Top 10 books for CFOs in 2023
Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.
Thanks Harry Truman for giving every book listicle a belter of a quote to start with.
The modern finance leader is a different beast to the number-crunchers of the past, and building out your reading base is a vital step in the right direction.
Here’s our list of must-reads to grapple with the emerging strands of thought leadership in the financial space.
- The New CFO Financial Leadership Manual (Steven M. Bragg)
Written by four time CFO and all-round finance guru Steven M. Bragg, this ‘essential desktop companion’ is your go-to book for guidance as a CFO.
It includes chapters on investor relations, dealing with your Treasurer, risk management, and a wealth of other difficulties faced by CFOs in this day and age.
Available on Amazon.
- The 80/20 Principle (Richard Koch)
Koch explains what the Pareto guideline means for business leaders, and how it is one of the ‘great secrets of highly effective people and organizations.’
To transform your time management and streamline your entire organization into a slick operation, this book from the late 90’s remains an enlightening addition to sharpening your mindset as a leader.
Available on Amazon.
- The 80/20 CFO (Suzy Taherian and Janice Berthold)
If there’s a vague job description, how do you nail it? In a book distinctly lacking in ‘airy fairy’ analysis, it details how a CFO can hit the ground running in the first 90 days.
For actionable insights on transformation, this book serves that purpose succinctly and offers great shortcuts to getting the job done.
Available on Amazon.
- Atomic Habits (James Clear)
The subtitle of this New York Times’ bestseller is ‘An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones’ which James Clear lays out as a four part pattern that forms a ‘habit loop.’
Habitual behaviour change can revolutionize your working life and be a galvanizing force to reach your goals, and due to the rewarding nature of the habit cycle, the results can be truly remarkable.
Available on Amazon.
- Reinventing the CFO (Jeremy Hope)
This book focuses on difficulties new CFOs will face when they start at a new organization, and how to meet the often huge expectations put on them.
Become more dynamic and transform the role of CFO is the advice of Hope, and in this book he shows you how to do just that and become a powerful partner.
Available on Amazon.
- Dare to Lead (Brené Brown)
Named as one of the best books of 2018 by Bloomberg, Brown offers exactly the kind of leadership material that aspiring top CFOs have to embrace.
Through extensive research, Brown has put together a great read on answering the question ‘how do you cultivate braver, more daring leaders, and how do you embed the value of courage in your culture?’
Available on Amazon.
- Principles (Ray Dalio)
Investor and entrepreneur Ray Dalio outlines his ‘unconventional’ principles that he’s developed over the past 50 years.
He claims that life, management, economics, and investing are to be understood in mechanistic and systematic ways. Under that framework, the principles he has developed can help business leaders achieve huge transformations.
Available on Amazon.
- This is not a fashion story (Danielle Bernstein and Emily Siegel)
A real life example of how mindset and tenacity can lead to success. Bernstein details her story from shopping at discounts stores in Long Island to disrupting the entire fashion industry.
A book that comes with a warning about her wild sex life, this is a lighter read on day-to-day life as a CFO and a more inspirational (and hilarious) story about someone who has done what others thought she couldn’t.
Available on Amazon.
- Women CFO Stories (Nidhi Agarwal)
Agarwal was irked by the same thing we were when putting this list together. There is a distinct lack of literature covering stories of women CFOs, with number 8 on this list being the most famous.
Sharing the stories of 11 incredible women, Agarwal lays out the reasons why the new working world does balance ambition, humility, family, and life!
Available on Amazon.
- Winning (Jack and Suzy Welch)
Described as the ultimate business bible, Winning is the story of Jack Welch’s career and more specifically his incredibly strategic methodology to management.
Delving into both professional and personal challenges, the book provides a wide array of insights and tips for leaders at varying stages of their careers.
Available on Amazon.
