Business & Finance Book Summaries

To Sell Is Human is about "non-sales selling" or, how to persuade others. Daniel Pink argues that sales skills are more essential than ever because "moving others" has become a part of most careers and businesses. His advice centers on the new ABCs: Attunement, Buoyancy and Clarity.

SPIN Selling is a framework for sales conversations, it is especially useful for selling higher-priced products and services. Neil Rackham conducted research that found the most effective salespeople ask four specific types of questions. SPIN is an acronym for these questions: Situation, Problem, Implication and Need-payoff.

Elon Musk is a biography of the man who led Tesla, SpaceX and PayPal. Musk inspires many people with his futuristic plans for new technologies, and his seemingly unstoppable ability to overcome all obstacles. But his employees are often pushed to their limit, trying to reach impossible deadlines.

Getting to Yes is the most important book on negotiation, according to many professionals. It comes from leaders of The Harvard Negotiation Project, who wanted to help people negotiate agreements with less time and friction. The four steps of the method are: people, interests, options and criteria.

Steve Jobs is the official biography of the co-founder of Apple and Pixar. He had an intense passion to create revolutionary products like the iPhone, iPad, iPod, iTunes, and Macintosh computers. His personality was an unusual mix of Zen hippie and brash business visionary.

Fooled by Randomness is full of ideas for finance and investing that go against what most people practice. Taleb says randomness controls our lives more than we think, but we can learn tools to protect against life's uncertainty.

The Ride of a Lifetime is an inside look at leadership, from former Disney CEO Robert Iger. You'll see how he earned so many promotions, managed people to avoid resentment, and negotiated billion-dollar deals.

Shoe Dog is an inspiring story of entrepreneurship from Nike's founder Phil Knight. He started as a regular kid who loved running and built the largest sportswear brand ever. But there were many challenging times that Nike barely survived.

Made in Japan is the autobiography of Akio Morita, who co-founded Sony and grew it to become one of the largest electronics companies in the world. Akio shares his advice for management, leadership and innovation. He also explains many differences in the working culture between Japan and the West.