Books to Read

  1. Capital, Thomas Piketty – Tome of macroeconomics, but teaches you about unicorns.
  2. Zero to One, Peter Thiel – “Stop copying other people” from Payal’s cofounder, writing a book with examples and practical advise.
  3. Good to Great, Jim Collins – Disciplined leaders who hire disciplined people and face reality can be great.
  4. The Culture Code, Daniel Coyle – Galvanise your staff be embracing tough feedback, delivering bad news in person and creating a corny catchphrase: be more bee.
  5. The Trust Manifesto, Damian Bradfield – So you want to found a tech start-up? Better listen to users.
  6. Start with Why, Simon Sinek – Whoever told you what matters is when and where your business started is wrong. It’s always about why.
  7. The 4-hour work week, Timothy Ferriss – Be effective. Act professional. If you listen to Ferriss you could read this sentence 200 per cent faster than most.
  8. Grit, Angela Duckworth – Like everything else, grit can be developed. Don’t stop, never give up, hold your head high and reach the top.
  9. Dare to Lead, Brene Brown – Did you think courage was about bravado? Vulnerability matters more. All perfectionism and no generosity make Jack a dull boy.
  10. Range, David Epstein – The machines are coming: they can do your specialised, fiddly bits. All you have going for you is common sense.
  11. Trillion Dollar Coach, Eric Schmidt – Teams want to be loved. Talk to them about stuff that’s not work – it won’t cost you a trillion dollars.
  12. The Lean Startup, Eric Ries – Write your business hypothesis but don’t get too analytical: try it, test two options. Treat ’em lean, keep ’em keen.