Seven Business Books for Your Summer Reading List

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Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni share the best business books they have read:

Delivering Happiness

By Tony Hsieh

“There are great lessons in there, especially for an e-commerce entrepreneur. I got the book for everyone in the company, and we discuss it to develop strategies for the business.”

— Roys Gureli (MBA ’11), founder and CEO of Annelutfen

The Hard Thing About Hard Things

By Ben Horowitz

“I have a lot of half-read business books. The one I enjoyed the most lately was The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz. He talks about things other folks gloss over, yet are the most important things CEOs face.”

— Khaled Naim (MBA ’13), co-founder and CEO of Onfleet

Inspired

By Marty Cagan

“Before founding Wello I had never experienced the building of a product. Cagan’s approach to making things people love and figuring out whether people really love them was instructive and interesting for me.”

— Ann Scott-Plante (MBA ’11), co-founder of Wello

Mindset

By Carol Dweck

“Some kids are told they are smart, so they don’t push themselves. Others are taught the growth approach, in which you learn and push yourself to be better. I’m always trying to create an environment where people are encouraged to grow, and pushing them to do so.”

— Leslie Silverglide (MBA ’11), co-founder of Wello

The Billionaire Who Wasn’t

By Conor O’Clery

“[It’s] about Chuck Feeney, a man who quietly made a fortune and then secretly gave it all away.”

— Thomas Harman (MBA ’05), founder and CEO of Balsam Brands

Lean In

By Sheryl Sandberg

“Learning that someone as successful as Sheryl Sandberg struggles with Imposter Syndrome and had to ‘fake it till you make it’ was an aha moment for me. I learned to embrace it and be aware of it. I also learned some new techniques [for] how to be a strong woman in the workplace.”

— Dawoon Kang (MBA ’09), COO of Coffee Meets Bagel

Built to Last

By Jim Collins

— Harsh Chamria (MBA ’14), associate vice president for Magma Fincorp Limited