Reading List

Ruffled and creased the cover of this book has been opened many times. Schwarzmans rise from a small linen shop in Philadelphia to building the largest Private Equity firm in the world is nothing short of deeply inspiring. My biggest takeaway was that your struggles are not unique. When I was building PCA there was so much emphatic rejection that I questioned my sanity, hearing that a Yale grad, experienced the same building at his firm was cathartic.

From the time I was a small child, I recall being captivated by patterns and problem-solving. Dalios cool logical approach to processing life was a welcome reprieve from the over-hyped world of personal development. As I look back on what stuck for me, one point sticks out. Doing right is far more important than being right.

The late passing of Mr. Munger caused me tremendous grief. For years now I have admired him as a steady paragon of sound wisdom and insight. Poor Charlies Almanack being an aggregation of eclectic letters, speeches, and lessons is perhaps the best developmental book I have ever read. My takeaway is what Munger referred to as his lollapalooza effect. mastery in many mental models Allows you to play chess against many who only play checkers.

After immigrating to the United States from Israel with a few hundred dollars, and a small family Riklis went on to pioneer the world of financial expansion through the effective use of LBOs. His autobiography details the ups and downs culminating in a hair-raising high-stakes acquisition of one of Americas largest holding companies. After reading this book, you cant help but see that conventional wisdom is a starting point, not the end-all determination.

Telling the life of Adam Brown, a young man born in the humble farmlands of Arkansas, Fearless follows his journey from a crack addict to being selected for Americas most elite Tier One Special Operations Unit. When all odds are stacked against you, find an excuse to win. You are never out of the fight.

John Chapman, a member of the Air Forces elite 24th STS, was the first man to have actions leading to a Congressional Medal of Honor recorded on video. Left for dead atop a lonely peak in Afghanistan, Chapman exhausted the last of his ammunition, and life force defending his countrymen. After being shot nine times, shattering his femur, and cracking his torso a final round piercing his aorta slowed his heart to a stop. It is easy to forget or neglect to recognize our liberties are not without cost. Let us not forget the sacrifices of men like John Chapman.

I can hardly imagine the pressure of releasing a sequel that would not fall into the deep shadow cast by the success of Cant Hurt Me. Yet, Goggins has done it. Never Finished paints the picture of difficulty in a distinctly human way. With a perpetual throughline of discipline, this book shows that those we idealize are the same flesh and blood we toil with. The mind has and shall remain the true battleground.

Throughout the various struggles I have overcome, losing my autonomy after moving was among the hardest. My understanding of family was upended and characterized by expectations of disloyalty and defamation. During this time a mentor recommended Meditations. Reading the vulnerable reflections of an emperor reinforced that my pain was not burdened alone. Problems are an artificial construct, framed by the disconnect between the mind and body. If we but acknowledge that everything about our lives is determined internally we will see that the solution we seek has been in front of us the whole time.

Based on the style that Greenes book was written in it is exceedingly hard to isolate one takeaway. At least one that is explicitly stated within its pages. What fascinated me was the authors distinct ability to look to the obscure pages of the past to illustrate his point. It is a reminder that chief among the skills of an entrepreneur is pattern recognition. Patterns in human behavior, market fluctuations, and relational dynamics. They say that history doesnt repeat but it does rhyme, this text is proof of that.

Loved and hated Jack Ma was and still is one of the great digital pioneers. Never Give Up serves as a collection of his letters, interviews, and musings providing a unique insight into the mind of a true entrepreneur. Interestingly when Ma founded Alibaba he was technologically illiterate, instead displaying supreme management skills, putting the right people in the right seats. If the why is strong enough, the how will find a way.

Sam Zell does not upon first impressions strike you as one of the world most prolifically successful real estate entrepreneurs. Indeed, his appearances and mannerisms in many cases suggest the opposite. Despite that the name Zell means that the deal will cross the finishing line. The value of a shem tov is nearly impossible to overstate. It cannot be purchased, and takes decades to cultivate, but once it is few things make a larger impact.

Per the title and similar to my takeaway from the career of Jack Ma, Who Not How stresses the importance of finding and keeping the right people. This book was particularly enlightening as I have always had difficulty trusting people enough to hand off tasks. Sullivans thesis is that when your mission is larger than life, others will naturally be attracted to it. As they are you can symbiotically use their talents to grow geometrically.

Perdew, a graduate of the USMA, UCLAs joint JD MBA program, and second winner of The Apprentice is an iconoclastic tale of the American dream. His no-nonsense, military approach to business resonates with my serious outlook on life. A directive for first-year students at West Point comes to mind when reflecting on lessons learned. Duty, there are only three answers to a question: Yes sir, no sir, and no excuse sir.

There is not much to say about Warren Buffet that has not already been said. Moreover, Schroder does an impeccable job in this thousand-page biography delving below the surface of Buffets achievements. There is a discipline that has been shown in the great investors Buffet included that stands still as technology changes around it. Emotional control and fiscal prudence. To quote Rudyard Kipling “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same” The management of Berkshire Hathaway has demonstrated a remarkable attitude of emotional indifference that all investors can take a lesson from.

It is no secret that Jack Welch proved himself to be one of the sharpest managers of the twentieth century. Despite this, outside of select corporate circles, no one is familiar with his literary works. That's a shame, they are excellent. Welchs commentary is consistent with counsel for what it takes to rise through the ranks at a major company. Beyond this, I was left with an indelible impression to improve productive capacity wherever possible through the use of Lean Six Sigma, uncompromising candor, and a willingness to work.

The Bushido Code has long since been the yardstick by which warriors have judged themselves. Yet in an age of digital warfare, the code of men who slayed their enemies by blade seems archaic at best. Cleary does a superb job of retaining much of the romanticized aurora about translations from feudal Japan while polishing its relevance in the light of the twenty-first century.

