Iskender Dirik
Sep 4, 2018 · 4 min read

Top Leadership and Management Book Recommendations

I’ve asked my network via LinkedIn and Facebook which 3 books they would recommend founders to improve their leadership and management skills.
I’ve aggregated all recommendations and sorted them (roughly) by the number of mentions and likes. Here we go:

The hard thing about hard things; Building a business when there are no easy answers by Ben Horowitz

Suggested by Jonas Weber, Malte Gosau, Igor Kostyuchenok , Maximilian Birner , Jaap Dekter, Tim von Toerne, Paul Jozefak, Michael Oschmann, Ertan Can, Finn Age Hänsel , Michael Schrezenmaier +4 Likes

Principles by Ray Dalio

Suggested by Christian Schroeder, Dr. Darren Obrigkeit, Robert Kindermann, Alexander Tezlaw, Mike Mahlkow, Jasper Masemann, Andreas Thorstensson, Miguel Vicente +8 Likes

High Output Management by Andrew S. Grove

Suggested by Mike Mahlkow, Paul Jozefak, Felix Petersen, Andreas Thorstensson

Zero to One by Thiel and Master

Suggested by Finn Age Hänsel, Hanan Lavy, Stefan.R, David Rudolph

How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie

Suggested by Carlo Metz, Paul Jozefak, Matthias Eireiner, Joel Kaczmarek

Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass boss without losing your humanity by Kim Scott

Suggested by Chedva Kleinhandler, Mike Mahlkow

Measure What Matters by John Doerr

Suggested by Iskender Dirik , Miguel Vicente

Step Up by Evans, Foster, Moore

Suggested by Florian Bankoley +4 Likes

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

Suggested by Marc Mogalle +3 Likes

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

Suggested by Chakra Banerjee +2 Likes

The Big Five for Life by John Strelecky

Suggested by Fabian Beiner +2 Likes

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

Suggested by Francesco Stasi + 2 Likes

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

Suggested by Fritz Lensch +2 Likes

Annual letters to Shareholders by Jeff Bezos

Suggested by Marcus Polke +2 Likes

Leaders eat last by Simon Sinek

Suggested by Fabian Beiner +1 Like

Good to Great by Jim Collins

Suggested by Nikolas Samios +1 Like

The Master Coach: Leading with Character, Building Connections, and Engaging in Extraordinary Conversations by Gregg Thompson

Suggested by Arnd Simon +1 Like

Tribal Leadership by Dave Logan, John King & Halee Fischer- Wright

Suggested by Anthony Hsiao +1 Like

The art of leadership by J.Donald Walters

Suggested by Max Niederhofer

The Other “F”Word: How Smart Leaders, Teams and Enterpreneurs Put Failure to Work by John Danner and Mark Coopersmith

Suggested by Christian Geckeis

Managing Performing Living: Effective Management for a New World by Fredmund Malik

Suggested by Anthony Hsiao

Creative Confidence by The Blokerhead

Suggested by Tanay Tripathi

The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle

Suggested by Alexander Tezlaw

Napoleon by Alexander Dumas

Suggested by Alexander Tezlaw

Lost and Founder by Rand Fishkin

Suggested by Chedva Kleinhandler

Powerful by Patti McCord

Suggested by Chedva Kleinhandler

How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie

Suggested by Philips Dipner, Paul Josefak, Matthias Eireiner, Joel Kaczmarek,

The 7 Habits of highly effective people: powerful lessons in personal change by Stephen R.Covey

Suggested by Peter Jaegen

Built to last by Jim Collins

Suggested by Jasper Masemann

Getting things done by David Allen

Suggested by Jasper Masemann

Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss

Suggested by Kai Panitzki

The score takes care of itselt: my philosophy of leadership by Bill Walsh

Suggested by Andreas Thorstensson

The team formula by Flint and Vinberg Hearn

Suggested by Noel Zeh

How to lie with statistics by Darrell Huff

Suggested by Miguel Vicente

Start with why by Simon Sinek

Suggested by Stephan Jacquemot

Powerful by Patty McCord

Suggested by Magdalena Rogl

Multipliers by Liz Wiseman

Suggested by Magdalena Rogl

Thrive by Arianna Huffington

Suggested by Magdalena Rogl

The neuroscience of Leadership Coaching by Patricia Bossons

Suggested by Magdalena Rogl

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

Suggested by Heiko Willers

The art of happiness by Epicurus

Suggested by Heiko Willers

Willpower: Rediscovering our Greatest Strength by Roy F. Baumeister

Suggested by Heiko Willers

The Coaching Habit say less, ask more & change the way you lead forever by Michael Bungay Stanier

Suggested by Matthias Ehrhardt

Co-active coaching by Karen Kimsey- House

Suggested by Matthias Ehrhardt

What to ask the person in the mirror by Robert Steven Kaplan

Suggested by Matthias Ehrhardt

The science of self-discipline by Peter Hollings

Suggested by Matthias Ehrhardt

The why Café by John Strelecky

Suggested by Michael Schrezenmaier

Success and Luck by Robert H. Frank

Suggested by Jonas Krauspe

Extreme Ownership by Jocki Willink

Suggested by Jaroslav Blaha

Turn the Ship Around! By L.David Marquet

Suggested by Florian Bankoley

Leading by Alex Ferguson

Suggested by Can Koseoglu

Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

Suggested by Ömer Can Küçükdere

The New Normal by Peter Hinssen

Suggested by Jonas Weber

Capital by Thomas Piketty

Suggested by Jonas Weber

Invisible Giants by Lindsay Levin

Suggested by Fritz Lensch

Give and Take by Adam Grant

Suggested by Sebastian R.

Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Suggested by Sebastian R.

Getting Past NO by Willian Ury

Suggested by Sebastian R.

High Growth Playbook by Elad Gil

Suggested by Andre Lutter

Nineteen Stars: A Study in Military Character and Leadership by Edgar Puryear

Suggested by Andrew Casey

Github Team Handbook

Suggested by Philipp Laurim

Iskender Dirik

Written by

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade