This Month’s Reading List: 6 Business Books Worth Adding to Your Shelf

I read spreadsheets for a living. Twenty-plus years of budget seasons, board packets, and line items that have to tie out to the penny. So when people find out what I do for work, they assume my nightstand is stacked with textbooks and tax code.

It’s not. It’s stacked with whatever’s actually helping me think better that month, whether that’s a book written for CFOs or one written for anyone trying to get their money and their habits in order.

This month I’m starting a running column here: a handful of business and money books worth your time, rotating every month. Some picks will speak directly to the finance-and-leadership crowd. Others are just good, widely loved reads that happen to live in the business section. No filler picks just to hit a number.

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For the finance-minded

The first three are for anyone in a leadership seat, or getting ready to sit in one.

The 80/20 CFO by Berthold and Taherian. This is the book I’d hand a brand-new CFO on day one. It’s built around a clear first-90-days plan instead of vague advice about “strategic thinking,” and it treats the ambiguity of a new finance seat as something to plan for, not something to survive. Shop The 80/20 CFO →

Becoming a Modern-Day CFO by Rajendra Choudhary. Short and direct. It’s built around how much the role has shifted toward digital fluency and cross-functional leadership rather than pure number-crunching, which tracks with what the job actually looks like now compared to when I started. Shop Becoming a Modern-Day CFO →

The First 90 Days by Michael Watkins. Not finance-specific, but every finance leader I know has a copy. It’s the go-to for stepping into any new leadership role without losing your footing in the first few months, and it’s aged well because the framework holds up regardless of industry. Shop The First 90 Days →

For everyone else

These three aren’t written for finance people specifically, but they’re some of the most-purchased business and money books out there right now, for good reason.

The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. This one’s less about spreadsheets and more about behavior. Housel’s whole point is that building wealth has more to do with patience and humility than with intelligence, and it’s the book I recommend most often to people who say they’re “bad with money.” They’re usually not bad with money. They just never had anyone explain it this way. Shop The Psychology of Money →

Atomic Habits by James Clear. Technically shelved as self-improvement, but it belongs on any business reading list. Every system I’ve built, at work or otherwise, comes down to habits and environment design more than willpower. If you’ve ever set a goal and then quietly abandoned it by February, this is the fix. Shop Atomic Habits →

I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi. Practical, unglamorous, and built around a system you can actually follow instead of vague advice to “budget better.” It’s a solid pick if you want less theory and more of a step-by-step plan for your own money. Shop I Will Teach You to Be Rich →

Pick one and start there

You don’t need to read all six this month. Pick whichever one matches where you are right now, whether that’s stepping into a new leadership role, trying to make peace with your spending, or just looking for a smarter system than the one you’ve got. I’ll be back next month with six more.