Due to Pattons untimely death post World War II, he never had an opportunity to complete his memoir. This book is a consolidation of his journals spanning the length of the conflict. What is striking about them is the distinct aurora of self-determination. Patton was a believer in reincarnation. He visualized fighting as a Roman Legionnaire on the same battlefields he commanded hundreds of years later. While You may not believe that you had previous lives, there is a useful sense of purpose that can be taken away from his views.

Once the apple of the media’s eye, Ailes built CNBC, the predecessor to MSNBC, and The Fox News Channel nearly single-handedly. Shortly before and immediately following his death he had his reputation lynched in the court of public opinion after several sexual harassment allegations. I mention this to say that I look for the neglected to source my information. His book has been all but lost to the annals of history. Before finishing it, I had always assumed that communication was mainly verbal. To my substantial surprise, 93% is through effective tonality and body language. There is more to being a potent speaker than meets the ears.

Being a #1 New York Times bestseller, this book nor its authors are exactly obscure. There's a good reason for that. In a world wrought with weak leaders spewing torrents of perpetual excuses, the principles contained within the pages of this book are like a spring of freshwater. Covering everything from the laws of combat to controlling an ego, the main takeaway is the title itself. Extreme ownership in everything without fail.

Serving as an extension to the concepts discussed in its predecessor Extreme Ownership, The Dichotomy of Leadership delivers an added level of clarity and understanding. Leadership, like most all things in life, is a balance. A balance between aggression and kindness, speed and thoroughness, discipline and encouragement, mastering this balance is not an easy task. My takeaway is like its big brother Extreme Ownership, the title itself. An effective leader must be able to control and respond to a situation based upon its merits. There is no one size fits all.

If there is a singular book that could hold the ability to flip the proverbial script in your mind, it would be this book. The hardships that are described within these pages stretch far beyond most people's remote understanding of what an obstacle is. The takeaway is as simple as the name it bears on the cover. You are not operating at your maximum capacity; as Goggins declares, you're operating at 40%.

As one of the most revered books on military strategies and tactics, The Art of War needs no introduction. Its application, however, is not limited to that of a military tactician; it has percolated through the business world since its birth in 500 BC. The takeaways from this book are simply innumerable, but I think that Gordon Gekko said it best: 'Every battle is won or lost before it is ever fought.'

In a word, honest. In two, brutally honest. Being that this is a field manual, it is internally simple. Willink strips away all nuanced complexities and tells it like it is the first time. The takeaway: everyone wants the magic pill to get out of the work. The shortcut. The hack. It doesn't exist. There is only one way: discipline.

World-renowned as one of the finest coaches on the planet, Tim Grover has been trusted by Fortune 100 CEOs and NBA all-stars alike. Grover distills success down to three categories of people: coolers, closers, and cleaners, corresponding to good, great, and unstoppable. The takeaway is that all cleaners are, in the end, concerned with results above all else. They don't compete; they attack.

This is, bar none, one of the best books for any aspiring entrepreneur. It captures the essecense of the American Dream through the written word. Trump uses the best teaching tool, anecdotes, to explain work ethic, leadership, negotiations, and a sense for the market. The takeaway is a quote from Trump himself: "I like thinking big. I always have. To me it's very simple: If you're going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big."

Whether you like him or hate him, one thing is undeniable: Trump is rich. Super rich. Discussing everything from how to negotiate a loan to the best suits to buy, this book gives a high-level view of the fundamentals of wealth creation and enjoyment. This, of course, was one of the first entrepreneurial books I ever read, and in fact, was the one that opened my eyes to the possibility of first-generation wealth. The biggest takeaway was competition. Highly successful people treat everything as a competition. From the bottom line to eye contact.

The title of this book is certainly fitting for its contents. After reading about the mind-numbing obstacles that this man has faced, one is left with one conclusion: it is not over until you say that it is over. Lindell's transformation is nothing short of Domenic.

After being asked what the largest differentiating factor between success and failure was for the nth time, Grant Cardone decided to answer in its entirety with The 10X Rule. Ironically, I believe that the biggest takeaway from this book comes from a one-star review on Amazon: 'Work eight hours a day? Come on man, you gotta 10X that and work eighty hours a day.' Very simply, the 10X Rule states that you must 10X your goals from where they currently are and match those new goals with 10X the massive action. Simple as that. There is no shortcut.

As arguably one of the most benevolent statesmen of all time, Winston Churchill dwarfed those around him in character and intelligence. This three-volume biography documents his life as Britain's most famous man of war in extraordinary detail. Now finished with the three-volume, three-thousand-page series, I can say without equivocation that Churchill's kindness, wit, eloquence, and courage are even in today's age second to none.

As the name would suggest, this book doesn't pull any punches. Keuilian tells it like it is regardless of the sentiment you may hold. Much like Discipline Equals Freedom, this book is broken up into small easily understood lessons that ensure the reader's ability to apply the principles laid forth in its pages. The biggest takeaway is in the preface: the six pillars of entrepreneurial leadership: self-discipline, clear and effective communication, decisiveness, clarity of vision and path, high-performance team.

One of the lesser-known captains of industry, Henry Parsons Crowell, not only founded the Quaker Oats Company but also pioneered modern marketing. His biography illustrates the rock-solid biblical foundation that his empire was built on. The biggest takeaway was his total devotion and reliance on his faith. Crowell died at the age of ninety reading his New Testament during his commute to work.

Founder of the retail juggernaut Walmart, Sam Walton did not boast exceptional beginnings but carved his way in what could only be regarded as an all-American success story. My biggest takeaway from this late gentle giant is the power of paying attention to your customers, not your competition.