I’m very proud to have completed my goal of 100 books again in 2016, and here I share with you my top 10. I hope you find the same value in these books as I did, and wish you the best along your journey with them!

 

#1 Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike

By: Phil Knight

From one entrepreneur to another, hats off to you Phil! Business is hard; that is a simple fact, and as much as we want to glamorize the crazy dreamers and thinkers, I truly believe the greatest entrepreneurs first start as tremendous problem solves, one’s that never quit under the face of pressure, and find ways to make orange juice out of lemonade, and then have everyone else wondering how the fuck they did it. This book was an emotional roller coaster for anyone whose been on the ride of business before, and his journey was not only inspiring, it was bring’s along a certain human side to Nike that I’ve never seen before. We often think of these big corporations as evil businessman, but we often forget the blood sweat and tears that first went into getting it started. My ADHD often makes it hard for me to finish a book in one sitting, but Shoe Dog is one that I just couldn’t put down.

 

#2 They Call Me Supermensch: A Backstage Pass to the Amazing Worlds of Film, Food, and Rock’n’Roll

By Shep Gordon

If you ever want to learn about promotion and PR, read this book. Shep is a legend in the entertainment industry, and someone that has impacted the lives of so many talented individuals by being who he is, a supermensch. The definition of mensch is someone of high integrity and honor, and I feel that is the greatest compliment you could ever give anyone. He did business with just a handshake, no contracts, nothing, which even back then seems crazy. Yet in the end, a person of high honor does things on handshakes, because that is their bond before all else. I loved his story, it was entertaining, and you could really learn a great deal from his stories of promotion, which in it’s most simplest form is, you become hot, by associating with those that are hot. He goes into a great deal on personal life, as he goes into detail of the internal battles he struggled with in having a family or living life on the road and continuing his journey, all the while, he keeps you entertained the entire time with just amazing stories from an amazing life.

 

#3 Find a Way: The Inspiring Story of One Woman’s Pursuit of a Lifelong Dream

By: Diana Nyad

For someone that struggles with swimming 500 meters, the mere thought of swimming from Cuba to Florida is amazing, now add in the repeated failures, an age of 64, and age where most most gave up on their athletic aspirations 30 years ago, the risk of sharks, and the dangerously lethal jellyfish that you are bound to be stung by, and here you have the amazing story of struggle, persistence, and triumph against all odds that is truly one of a kind. This is one of those books that you finish reading, and realize that nothing is impossible, and that if there is a will, there is a way!

 

#4 The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King

By: Rich Cohen

Who has heard of Sam Zemurray? I certainly hadn’t before this book, but wow, what a story of the immigrants dream. Arriving in the US in 1891 penniless, starting with just a cart of freckled bananas, he died as one of the greatest power brokers in the world, one of the richest men in America, and truly someone who moved nations. One of the favorite quotes of all time comes from this book: “There are times when certain cards sit unclaimed in the common pile, when certain properties become available that will never be available again. A good businessman feels these moments like the falls in the barometric pressure; a great business man is dumb enough to act on them, even when he cannot afford too”. Truly a life driven by ones indomitable will.

 

#5 Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World

By: Adam Grant

As my man Warren Buffett says, you want to be greedy when others are fearful, and be fearful when others are greedy. Adam Grant highlights through both data, and amazing anecdotes of how originality in business and in life, can have game changing effects. This is a highly acclaimed book validated by some of my favorite authors and businessmen and women in various industries. It really gets you to think about problems in a different way, and think to how you can create innovations in your own practices.

 

#6 Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

By: Angela Duckworth

Ever build a business around a book? Our Gryt Obstacle Challenge and our partnership with Nanjing Wande Play was largely started after I finished reading this book. As Will Smith famously said, when you’re a kid, you need to focus on two things, reading (ahem…) and running. Reading is to learn from others, and running is to learn to tell that little guy on your shoulder to STFU when you’re tired. Navy Seals famously have coined the usage of the 40% Rule, which is that when you start to feel tired, you’re really only at 40% of your true capacity. Our children need Grit more and more these days as our education system teaches rewards for participation. This book not only educates you on the science behind grit, but also how it can be properly applied and taught. .

Side story: Our Gryt Course has a very tall obstacle that many children are extremely afraid to cross over. It is not a physically challenging obstacle as it is just a bit scary. We educate teachers to never let the children just give up, and come down, but to teach them where to put their hands and feet, to cross over, and to constantly encourage them. We have found that the most scared children, after the ones that are repeating that challenging again and again after they cross it the first time just for fun! Confidence and grit are built through showing children how to surpass challenges, and from their, they have the confidence to always take that next step.

