The Hard Thing About Hard Things | Ben Horowitz

In the last days of the summer'23, I saw my colleague's (Dr. Philipp Moser) post in Linkedin about the book by Ben Horowitz: "The Hard Thing About Hard Things". It is a book with many experiences from Ben and the book brings a new perspective to you and make you learn what is going on in the top management side of the business.

Here we go with my highlights from the book:

“This the real world, homie, school finished. They done stole your dreams, you dunno who did it.” —KANYE WEST, “GORGEOUS”

From Communist to Venture Capitalist

Father turned to me and said, “Son, do you know what’s cheap?” Since I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, I replied, “No, what?” “Flowers. Flowers are really cheap. But do you know what’s expensive?” he asked. Again, I replied, “No, what?” He said, “Divorce.”

By doing everything, I would fail at the most important thing. It was the first time that I forced myself to look at the world through priorities that were not purely my own. I thought that I could pursue my career, all my interests, and build my family. More important, I always thought about myself first. When you are part of a family or part of a group, that kind of thinking can get you into trouble, and I was in deep trouble. In my mind, I was confident that I was a good person and not selfish, but my actions said otherwise. I had to stop being a boy and become a man. I had to put first things first. I had to consider the people who I cared about most before considering myself.

Until you make the effort to get to know someone or something, you don’t know anything. There are no shortcuts to curiosity.

Leadership and the One Minute Manager | Ken Blanchard, Patricia Zigarmi, Drea Zigarmi

In my previous blog post, I shared my quotes from the book "How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don't Know" by Byron Sharp - this book was one of the two books my mentor Jalal İbrahimi recommended me in our first meeting. The second one is "Leadership and the One Minute Manager Updated Edition". It is a short read and during the weekend break, I had the chance to read the book and re-read my quotes from the book. 

This new, updated edition of Leadership and the One Minute Manager reflects the latest thinking about Situational Leadership® II. Written as a parable, it tells the story of an overworked entrepreneur who learns from the One Minute Manager how to get the most out of a diverse team by becoming a situational leader.

This is a book to read and reread until being a situational leader becomes second nature to you in your leadership roles at work, in your home, and in the community.

The Ride of a Lifetime | Robert Iger

My readers know that I am a lover of memoirs and it is not always easy to find an inspiring memoir. And thanks God, I found it this time. It is a memoir by Robert Iger, ex-CEO of Disney and I liked the flow of the book with the real-time cases. Out of this book, I have even created 2 blog posts for my personal blog. If interested, you can also have a look at them:

Volkan Yorulmaz: Leadership Lessons from Disney’s CEO

Volkan Yorulmaz: No Price on Integrity

Prologue

Something will always come up. At its simplest, this book is about being guided by a set of principles that help nurture the good and manage the bad. I was reluctant to write it for a long time. Until fairly recently, I even avoided talking publicly about my “rules for leadership” or any such ideas, because I felt I hadn’t fully “walked the walk.” After forty-five years, though—and especially after the past fourteen—I’ve come to believe that I have insights that could be useful beyond my own experience.

Extreme Ownership | Jocko Willink and Leif Babin

In Extreme Ownership, Jocko Willink and Leif Babin share hard-hitting, Navy SEAL combat stories that translate into lessons for business and life. I have read an updated edition of the blockbuster bestselling leadership book that took America and the world by storm, two U.S. Navy SEAL officers who led the most highly decorated special operations unit of the Iraq War demonstrate how to apply powerful leadership principles from the battlefield to business and life.

It is a great read of the lessons on the battlefield and how they can be applied to everyday business efforts.

Sent to the most violent battlefield in Iraq, Jocko Willink and Leif Babin's SEAL task unit faced a seemingly impossible mission: help U.S. forces secure Ramadi, a city deemed "all but lost." In gripping firsthand accounts of heroism, tragic loss, and hard-won victories in SEAL Team Three's Task Unit Bruiser, they learned that leadership—at every level—is the most important factor in whether a team succeeds or fails.

Below you may find out my key take-aways from each part of this book. I hope you will enjoy and learn from my highlights.

The 5 AM Club | Robin Sharma

Robin Sharma is one of the best writers I like but his book “the 5 AM Club” is really a big disappointment for me because the content does not make me believe the story. It was so "fictious" and it made me fell like I am reading a content which is designed as a product. But still there are quotes that I highlighted. Here they are:

Life’s too short to play small with your talents.