July 28, 2024 | Read Online

The entrepreneurial journey is shaped by all sorts of backgrounds—some come from affluence, while others carve paths from less privileged beginnings. Some studied at the best schools and universities, and others didn't.*

What's one commonality that levels the playing for all that apply it? The answer is reading.

X: Bill Kerr.

Today we have a treat for you: the top ranked reads from the great business people of our time, their individual recommendations, and to make it easy, a checklist database to track and manage on your own. Click in any of the links to subscribe to Open Source CEO and download the database.* Enjoy!

The Top 10

Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari
Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl
Principles, Ray Dalio
Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman
Zero to One, Peter Thiel
The 4-Hour Workweek, Tim Ferriss
Influence, Robert B. Cialdini, PhD
The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz
Shoe Dog, Phil Knight
Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand

Steve Jobs

The Innovator's Dilemma, Clayton M. Christensen
Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas S. Kuhn

One way to remember who you are is to remember who your heroes - Steve Jobs

Melanie Perkins

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, Robin Sharma
Designing the Obvious, Robert Hoekman

Bill Gates

Shoe Dog, Phil Knight
The Checklist Manifesto, Atul Gawande
Homo Deus, Yuval Noah Harari

Every morning and every evening I block out an hour and a half for reading, and it's made me substantially better at my job. - Bill Gates

Sam Altman

The Beginning of Infinity, David Deutsch
Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman
Meditations, Marcus Aurelius

Oprah Winfrey

Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
The Road, Cormac McCarthy
Becoming, Michelle Obama

Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age three, and soon discovered there was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi. - Oprah Winfrey

Brian Chesky

High Output Management, Andrew S. Grove
The Ride of a Lifetime, Robert Iger
Blitzscaling, Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh

Sheryl Sandberg

Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling
The Lean Startup, Eric Ries
Play Nice But Win, Michael Dell

I probably shouldn't admit this since I work in the tech industry, but I still prefer reading paper books. - Sheryl Sandberg

Download

The majority of this essential reading list is sourced from GoodBooks, but this time it's been upgraded into a trackable database, so that you can check out the best reads from the worlds top minds, and start curating your own favorites. You can subscribe to Open Source CEO and download it here.

Click to subscribe and download the 100 Greatest Business Books Database.

Summary

Charlie Munger once said, "I've never met a wise person who didn't read constantly." And it's true, all top entrepreneurs share one trait: a relentless pursuit of knowledge. Hopefully, this tool empowers you with the insights necessary to not just compete, but to lead and excel.

Get the database!

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*Sponsored by Athyna. We are shareholders in the company.

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