First 30 Days Reading List

I journaled my first 30 days as a CIO on TikTok. I also compiled the videos weekly and published them to YouTube.

A subscriber asked for the complete list of books I recommended as pre-reads from Day Zero to Day 30. So here it is… organized not by day but by which books I'd recommend you read first, second, third, etc.. and I've shuffled biz and non-biz books.

As with my guidance on HBR, you should treat this list as a tasting menu— read some, and if it resonates, finish it. Also, if at all possible, buy the book from the author’s website or an independent bookstore. Writing— as a calling— is anything but lucrative.

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Manifesto for a Moral Revolution by Jacqueline Novogratz

The Creative Act by Rick Rubin

An Everyone Culture by Robert Kegan

Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Competing Against Luck by Clayton Christensen

Range by David Epstein

Thinking in Systems By Donella Meadows

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

Social Chemistry by Marissa King

Winners Take All by Anand Giridharadas

The Delicate Art of Bureaucracy by Mark Schwartz

Grit by Angela Duckworth

The Mythical Man-Month by Fred Brooks

The Secret Life of Groceries by Benjamin Lorr

Clean Code by Robert Martin

The Lords of Easy Money by Christopher Leonard

Awakening You Ikigai by Ken Mogi

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

Code Complete by Steve McConnell

The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow

Healthcare Insurance and Managed Care by Peter Kongstvidt

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

Irresistible by Josh Bersin

The Innovator’s Solution by Clayton Christensen

The Nordstrom Way by Robert Spector and BreAnne Reeves

Quiet by Susan Cain

Deep Work by Cal Newport

Give and Take by Adam Grant

Net Positive by Tom Parks, Paul Polman and Andrew Winston

The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim

The Cloud Adoption Playbook by Moe Abdula

The ONE Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan

The Four by Scott Gallaway

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

The Essentials of Risk Management by Michel Crouhy

On Writing by Stephen King

The Power of Myth with Joseph Campbell

Zero To One by Peter Thiel

Abundance by Peter Diamandis

Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Godwin

Deep Finance by Glenn Hopper

Data Science for Business by Foster Provost and Tom Fawcett

The Business Transformation Playbook by Heath Gascoigne

American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin

The Smartest Guys in the Room by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind

Bad Blood by John Carreyrou

The Wizard of Lies by Diana B. Henriques

Good to Great by Jim Collins