Anu Hariharan
Managing Director at YC's growth fund (YC Continuity). Privileged to work with @ycombinator founders. Mom of two. 🇮🇳 New Yorker at ❤️
10+ Book Recommendations by Anu Hariharan
Rafa
Rafael Nadal John Carlin
"If we got to 4-4 in the fifth set, the winner would be the player better able to control his nerves. I was in control of mine" - Rada Nadal Wimbledon 2008 finals. In 2023 it will be important to control one's nerves & focus on winning the next point https://t.co/ZBgDFmZoyu
My Life and Work
Henry Ford
"I was the VP, Designer, Master Mechanic, Superintendent and GM" - Henry Ford One of the best autobiographies I have read in recent years - https://t.co/cDbBWxyW1h
Invent and Wander
Walter Isaacson
In Jeff Bezos's own words, the core principles and philosophy that have guided him in creating, building, and leading Amazon and Blue Origin. In this collection of Jeff Bezos's writings—his unique and strikingly original annual shareholder letters, plus numerous speeches and interviews that provide insight into his background, his work, and the evolution of his ideas—you'll gain an insider's view of the why and how of his success. Spanning a range of topics across business and public policy, from innovation and customer obsession to climate change and outer space, this book provides a rare glimpse into how Bezos thinks about the world and where the future might take us. Written in a direct, down-to-earth style, Invent and Wander offers readers a master class in business values, strategy, and execution: The importance of a Day 1 mindset Why "it's all about the long term" What it really means to be customer obsessed How to start new businesses and create significant organic growth in an already successful company Why culture is an imperative How a willingness to fail is closely connected to innovation What the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us Each insight offers new ways of thinking through today's challenges—and more importantly, tomorrow's—and the never-ending urgency of striving ahead, never resting on one's laurels. Everyone from CEOs of the Fortune 100 to entrepreneurs just setting up shop to the millions who use Amazon's products and services in their homes or businesses will come to understand the principles that have driven the success of one of the most important innovators of our time. Invent and Wander: The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos is co-published by PublicAffairs, an imprint of Perseus Books, and Harvard Business Review Press.1/ Reread all of Bezos's shareholder letters via this book Many takeaways that are relevant even in the investment world https://t.co/t6z8Y49yNv
Ask Your Developer
Jeff Lawson
Jeff Lawson, software developer turned CEO of Twilio, shares a new approach for winning in the digital era: unleash the creativity and productivity of the 25 million most important workers in the digital economy, software developers. From banking and retail to insurance and finance, every industry is turning digital, and every company needs the best software to win the hearts and minds of customers. The landscape has shifted from the classic build vs. buy question, to one of build vs. die. Companies have to get this right to survive. But how do they make this transition? Software developers are sought after, highly paid, and desperately needed to compete in the modern, digital economy. Yet most companies treat them like digital factory workers without really understanding what software developers are able to contribute. Lawson argues that developers are the creative workforce who can solve major business problems and create hit products for customers--not just grind through rote tasks. Lawson talks to executives, developers at startups, and founders who code to learn how forward-thinking companies embrace this approach. From Google and Amazon, to one-person online software companies--companies that bring software developers in as partners are winning. Adopting the Ask Your Developer mindset enables companies to take advantage of an underutilized asset, unleash tremendous untapped creativity and brainpower inside their software teams, recruit and retain the best talent, and integrate developers into everyday decisions. For developers, this mindset can help you show up and be viewed as a full, talented, creative professional - not a code monkey. How to compete in the digital economy? In short: Ask Your Developer.Read @jeffiel's book "Ask Your Developer" for the second time. Such an insightful read. Bezos inspired founders to build an organization around "customer obsession" Jeff Lawson will have inspired an entire generation of founders to focus on "developer obsession"
Ask Your Developer
Jeff Lawson
Jeff Lawson, software developer turned CEO of Twilio, shares a new approach for winning in the digital era: unleash the creativity and productivity of the 25 million most important workers in the digital economy, software developers. From banking and retail to insurance and finance, every industry is turning digital, and every company needs the best software to win the hearts and minds of customers. The landscape has shifted from the classic build vs. buy question, to one of build vs. die. Companies have to get this right to survive. But how do they make this transition? Software developers are sought after, highly paid, and desperately needed to compete in the modern, digital economy. Yet most companies treat them like digital factory workers without really understanding what software developers are able to contribute. Lawson argues that developers are the creative workforce who can solve major business problems and create hit products for customers--not just grind through rote tasks. Lawson talks to executives, developers at startups, and founders who code to learn how forward-thinking companies embrace this approach. From Google and Amazon, to one-person online software companies--companies that bring software developers in as partners are winning. Adopting the Ask Your Developer mindset enables companies to take advantage of an underutilized asset, unleash tremendous untapped creativity and brainpower inside their software teams, recruit and retain the best talent, and integrate developers into everyday decisions. For developers, this mindset can help you show up and be viewed as a full, talented, creative professional - not a code monkey. How to compete in the digital economy? In short: Ask Your Developer.This is an excellent book by @jeffiel. Highly recommend đź’Ż and a brilliant title. https://t.co/W2AlH2f5kg
