Recommended reading

Books that changed how I think.

Not a complete list. The ones I keep returning to, and the ones I hand to people who ask where to start. If you read a few of these, you will understand most of my work faster.

Leadership

  • Servant Leadership

    Robert K. Greenleaf

    The clearest case that leading well means serving first.

  • The Effective Executive

    Peter F. Drucker

    Taught me that effectiveness is a habit you build, not a talent you are born with.

History

  • The Origins of Totalitarianism

    Hannah Arendt

    A hard, necessary look at how freedom is lost. Worth the difficulty.

Business

  • Competitive Strategy

    Michael E. Porter

    Where strategy stopped being a slogan and started being a discipline.

  • Good to Great

    Jim Collins

    Made the case that great companies are built by quiet, disciplined leaders.

Finance

  • The Intelligent Investor

    Benjamin Graham

    Taught me that temperament beats cleverness with money.

Philosophy

  • Meditations

    Marcus Aurelius

    A powerful man writing to himself about duty and restraint. It still holds up.

  • The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

    Thomas S. Kuhn

    How knowledge actually changes. Slower and messier than anyone admits.

Artificial Intelligence

  • Life 3.0

    Max Tegmark

    A sober look at what Ai could mean for people, without the hype.

Human Behavior

  • Thinking, Fast and Slow

    Daniel Kahneman

    Changed how I read my own judgment, and everyone else's.

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