Find the branch leader first, embed them in HQ for three months, then build the market around them
Owned and Operated: He Built a $100M HVAC Business (Chad Peterman, Peterman Brothers) · John Wilson
Defeat powerful institutions by enforcing the existing rules they wrote, not by arguing they should change.
How We Took On an Oil Giant and Won · Melinda Janki
Specialize, systematize, and scale to convert a custom service business into a sellable product company.
Built to Sell · John Warrillow
Pause, vocalize, and gesture before acting to eliminate automatic errors and build team resilience
Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers Into Leaders · L. David Marquet
Define the current best method so you can see deviations and improve
The Toyota Production System Journey: The Continuously Changing Features of TPS and Lean Thinking · Noboru Takeuchi
In a crisis, let go of the methods that got you here
Range · David Epstein
Exploit rivals' inability to change; combat your own organizational decay
Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: The difference and why it matters · Richard Rumelt
Define specific rules for when, how, and where you use each digital tool
Digital Minimalism · Cal Newport
Deploy deliberate strategies to extract value from the attention economy without being exploited
Digital Minimalism · Cal Newport
A three-question filter to decide which technologies deserve a place in your life
Digital Minimalism · Cal Newport
A 30-day reset to rebuild your relationship with technology from scratch
Digital Minimalism · Cal Newport
Record your existing processes as you do them instead of writing manuals from scratch
Clockwork · Mike Michalowicz
One bad experience destroys more trust than ten good ones can build
Work the System · Sam Carpenter
Build extraordinary systems that attract great people -- not the other way around
Work the System · Sam Carpenter
Your biggest mistakes are not what you did wrong but what you failed to do at all
Work the System · Sam Carpenter
98% accuracy IS perfection -- the final 2% costs more than it is worth
Work the System · Sam Carpenter
Convert every recurring process into a documented, optimized, step-by-step machine
Work the System · Sam Carpenter
Anchor your operation with a Strategic Objective, Operating Principles, and Procedures
Work the System · Sam Carpenter
Evolve processes so complex and tacit that competitors cannot replicate them in time
7 Powers · Hamilton Helmer
Balance opposing forces. Discipline creates freedom. Leadership demands navigating paradox.
Extreme Ownership · Jocko Willink & Leif Babin
Shape decisions by controlling how options are presented
Thinking, Fast and Slow · Daniel Kahneman