, and a philosophy of understanding based on respect for the dignity and worth of every individual.
#67 Preminence
by Glen Jackson
What does preeminence really mean in the business world? How is it sustained and how do you know when it has been reached? What are the tangible benefits to your business when preeminence is a reality? To achieve preeminence, one must first understand why it is a timeless and often misunderstood term.
Glen Jackson, co-founder of marketing agency Jackson Spalding, has taken a first look at these timely questions, including why preeminence matters, and more. In Preeminence: What It Means and How to Sustain It, Jackson taps more than 30 years of marketing experience from his work alongside a variety of exceptional brands to share seven distinct pillars all preeminent companies have in common.
#68 Work
by Dan Doriani
Whether you're teaching children in a preschool, operating a cash register at a fast-food restaurant, or performing complex surgeries in emergency situations you have the power to change the world. God knows the good you do when you serve him faithfully at work, even if you don't see it yourself.
The product of twenty years of thought, Work: Its Purpose, Dignity, and Transformation ennobles and motivates men and women in their labors. Providing historical background and inspiring stories of God-honoring workers, Daniel Doriani explains the Bible's teaching on the nature, glory, misery, and eventual restoration of work. You will learn what it means to be faithful at work, even in risky places, and what steps you can take to transform your workplace and the world through the reformation of work.
#69 Unwanted
by Jay Stringer
Jay Stringer’s (M.Div, MA, LMHC) original research found that unwanted sexual behavior can be both shaped by and predicted based on the parts of our story―past and present―that remain unaddressed. When we pay attention to our unwanted sexual desires and identify the unique reasons that trigger them, the path of healing is revealed.
Although many of us feel ashamed and unwanted after years of sexual brokenness, the book invites the reader to see that behavior as the very location God can most powerfully work in their lives. Counselors, pastors, and accountability partners of those who experience sexual shame will also find in this book the deep spiritual and psychological guidance they need to effectively minister to the sexually broken around them.
#70 The Accidental Executive
by Albert M. Erisman
For people in the workplace, there is a great deal to learn from Joseph in the book of Genesis. He spent time both at the top and at the bottom--as a leader and as a slave in Egypt. In this new book about faith and work, author Albert M. Erisman shares lessons learned from the frontlines of business, government, and education, and how they connect to Joseph's life. Through the author's own work experiences and interviews with business leaders across the world, you'll learn that Joseph dealt with issues that are still common in the business world today. Studying his life can offer guidance and encouragement in any workplace.
#71 The 5 Tasks
by Steve Graves
After more than three decades of examining the realities of what real senior leaders do when they are most effective, here is where I have landed; there are five key tasks for every senior leader. Just five. Every senior leader must set direction, set speed, set risk, set resources, and set culture. Those five universal tasks represent where every senior leader should invest at least 80 percent of their time internal to the company if they want to succeed. Neglect any of those five and you and the company will suffer. Nail those tasks and your leadership and organization will thrive.
#72 A High Impact Life
by Pete Ochs
Pete Ochs defines what it means to live a high impact life and provides the reader with the vision, hope, and courage they need to define their purpose, embrace their passion and maximize their platform (vocational calling). If you want to live for something greater than yourself, to really make a difference in this life, this book is a must read.
Pete reached worldly success early in his career, but the pursuit of pride, pleasure, and possessions soon became a never-ending spiral of dissatisfaction. In this challenging and aspirational new book, join Pete on his journey of personal transformation and discover how you too can implement strategies in your own life to help you flourish.
With anecdotes from other transformed leaders, Pete will provide the tools to transform your life and have a great impact as you create economic, social, and spiritual capital for the common good.
#73 Win at Home First: An Inspirational Guide to Work-Life Balance
by Cory Carlson
Many of us focus on winning at work. Whether it is from our own fear or the expectations of others, we put pressure on ourselves to succeed. Then, with whatever time and energy is left, we give to our family and to ourselves. In the end, no one wins. Marriages suffer, kids are neglected, teams are not developed, and you are not fulfilled. There is a better way. You, your home, and your work can thrive. This book will help you discover how to:
Craft a personal and family vision
Achieve work/rest balance
Have a close marriage of fun and intimacy
Build into your kids to set them up for success in life
Prioritize for even greater impact at work
Equip and empower your employees
Succeeding at work doesn’t mean you have to fail at home. You can do both. Here’s how.
#74 Business for the Common Good: A Christian Vision for the Marketplace
by Kenman L. Wong and Scott B. Rae
Is business just a way to make money? Or can the marketplace a venue for service to others? Scott B. Rae and Kenman L. Wong seek to explore this and other critical business issues from a uniquely Christian perspective, offering up a vision for work and service that is theologically grounded and practically oriented. Among the specific questions they address along the way are these:
What implications does the Christian story have for the vision, mission or sense of purpose that shapes business engagement?
What parts of business can be affirmed and practiced "as is" and what parts need to be rejected or transformed?
What challenges exist as attempts are made to live out Christian ideals in a broken world characterized by tight margins, fierce competition and short-term investor pressures?
How do Christian values inform specific functional areas of business such as the management of people, marketing and environmental sustainability?
Business can be even more than an environment through which individual Christians grow in Christlikeness. In this book you'll discover how it can also be a means toward serving the common good.
#75 The Call
by Os Guinness
Os Guinness has penned a classic reflective work on life's purpose. Far bigger than our jobs and accomplishments and higher than our wildest ideas of self-fulfillment, our calling does more than give purpose and meaning to our lives-it completes God's plan for us.