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This book has 16 recommendations

Steve Jobs (Founder/Apple)

It's important that we make this transformation, because of what Clayton Christensen calls "the innovator's dilemma," where people who invent something are usually the last ones to see past it, and we certainly don't want to be left behind.

Jeff Bezos (Founder/Amazon)

Brad Stone's new book, The Everything Store, describes how Bezos developed this strategy after reading another book called The Innovator's Dilemma by Harvard professor Clayton Christensen.

Bogdan Iordache (Co-Founder/How to Web)

There are quite a few good business books on technology, and I'll list below some I find to be a good starting point. Personally, I like biographies a lot and I mostly read biographies of dead people, because those are the most honest ones. So because the computer age is still very young, there won't be a lot of biographies in my list.

Vladimir Oane (Founder/UberVU)

As for a business book. I will probably go with Clayton’s Christiansen’s “Innovator’s Dilemma”. Clayton’s book not only defined “disruption” (a word that is still abused by journalists to this date) but it introduced me to strategic thinking. When I read the book I probably missed a lot of the nuances around corporate politics, as I barely had any work (or life) experiences. But I keep re-reading it from time to time and always find new insights.

Dragos Novac (CEO/Nordic 9)

Probably one such a moment [when something I read in a book helped me] was about 20 years ago when I discovered Clayton Christensen, first via his academic papers and then after he started writing his books. Innovator’s Dilemma was his first and an a-ha moment for me at that time, as I started to perceive the value of creation process in a company in a different way than I thought it was like and which ultimately made me quit my corporate career and become an entrepreneur.

Tim O'Reilly (Founder/O'Reilly Media)

The Innovator's Dilemma, by Clayton Christensen. An analysis of why great companies fail, because innovation often requires throwing out everything that has made you successful in the past. Disruptive technologies are often born on the fringes, in markets where worse is better.

Howard Marks (CEO/StartEngine)

Then you have the classic business books like The Innovator's Dilemma. Then you're getting into more the large business kind of thinking.

Ashley Hathaway (Enterprise Product Manager)

When it comes to work books I definitely like to ask my leaders what their favorite books are. There are lots of repeats (Crossing the Chasm, Innovator's Dilemma & Solution, Lean Startup, etc), but every now and then someone will have a really unique one that I’ll read. I always read those right away. I’ve also taken book recommendations & then not read the book for like a year. I’ll go back and say, “Hey I finally read that book you recommended forever ago.” It’s fun.

Marvin Liao (Partner/500 Startups)

My list would be (besides the ones I mentioned in answer to the previous question) both business & Fiction/Sci-Fi and ones I personally found helpful to myself. The business books explain just exactly how business, work & investing are in reality & how to think properly & differentiate yourself. On the non-business side, a mix of History & classic fiction to understand people, philosophy to make sense of life and Science fiction to picture what the future could be like (not always utopian).

Antonio Eram (Founder & CEO/NETOPIA mobilPay)

This book was recommended by Antonio when asked for titles he would recommend to young people interested in his career path.

Bill Earner (Founder/Connect Ventures)

The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton Christensen in order to understand what disruptive innovation really means.

Darvin Kurniawan (CEO & Founder/CrowdVilla)

"The Innovators Dilemma" by Clayton M. Christensen, especially for those having a deep organisational (big company) experience before making the switch to entrepreneurship.

Aviers Lim (CEO/Gashub)

  • The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen
  • One Good Trade by Mike Bellafiore

The above two to learn to take advantage of opportunities and constantly balance between growth + guaranteed success.

Marc Andreessen (Co-Founder/Andreessen Horowitz)

The Innovator’s Dilemma, The Lean Startup, and Zero To One are the defining trilogy of intellectual thought on the art and science of modern technology startups. Virtually every page of each is open to debate and yet as a whole they provide intellectual scaffolding for our endeavors that I wish had existed when I started in 1994!

Garrett Moon (CEO & Co-Founder/CoSchedule)

Frequently books will trigger moments of clarity for me as a leader. There are always problems that I am working/thinking through and books can frequently provide a new lens that leads to a solution. Recently Clayton Christensen’s book The Innovator's Dilemma did this for me. It was my second time reading the book but it sparked a weekend’s worth of writing and processing that led to actionable changes the following week. I can’t remember specifically what I read that initiated it all, but the results are undeniable.

Drew Houston (CEO/Dropbox)

This is an important read, even if you’re at the very early stages of growing a startup.

Amazon description

The bestselling classic on disruptive innovation, by renowned author Clayton M. Christensen. His work is cited by the world’s best-known thought leaders, from Steve Jobs to Malcolm Gladwell. In this classic bestseller—one of the most influential business books of all time—innovation expert Clayton Christensen shows how even the most outstanding companies can do everything right—yet still lose market leadership. Christensen explains why most companies miss out on new waves of innovation.

No matter the industry, he says, a successful company with established products will get pushed aside unless managers know how and when to abandon traditional business practices. Offering both successes and failures from leading companies as a guide, The Innovator’s Dilemma gives you a set of rules for capitalizing on the phenomenon of disruptive innovation. Sharp, cogent, and provocative—and consistently noted as one of the most valuable business ideas of all time—The Innovator’s Dilemma is the book no manager, leader, or entrepreneur should be without.

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See more books recommended by

Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Bogdan Iordache, Vladimir Oane, Dragos Novac, Tim O'Reilly, Howard Marks, Ashley Hathaway, Marvin Liao, Antonio Eram, Bill Earner, Darvin Kurniawan, Aviers Lim, Marc Andreessen, Garrett Moon, Drew Houston

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Clayton Christensen

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