The Founder Bookshelf

Books founders recommend to each other. Browse by topic or by where you are as you grow, mark what you've read, and add what's next.

13 books on Hiring, Team & Culture for timeless

  1. Good to Great cover

    Jim Collins

    What separates merely good companies from truly great ones.

    Jim Collins and his research team studied companies that made a sustained leap from good to great results and compared them to peers that did not. They identify common...

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  2. Bad Blood cover

    John Carreyrou

    The definitive account of Silicon Valley's biggest fraud.

    John Carreyrou reconstructs the rise and collapse of Theranos, the blood-testing startup that claimed to revolutionize diagnostics with a single drop of blood. He...

  3. Bargaining for Advantage cover

    G. Richard Shell

    Negotiate from your own strengths, not someone else's playbook.

    Shell lays out an information-based approach to negotiation grounded in your personal bargaining style rather than rigid tactics. He walks through a six-step framework...

  4. Cracking the PM Interview cover

    Gayle Laakmann McDowell and Jackie Bavaro

    The end-to-end manual for landing a product manager job.

    Cracking the PM Interview demystifies the product manager role and the hiring process at major tech companies. It covers what PMs actually do, how to position a...

  5. Crucial Conversations cover

    Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler

    Handle high-stakes conversations without going silent or going to war.

    The authors define crucial conversations as those where stakes are high, opinions differ, and emotions run strong. They offer a step-by-step method for staying in...

  6. Difficult Conversations cover

    Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton and Sheila Heen

    Break every hard talk into three conversations you can actually manage.

    Drawing on the Harvard Negotiation Project, the authors argue that every difficult conversation is really three: the what-happened conversation, the feelings...

  7. First, Break All the Rules cover

    Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman

    Great managers break conventional rules to grow people's strengths.

    Based on Gallup's massive study of managers and employees, the authors find that great managers reject received wisdom and instead build on each person's natural...

  8. Grit cover

    Angela Duckworth

    Sustained passion and perseverance beat raw talent.

    Angela Duckworth argues that the key to high achievement is not talent but grit, the combination of passion and sustained perseverance toward long-term goals. She...

  9. Interviewing Users cover

    Steve Portigal

    Learn to ask the questions that surface what users really do.

    A practical guide to planning and conducting user interviews that yield genuine insight rather than confirmation of what you already believe. Portigal covers...

  10. Multipliers cover

    Liz Wiseman with Greg McKeown

    Great leaders multiply the intelligence of their teams.

    Based on research across more than 150 leaders, Wiseman distinguishes Multipliers, who amplify the intelligence and capability of those around them, from Diminishers,...

  11. Negotiation Genius cover

    Deepak Malhotra and Max Bazerman

    Turn hard bargaining situations into brilliant outcomes with proven frameworks.

    Drawing on decades of Harvard research and teaching, Malhotra and Bazerman provide frameworks and strategies for negotiating in difficult situations. They cover...

  12. The Culture Code cover

    Daniel Coyle

    Belonging, candor, and purpose are what make groups click.

    Coyle goes inside high-performing groups, from Navy SEALs and IDEO to the San Antonio Spurs, to find what makes their cultures work. He distills culture down to three...

  13. Ben Horowitz

    Your culture is what your people do, not what you say.

    Horowitz argues that culture is defined by how people actually behave, especially when leaders are not watching. He draws lessons from unlikely leaders including the...

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