 

#7 Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

By: Chris Voss

We negotiate in every aspect of our lives. Even if we don’t haggle, the price that is set, as well as the feeling we get when we make a purchase is also negotiated. Framing and positioning a sale, or the price of a product, or the value of something that you did are all forms of negotiating. Does it make life complicated, sure, but if I can negotiate a deal where you feel like you’ve won, and I got the price I wanted, don’t we all go away happy. Chris Voss is a former FBI negotiator, one that has real world experience outside of just academia talking about the concepts of negotiating, and he highlights his successes, as well as his failures and why. A great book, and helpful in all contexts!

 

#8 On China

By: Henry Kissinger

One must study oneself as much as they study elsewhere. There is so much to learn about the history of China that also ultimately shape its decisions today. Differences in the way we do business as well as our customs and practices can lead to misunderstandings that can cause great divides. For instance, one of the fascinating points brought up in this book is that the Chinese grow up learning to play WeiQi, or the board game (Go), and in the US, children are taught Chess. WeiQi is a game where two players strategical aim to surround more territory than the other, as opposed to Chess which is a face to face combat game of strategy of forward advancement. If you’ve ever done business with the Chinese, you’ll understand this, both as a ah ha moment, and at a point of frustrating at times. That said, these two different board games symbolize a difference in thoughts, cultures, as well as ways each side negotiates and maneuvers around particular issues. By understanding each side, and the history of each great nation, we can hope to quell many misunderstandings, and support both nations as we think to the bring prosperity not just to two nations, but using the influence of both to bring prosperity to the world.

 

#9 King of Capital: The Remarkable Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Steve Schwarzman and Blackstone

By: David Carey

This might be a book that only my finance guys will like, but to me, it’s a lot like reading books about Warren Buffett, as Steve Schwarzman to me is like another idol. How two guys and a secretary went to become one of the most powerful financial institutions in the world is extremely impressive. In the US, the private equity industry is so dominate, and this books spells out how some of the major institutions are run, the big players behind them, and what it really takes to make the engine move as well as how to run the ship. A fascinating book about one of Wall Street’s Titans

 

#10 The Gold Standard: Rules to Rule By

By: Ari Gold

First off, get the audio book version of this! It’s a lot more entertaining listening to Jeremy Piven play Ari Gold than it is trying to imagine that when you’re reading this. If you’re a fan of entourage, and a fan of hard charging business, then this is a very entertaining book, and surprisingly, has some really good tidbits in it. I may sound insane of saying this, but this is one of my audio bites that I like to have running in the background when I’m falling asleep. But in all actuality, there are some great points in, and even iterates one of the rules I live by: “You might eat the steak for the taste, but you buy it for the sizzle”, and even goes into the importance of meaningful gifts, as well as helping those close to your business associates so that you have a undeniable trust factor. These are points that are grounded in good business, but also just good people practices, and coming from Jeremy Piven playing Ari Gold, you won’t put this short golden nugget down.

 

Honorable mentions:

The Science of Growth: How Facebook Beat Friendster–and How Nine Other Startups Left the Rest in the Dust, By: Sean Ammirati; Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters, By: Richard Rumelt; Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley, By: Antonio Martinez; Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets, By: Sudhir Venkatesh; Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise, By: Anders Ericsson

 

Three quick tips: 

1. Understand that reading in general is a commitment. The compliant that you don’t have time falls on deaf ears here. You have the time, you just want to binge watch your newest show more. I don’t own a television, I barely watch movies (except on the plane), and I rarely listen to the radio. So if you want to talk to me about the newest Game of Thrones episode, sorry. To me it’s a competition, and every second I am not getting better, my competitors are, and that drives me 24/7/365 to be reading whenever I can.
2. I live and die by the audiobook. For anyone whose ever lived with me knows that I often have headphones in at all times. I’m not ignoring you, I’m just listening to an audiobook while I’m performing mindless tasks like walking my dog, or washing the dishes, etc.
3. Quantity is critical. Reading a book shouldn’t be like taking a test, so only take notes if you really like what you just heard. What you find after reading many books in the same subject is that the studies that are often quoted, are often repeatedly sourced. In the world of scientific validation, if your study is repeated by another scientist and the concept is routinely published, it’s often a valid finding. The book, Power Poses, recently came under fire because the scientific study the book is based on had a repeat study done, and came back negative. The same goes for information in books, and yes, you can have some ground breaking articles and books, but that is such a small percentage. Overall, repeated information is validated information. The reality is, you don’t really forget too much of what you read, you just lose the neural connections to it. Hearing it again and again strengthens those connections, and makes what you read not only remember-able, but also valid.

Finally, here are the links to the best books I’ve read in the last three years

In 2015 I finished 100 books, here are my top 10

Top 40 books I’ve read in 2014

I read 100 books in 2013 and it changed my life – My Top 50 List