Books like Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success

01

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

Adam Grant · Psychology

Think Again is Adam Grant's argument that the most valuable skill in a fast-changing world isn't learning faster — it's unlearning and rethinking more readily.

A kindred psychology read.

02

Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World

Adam Grant · Psychology

Originals is Adam Grant's examination of how people champion new ideas without losing their jobs, their relationships, or their nerve.

A kindred psychology read.

03

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

Robert B. Cialdini · Psychology

Influence is Robert Cialdini's account of why people say yes, and how that agreement is manufactured.

A kindred psychology read.

04

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Dale Carnegie · Self-help

How to Win Friends and Influence People is Dale Carnegie's 1936 guide to dealing with people effectively.

A kindred psychology read.

05

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

Daniel H. Pink · Psychology

Drive is Daniel Pink's argument that the motivational model most organizations still run on — reward the behavior you want, punish the behavior you don't — is badly mismatched to the kind of work that matters most in a modern economy.

A kindred psychology read.

06

Immunity to Change

Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey · Psychology

Immunity to Change is Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey's attempt to explain why intelligent, motivated people fail to change behavior they genuinely want to change.

Both dig into organizational behavior.

07

Outliers: The Story of Success

Malcolm Gladwell · Psychology

Outliers is Malcolm Gladwell's argument that exceptional success is less a product of individual genius or drive than it is of hidden advantages, timing, and accumulated opportunity.

Both dig into success.

08

Born Standing Up

Steve Martin · Memoir

Born Standing Up is Steve Martin's account of the decade-long grind that preceded his sudden, seemingly overnight fame as America's biggest stand-up comedian of the late 1970s.

Both dig into success.

09

Greenlights

Matthew McConaughey · Memoir

Greenlights is Matthew McConaughey's memoir-philosophy hybrid, built around decades of journals he kept starting in his teens.

Both dig into success.

10

Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?

Seth Godin · Business

Linchpin is Seth Godin's argument that the industrial economy's model of interchangeable workers following instructions is collapsing, and that the people who thrive in what comes next will be those who do work that can't be systemized or outsourced — people who make decisions, solve problems without a manual, and bring genuine humanity and creativity to their work.

Both dig into generosity.

11

Loonshots

Safi Bahcall · Business

Loonshots is physicist and biotech CEO Safi Bahcall's argument that the most transformative innovations — the kind he calls loonshots, after the eccentric northern bird — are fragile ideas that look foolish or impossible until they suddenly aren't, and that organizations systematically kill them long before they get a chance to prove themselves.

Both dig into organizational behavior.

12

Management of Organizational Behavior

Paul Hersey and Kenneth Blanchard · Business

Management of Organizational Behavior is the textbook that introduced Situational Leadership Theory, the model that argues there is no single best leadership style — only styles that are more or less appropriate to the development level of the person being led.

Both dig into organizational behavior.