Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice | Fascinating and compelling story about an investor’s experience doing business in Russia, and ultimately the story of Russia in the modern age. | |
Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley | Great book about what really happens inside Silicon Valley companies. Embarrassing stories but well worth the read. | |
Learning by Doing, by James Bessen | This is an incredible book about how the economy has adapted to new technology over time. This will teach you how AI will change jobs. | |
Team of Teams, by General Stanley McChrystal | A wonderful discussion about the U.S. Military’s decisions in Iraq to disband its top-down hierarchy for the new team-centric culture sweeping through business. | |
The Silo Effect, by Gillian Tett | Fantastic book about how silos can make or break a business. Lots of fantastic examples of how to build teams that work. | |
Work Rules – Insights from Inside Google, by Laszlo Bock | An inspiring and educational book. It will teach you how to experiment and give you valuable insights into Google’s unique culture and value system. | |
The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age, Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnosha, and Chris Yee | An groundbreaking new look at the employment-employee relationship of today and how tours of duty, talent networks, and new models of talent management are defining today’s workforce. | |
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers , by Ben Horowitz |
This book totally nails “what it’s like to be a startup CEO.” Every single story Ben describes is something I went through, every single one! | |
The Leadership Pipeline: How to Build the Leadership Powered Company , by Ram Charan, Steven Drotter, and James Noel |
The book which best defines the five levels of leadership, how to understand your transition (and your people’s transition) up the levels, and how to build a scalable leadership program. | |
The Blended Learning Book: Best Practices, Proven Methodologies, and Lessons Learned Josh Bersin |
A great book which highlights many of the fundamental principles of blended learning, now often called “informal learning” – dated but still relevant today. | |
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown |
An inspirational book about the young men from U of Washington who came together in the 1930s and competed in the 1940 Crew Olympics in Berlin. Amazing story of young men coming together and building a team. | |
Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture: Based on the Competing Values Framework Kim Cameron and Robert Quinn |
This book and research, which launched the “Competing Values Framework,” really changed my thinking about organizational culture and helped me understand how to study different talent practices among different companies. Well worth a read. | |
Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business , by John Mackey and Raj Sisodia |
A “must-read” – defines a new way to think about business, as an entity that takes care of all stakeholders, adds value to the entire economy, and takes care of people. Will change your thinking about business, even for MBA types. | |
Firms of Endearment Firms of Endearment, by Rajendra S. Sisodia, Jagdish Sheth, and David B. Wolfe |
Another book that changed my perspective on business. Statistically proves why and how “good companies” make much more money than “financially focused” companies. | |
The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon, by Brad Stone | An amazing story of how Amazon grew, thwarted competition, and built its infrastructure. Insights into Jeff Bezos’ leadership style. | |
How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life How to Fail at Almost Everything, by Scott Adams |
A great story of entrepreneurship, clearly showing how enterprising minds think (reminded me of myself a lot). | |
The Training Measurement Book: Best Practices, Proven Methodologies, and Practical Approaches, Josh Bersin | Still a classic, in my opinion – debunks the whole issue of “ROI of training” and gives you a clear model to measure the impact, alignment, and efficiency of training programs. | |
The End of Leadership, Barbara Kellerman | A thought provoking perspective on why the corporate leadership development market is broken, a story I agree with completely. | |
The Wealth of Humans: Work, Power, and Status in the Twenty-first Century , by Ryan Avent | Great economics book about how jobs and organizations have changed, and the need for social capital. | |
Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations, by Thomas Friedman | Great overview of the role of technology in jobs, business, and politics. | |
The Vanishing American Corporation: Navigating the Hazards of a New Economy, by Gerald F. Davis | Very insightful book about the death of big companies and why income inequality has happened in the US. | |
What Color Is Your Parachute? 2017: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers, by Richard Bolles | An oldie but goodie, great read as you try to understand the job market and why jobs have changed. |