The Art of Learning
Josh Waitzkin
An eight-time national chess champion and world champion martial artist shares the lessons he has learned from two very different competitive arenas, identifying key principles about learning and performance that readers can apply to their life goals. Reprint. 35,000 first printing.5/This is a book recommendation but I wish there was a podcast on this topic https://t.co/2rk09FeNhS
The Infinite Game
Simon Sinek
Explains how the unending, constantly evolving challenges of business can be better served through an "infinite mindset," sharing inspiring examples of how a shift in perspective can promote stronger, more enduring organizations.Excellent book - The Infinite Game. Thank you for the tip @callmevlad https://t.co/8bD8I3YCwn
Scaling Up
Verne Harnish
Offers techniques for growing a business into a dominant industry force, focusing on four important decision areas that are fundamental to successful company growth.The entire book is an interesting read - a bit academic at times but helpful tools along the way https://t.co/5XzZltFJhg
The Great Influenza
John M. Barry
An account of the deadly influenza epidemic of 1918, which took the lives of millions of people around the world, examines its causes, its impact on early twentieth-century society, and the lasting implications of the crisis.Reading John Barry's book and I keep thinking -- What have we learned since the last pandemic? Anything? And we had 102 years to prepare for the next big one! https://t.co/PMcghlFTbK
The Lessons of History
Grover Gardner
This book blows my mind every time I read it. I love the audible option as it has commentary from the authors - https://t.co/ck6LtPULaz
Shoe Dog
Phil Knight
Highly recommend this book - Shoe Dog - What a wild ride! I have read about so many "near death" situations at other startups but nothing that comes this close and more than once https://t.co/VWRuNeP38m
What You Do Is Who You Are
Ben Horowitz
Ben Horowitz, a leading venture capitalist, modern management expert, and New York Times bestselling author, combines lessons both from history and from modern organizational practice with practical and often surprising advice to help executives build cultures that can weather both good and bad times. Ben Horowitz has long been fascinated by history, and particularly by how people behave differently than you’d expect. The time and circumstances in which they were raised often shapes them—yet a few leaders have managed to shape their times. In What You Do Is Who You Are, he turns his attention to a question crucial to every organization: how do you create and sustain the culture you want? To Horowitz, culture is how a company makes decisions. It is the set of assumptions employees use to resolve everyday problems: should I stay at the Red Roof Inn, or the Four Seasons? Should we discuss the color of this product for five minutes or thirty hours? If culture is not purposeful, it will be an accident or a mistake. What You Do Is Who You Are explains how to make your culture purposeful by spotlighting four models of leadership and culture-building—the leader of the only successful slave revolt, Haiti’s Toussaint Louverture; the Samurai, who ruled Japan for seven hundred years and shaped modern Japanese culture; Genghis Khan, who built the world’s largest empire; and Shaka Senghor, an American ex-con who created the most formidable prison gang in the yard and ultimately transformed prison culture. Horowitz connects these leadership examples to modern case-studies, including how Louverture’s cultural techniques were applied (or should have been) by Reed Hastings at Netflix, Travis Kalanick at Uber, and Hillary Clinton, and how Genghis Khan’s vision of cultural inclusiveness has parallels in the work of Don Thompson, the first African-American CEO of McDonalds, and of Maggie Wilderotter, the CEO who led Frontier Communications. Horowitz then offers guidance to help any company understand its own strategy and build a successful culture. What You Do Is Who You Are is a journey through culture, from ancient to modern. Along the way, it answers a question fundamental to any organization: who are we? How do people talk about us when we’re not around? How do we treat our customers? Are we there for people in a pinch? Can we be trusted? Who you are is not the values you list on the wall. It’s not what you say in company-wide meeting. It’s not your marketing campaign. It’s not even what you believe. Who you are is what you do. This book aims to help you do the things you need to become the kind of leader you want to be—and others want to follow.@sanjrng @RobertIger 1/ what you do is who you are by @bhorowitz and 2/ Brazillionaires by @alexcuadros
The Ride of a Lifetime
Robert Iger
The CEO of Disney, one of TIME's most influential people of 2019, shares the ideas and values he embraced to reinvent one of the most beloved companies in the world and inspire the people who bring the magic to life.1/ Finished Book #3 of 2020: The ride of a life time by @RobertIger. What an amazing book. My key takeaways