Leadership & Management
Leading teams, making hard decisions, and growing as a founder
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Help fellow founders discover valuable reads. Recommend a book that has helped you on your startup journey.
12 books
From Start-Up to Grown-Up
Alisa Cohn
Grow your leadership to grow your business. Executive coach Alisa Cohn shares lessons from helping companies like Etsy, Foursquare, and InVision become headline names, focusing on founder self-management and team leadership.
The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Ben Horowitz
Building a business when there are no easy answers. Horowitz shares the brutal, honest reality of running a startup—the struggles, the tough calls, and how to survive them.
High Output Management
Andy Grove
Former Intel CEO Andy Grove shares practical wisdom on running teams and organizations. This management classic covers leverage, meetings, performance reviews, and output-focused leadership.
The Making of a Manager
Julie Zhuo
What to do when everyone looks to you. Facebook VP Julie Zhuo shares practical advice for new managers on leading teams, having difficult conversations, and growing as a leader.
Radical Candor
Kim Scott
Be a kickass boss without losing your humanity. Scott introduces the Radical Candor framework: caring personally while challenging directly to build better relationships and results.
Turn the Ship Around!
David Marquet
A true story of turning followers into leaders. Captain Marquet transformed the worst submarine in the fleet by giving control to the crew instead of taking it.
Leaders Eat Last
Simon Sinek
Why some teams pull together and others do not. Sinek explores the biology and psychology of leadership, showing how great leaders create circles of safety.
Multipliers
Liz Wiseman
How the best leaders make everyone smarter. Wiseman contrasts Multipliers who amplify team intelligence with Diminishers who shut it down, showing how to unlock full potential.
The Effective Executive
Peter Drucker
The definitive guide to getting the right things done. Drucker's classic teaches executives how to manage time, focus on contribution, and make effective decisions.
First, Break All the Rules
Marcus Buckingham
What the world's greatest managers do differently. Based on Gallup interviews with 80,000 managers, this book reveals unconventional wisdom about managing people.
What You Do Is Who You Are
Ben Horowitz
How to create your business culture. Horowitz draws lessons from diverse leaders—from samurai to prison gangs—to show how culture is built through actions, not words.
Wooden on Leadership
John Wooden
Leadership wisdom from basketball's legendary coach. Wooden shares the Pyramid of Success and timeless principles on character, teamwork, and achieving competitive greatness.