Business and management

How companies are started, run and lost, from a first product to managing people. 34 books, each condensed into about twenty minutes.

• AI ValleyGary RivlinFollow Reid Hoffman and Inflection AI through the generative AI rush, and see why Silicon Valley's startup machine may lose this boom to Microsoft, Google and the other giants.
• Apple in ChinaPatrick McGeeSee how Apple trained China's manufacturers to build the iPhone, and how that bet left Apple deeply dependent on China while it helped create its own Chinese rivals.
• Bad BloodJohn CarreyrouTheranos promised hundreds of tests from a drop of blood. Follow how the machines failed, doubters were silenced, and a reporter's sources exposed what patients had been told.
• Careless PeopleSarah Wynn WilliamsSee how a tech giant's biggest decisions actually get made, and learn to spot the warning signs when concentrated corporate power goes unchecked in elections, censorship deals, and fragile countries.
• Competitive StrategyMichael E. PorterPorter's systematic method for reading an industry's structure and a firm's position in it: the five forces that cap profitability, three generic strategies, and how to read rivals' next moves.
• Creativity, Inc.Ed Catmull, Amy WallaceHow Pixar kept making good films: candor, a Braintrust of peers who say what is wrong, and a refusal to hide problems, told by the Pixar cofounder who ran it.
• Elon MuskWalter IsaacsonThe drive that launches rockets also breaks things. Follow Elon Musk from a brutal South African childhood through SpaceX, Tesla and Twitter, and see what his appetite for risk costs.
• Empire of PainPatrick Radden KeefeHow the Sacklers profited from marketing Valium and selling OxyContin, put their name on museums, and faced prosecutors, states and protesters over Purdue Pharma's role in the opioid crisis.
• EssentialismGreg McKeownLearn to separate the vital few from the trivial many, say a graceful no, and build routines that make the work that matters almost effortless.
• Failure Is an OptionMike GrossmanLearn what running a startup actually demands, from firing people you hired too fast to knowing when effort cannot beat bad timing, and how leaders stay steady anyway.
• Getting to YesRoger Fisher, William Ury, Bruce PattonLearn the Harvard Negotiation Project's method for reaching agreement without giving in, separating people from the problem and focusing on interests over fixed positions.
• Good to GreatJim CollinsLearn why a few ordinary companies made the leap to lasting greatness, from humble but fiercely driven leaders to facing brutal facts, simple focus and steady, disciplined effort.
• High Output ManagementAndrew S. GroveIntel's longtime leader treats management as production: find the limiting step, measure output rather than activity, use meetings for leverage, and train your people yourself.
• Made to StickChip Heath, Dan HeathChip and Dan Heath show why urban legends outlast carefully argued messages, and set out six principles that make any idea easier to understand, remember and act on.
• MoneyballMichael LewisWith a third of the Yankees' payroll, the Oakland A's kept winning. See how Billy Beane's front office used data to find value in players baseball had written off.
• Never Split the DifferenceChris Voss, Tahl RazHostage negotiation taught Chris Voss that emotion, not logic, drives every deal. His FBI tools, from mirroring to calibrated questions, work wherever life turns into a negotiation.
• Next Gen CEOMike SoutarLeadership rules are changing fast. Sixty short, practical lessons on leading yourself, your team, your company and your market in an uncertain world.
• No More TearsGardiner HarrisFollow how Johnson & Johnson's trusted image helped obscure recurring product risks, institutional influence, weak oversight, and delayed accountability across American healthcare.
• Shoe DogPhil KnightIn 1962 Phil Knight pitched Japanese running shoes under a company name he invented on the spot. Two decades of debt, lawsuits and near collapse later, Nike went public.
• Start with WhySimon SinekPeople follow leaders who make them believe, not just buy. Learn the simple pattern behind Apple, Southwest and Dr. King, and how to find and keep your own why.
• The BoxMarc LevinsonHow a plain steel box, pushed by trucker Malcom McLean, slashed shipping costs, emptied old waterfronts, built new ports and made long global supply chains possible.
• The Culture CodeDaniel CoyleSee how groups build safety, share vulnerability, and make priorities usable through repeated interactions, with examples from sports, aviation, restaurants, and creative teams.
• The Everything StoreBrad StoneBrad Stone traces how Jeff Bezos grew Amazon from an online bookstore into a store for almost everything, and the relentless, often ruthless culture he built to do it.
• The Everything WarDana MattioliUnderstand how Amazon's convenience, infrastructure, and business incentives built market power, reshaped competitors' choices, and challenged the way regulators measure harm.
• The Hard Thing About Hard ThingsBen HorowitzLearn how a founder kept his company alive through a crash, near bankruptcy and a lost customer, and what it taught him about leading when there are no easy answers.
• The Lean StartupEric RiesLearn to test a new venture's riskiest assumptions with small experiments and honest metrics, so you can tell when to change course before time and money run out.
• The Pricing PlaybookIngo ReinhardtIngo Reinhardt shows why traditional pricing methods fall short, how price, pack and promotion levers fit into one playbook, and how AI could help predict how shoppers respond.
• The Unaccountability MachineDan DaviesUnderstand why organisations keep making harmful decisions nobody can change, and how restoring feedback could make them more responsive to the people affected.
• The Warren Buffett CEORobert P. MilesBuffett buys companies for their managers, then leaves them alone. Interviews with Berkshire's CEOs show how he picks, trusts and pays them, and why the system should outlast him.
• The World for SaleJavier Blas, Jack FarchyFollow the traders who finance, move, and price the world's resources, and see how their appetite for risk shapes markets, governments, and crises.
• Wild GrowthFeng LunSee how ambition becomes a durable company through Feng Lun's firsthand lessons on debt, partnerships, governance, and succession.
• Will Huawei Be the Next to Fall? Ultimate EditionTian Tao, Wu ChunboHow Huawei tied customer needs, employee effort and shared rewards to hard choices about products, crises, management systems and leadership authority.
• Your TurnBas BergmansA practical, data driven guide for executives leading a distressed business through a one chance turnaround and back toward a thriving enterprise.
• Zero to OnePeter Thiel, Blake MastersLearn to spot the questions that separate real innovation from copying, and see why lasting companies escape competition, plan deliberately, and build something that did not exist before.