Books like The Hard Thing About Hard Things

01

Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

Peter Thiel · Business

Zero to One began as notes from a Stanford course Thiel taught on startups in 2012, assembled into a book with co-author Blake Masters.

Both dig into startups.

02

The Lean Startup

Eric Ries · Business

The Lean Startup is Eric Ries's argument that the biggest cause of startup failure is not building the wrong product — it's spending months or years building something before finding out whether anyone wants it.

A kindred business read.

03

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

Phil Knight · Memoir

Shoe Dog is Phil Knight's account of the first two decades of Nike, from the $50 loan he borrowed from his father in 1964 to fund his first shipment of Japanese running shoes to the company's IPO in 1980.

A kindred business read.

04

Good to Great

Jim Collins · Business

Good to Great is Jim Collins's attempt to answer a deceptively simple question: why do some good companies make the leap to sustained greatness while most don't?

Both dig into leadership.

05

High Output Management

Andrew S. Grove · Business

High Output Management is Andrew Grove's manual for how managers at any level should think about their work.

Shares leadership and decision-making with The Hard Thing About Hard Things.

06

Leading

Alex Ferguson & Michael Moritz · Business

Leading is Sir Alex Ferguson's account of what he learned managing Manchester United for twenty-seven years, written with Silicon Valley investor Michael Moritz.

Shares leadership and decision-making with The Hard Thing About Hard Things.

07

The CEO Next Door

Elena Botelho and Kim Powell · Business

The CEO Next Door is Elena Botelho and Kim Powell's data-driven portrait of what separates successful CEOs from unsuccessful ones.

Shares leadership and decision-making with The Hard Thing About Hard Things.

08

Amp It Up: Leading for Hypergrowth by Raising Expectations, Increasing Urgency, and Elevating Intensity

Frank Slootman · Business

Amp It Up is Frank Slootman's account of how he approaches leading organizations through rapid growth.

Shares leadership and management with The Hard Thing About Hard Things.

09

Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration

Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace · Business

Creativity, Inc.

Shares leadership and startups with The Hard Thing About Hard Things.

10

Good Authority

Jonathan Raymond · Business

Good Authority is Jonathan Raymond's argument that the real job of a manager is not to produce results directly but to use the work as a vehicle for people's personal and professional development.

Shares leadership and management with The Hard Thing About Hard Things.

11

Good Strategy Bad Strategy

Richard Rumelt · Business

Good Strategy Bad Strategy is Richard Rumelt's indictment of the strategic planning process as it is practiced in most organizations, and his articulation of what genuine strategy actually requires.

Shares leadership and decision-making with The Hard Thing About Hard Things.

12

High Growth Handbook

Elad Gil · Business

High Growth Handbook is Elad Gil's guide to the operational and organizational challenges that arise once a startup has found product-market fit and needs to scale from dozens of employees to hundreds or thousands.

Shares leadership and startups with The Hard Thing About Hard Things.