A founder’s guide to communication from Made to Stick I once watched a brilliant founder lose a room in under three minutes. The product was powerful. The vision was huge. The team was world-class. But halfway through the pitch, eyes dropped to laptops. A few people leaned back. Someone checked their phone. Nothing was wrong
Made to Stick for Founders: How to Craft Ideas People Remember Read More »
How founders balance caring personally with challenging directly. I still remember sitting across from a team member who had been avoiding my calls. Her shoulders were tense.Her eyes stayed on her notebook.And I knew something was off. I asked how she was doing. She said she was fine. She was not fine. I could feel
Radical Candor for Founders: How to Care Deeply and Challenge Directly Read More »
I was once sitting in a board meeting, watching two leaders avoid looking at each other. One was frustrated. One was defensive.Both were pretending everything was “fine.” We were discussing a missed deadline.But the real issue wasn’t the deadline. It was the dozen conversations they never had leading up to it. I asked a simple
Crucial Conversations for Founders: How to Communicate Under Pressure Read More »
Some books change how you think.This one changes how you lead. Viktor Frankl wrote Man’s Search for Meaning after surviving the Holocaust. But the lessons go far beyond history. At its heart, the book is about choice. The power to decide how you act, where you go, and what you build, even when life feels
Man’s Search for Meaning: The Leadership Guide Founders Don’t Know They Need Read More »
Every founder starts with big ideas. Few build systems strong enough to see them through. Between investor updates, product reviews, hiring, and firefighting, their calendars fill up, but their priorities do not move forward. That is where Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy becomes a tactical advantage. It is not just a book about time
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I used to think “being present” sounded like a soft skill.Something reserved for yoga retreats, not boardrooms. Until I realized this: most founder mistakes don’t happen because of lack of intelligence.They happen because the mind races ahead or gets stuck behind. Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now reframed how I think about performance. It’s not
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Every founder has felt it:The frustration of repeating instructions.The confusion when a brilliant hire doesn’t deliver.The tension when two top performers clash over how to solve the same problem. It’s tempting to label people as “difficult” or “lazy.”But Thomas Erikson’s Surrounded by Idiots shows something deeper: most workplace friction isn’t about intelligence or intent, it’s
Surrounded by Idiots: A Founder’s Guide to Managing Different Personalities Read More »
Tech founders love brilliance.We celebrate innovation, IQ, and vision.But Angela Duckworth’s Grit by Angela Duckworth shows why those aren’t what keep companies alive. What separates lasting founders from the rest isn’t talent.It’s the ability to stay when things get hard, to keep showing up long after inspiration fades. Duckworth defines grit as passion and perseverance
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Founders don’t fail because they lack talent.They fail because talent doesn’t protect against cognitive biases in decision making. That’s the core insight of Rolf Dobelli’s The Art of Thinking Clearly.It’s a book every founder should read, not as theory, but as a toolkit. Dobelli exposes common cognitive traps in business, from overconfidence to sunk cost,
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Most business books teach you how to scale.The Godfather taught me how to lead. Mario Puzo didn’t write about startups or valuations. But hidden in his story are timeless insights, what I call Godfather leadership lessons for founders, that are more practical than most management handbooks. Because leading a business isn’t only about growth. It’s
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Most founders treat trust like a value. Important, yes. But not strategic. Stephen M.R. Covey flips that thinking in The Speed of Trust. He calls trust an economic driver. Here’s why that matters for you as a founder: When trust is high, approvals don’t stack. Execution flows. Decisions get made faster. When trust is
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