1.
17 Books That Every Aspiring
Founder And CEO Should Read
David Cancel
5x Founder
2x CEO
@dcancel

2.
1 The Hard Thing About Hard Things
By Ben Horowitz
The only “real” business book. This
book captures what it is like leading a
startup.

3.
2 Made In America
By Sam Walton
The story of how Sam Walton created
Wal-Mart and became the richest man
in the world. I have stolen many
concepts from this book including the
concept of Servant Leadership.
Read 3x.

4.
3 Seeking Wisdom
By Peter Bevelin
I can’t remember how I first found this
book years ago, but it’s been on my
nightstand ever since. I continuously
read this book finding new gems
each time.

5.
4 Zingerman’s Guide To Giving Great Service
By Ari Weinzeig
If you care about creating a great
customer experience read this book.

6.
5 Managing Oneself
By Peter Drucker
Buy this tiny book by Peter Drucker and
re-read it every five years.

7.
6 Behind the Cloud: The Untold Story of How Salesforce.com Went from
Idea to Billion-Dollar Company-and Revolutionized an Industry
By Marc Benioff & Carlye Adler
The story of Salesforce from its founder
& CEO, Marc Benioff. The title says it
all.

8.
7 Let My People Go Surfing
By Yvon Chouinard
The story of the founding of Patagonia
and more importantly how to build a
company with strong values.

9.
8 Positioning: The Battle For Your Mind
By Al Ries & Jack Trout
This and Influence: The Psychology of
Persuasion are the best books on
Marketing. These books will teach you
why you buy the things you do.

10.
9 Meditations
By Marcus Aurelius
So deep you need to re-read this book
every few years.

11.
10
Practicing the Power of Now: Essential Teachings,
Meditations, and Exercises From The Power of Now
By Eckhart Tolle
The best way I’ve found to deal with the
daily anxiety of running a business is to
focus on the “Now.” Start practicing
with Tolle’s book.

12.
11
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Revised
Edition
By Robert Cialdini
I just read this book for the 3rd time. It’s
the best book there is to understand
the cognitive biases we all use to make
decisions.

13.
12 EntreLeadership
By Dave Ramsey
If you want to learn how to work on
your business, not in it, read this.

14.
13
Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality
in Business
By Danny Meyer
I’m obsessed with great customer
service. Nobody knows delivering great
service better than Danny Meyer, one
of America’s leading restauranteurs.

15.
14 The Big Moo
By Seth Godin
So many great Seth Godin books to
read, I’ve read all of them. I always
come back to two books, Purple Cow
and The Big Moo, a companion book to
the Purple Cow.

16.
15 Re-Imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age
By Tom Peters
Too many great Tom Peters books,
start with this one.

17.
16 High Output Management
By Andy Grove
The book that started the recent OKR
trend used by Google and many other
companies to manage priorities.

18.
17 Predictable Revenue: Turn Your Business Into a Sales
Machine with the $100 Million Best Practices of
Salesforce.com
By Aaron Ross
This book is a great guide to running a sales team
from an early Salesforce.com sales leader. I had a
hard time choosing between this book and The Sales
Acceleration Formula (read both).

19.
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