HOW Books
Check out what our team and community are reading:
A Sacred Oath
Authored by HOW Conversations guest Mark Esper, this unvarnished White House memoir takes you inside the rooms where history was made. Former Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper reveals the shocking details of his tumultuous tenure while serving in the Trump administration. From June of 2019 until his firing by President Trump after the November 2020 election, Secretary Mark T. Esper led the Department of Defense through an unprecedented time in history—a period marked by growing threats and conflict abroad, a global pandemic unseen in a century, the greatest domestic unrest in two generations, and a White House seemingly bent on breaking accepted norms and conventions for political advantage.
The Innovator’s Dilemma
Recommended by HOW Conversations guest Elise Awwad, The Innovator’s Dilemma is the revolutionary business book that has forever changed corporate America. Based on a truly radical idea—that great companies can fail precisely because they do everything right—this Wall Street Journal, Business Week and New York Times Business bestseller is one of the most provocative and important business books ever written.
Dirtbag Billionaire
Written by HOW Conversations guest David Gelles, read how Patagonia became a global leader in doing well by doing good and how other companies are adopting its principles. This is the inside story of one of the most extraordinary brands in the corporate world, the rare company that is driven by environmental activism instead of cutthroat capitalism.
A Team of Rivals
Recommended by HOW Institute Board Member Jon Huntsman is Team of Rivals, one of the most influential books of the past fifty years. It is Pulitzer Prize–winning author and esteemed presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin’s modern classic about the political genius of Abraham Lincoln, his unlikely presidency, and his cabinet of former political foes. This brilliant multiple biography is centered on Lincoln’s mastery of men and how it shaped the most significant presidency in the nation’s history.
The Running Ground
Authored by HOW Institute community member and The Atlantic CEO Nick Thompson, running has always been about something more than putting one foot in front of another. He ran his first mile at age five, using it as a way to connect with his father as his family fell apart. As a young man, it was a sport that transformed, and then shook, his sense of self-worth. In his 30s, it was a way of coping with a profound medical scare. The Running Ground is a story about fathers, sons, and the most basic and most beautiful of sports.
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There
Recommended by HOW Conversations guest Linda Rabbitt, this book serves as an essential guide to help you eliminate your dysfunctions and move to where you want to go. Marshall Goldsmith is an expert at helping global leaders overcome their sometimes unconscious annoying habits and attain a higher level of success.
1929
Authored by HOW Institute community member and bestselling author of Too Big to Fail, Andrew Ross Sorkin crafts a spellbinding narrative of the most infamous stock market crash in history. With the depth of a classic history and the drama of a thriller, 1929 unravels the greed, blind optimism, and human folly that led to an era-defining collapse—one with ripple effects that still shape our society today.
Get Back Up: Lessons In Servant Leadership
Authored by HOW Institute Board Member General David Goldfein and HOW Conversations guest Dr. Heather Wilson, the Air Force Academy classmates share four decades of lessons from the marble halls of the Capitol to the sands of the Middle East with humor and humility. Dave, a four-star general and former Chief of Staff of the US Air Force, recounts being shot down in his F-16 over Serbia and other gripping stories. Heather, a former Congresswoman, university president, and Secretary of the Air Force, reveals the tough calls that shaped her leadership. Reunited at the Pentagon 35 years after their cadet days, they weave unforgettable stories into practical lessons for anyone striving to lead with character and serve with purpose.
The Idea of America: Reflections on Inequality, Democracy, and the Values We Share
Authored by HOW Institute Board Member and President of the Ford Foundation, Darren Walker argues that we can narrow our widening divides by rediscovering our common aspirations and common good. With an original foreword by President Bill Clinton, this prescient, timely compendium introduces us to an essential leader of and for our moment—in his own words—through his most essential reflections, essays, and speeches.
Fired Up
Authored by HOW Conversations guest and founder of Moms Demand Action Shannon Watts, a guide to harnessing your potential, living without fear, and coming alive at any age. If you are ready to stand tall in your greatness, Fired Up invites you to shatter your self-imposed limitations and unleash your potential so you can finally start living the life you deserve. Since starting Moms Demand Action, the nation’s largest grassroots organization against gun violence, Watts has helped thousands of women step off the sidelines and into their power. Your spark is the catalyst for your life’s meaning and joy. When nurtured, it has the potential to transform not only your life, but the world.
Genesis: Artificial Intelligence, Hope, and the Human Spirit
Recommended by Senior Distinguished Fellow for HOW Dana Born, the late Henry Kissinger joins forces with two leading technologists to mount “a profound exploration” of the epochal challenges and opportunities presented by the revolution in Artificial Intelligence: a breakthrough that dramatically empowers people in all walks of life while also raising urgent questions about the future of humanity.
Raising Hare: A Memoir
Recommended by HOW Conversations guest Deborah Borda, a moving and fascinating meditation on freedom, trust, loss, and our relationship with the natural world, is explored through the story of one woman’s unlikely friendship with a wild hare. Raising Hare chronicles their journey together while also taking a deep dive into the lives and nature of hares, and the way they have been viewed historically in art, literature, and folklore.
Man’s Search for Meaning
Recommended by Senior Distinguished Fellow for HOW Dana Born, Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl’s memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the experiences of others he treated later in his practice, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose.
The Heart of Business
Hubert Joly, former CEO of Best Buy and orchestrator of the retailer’s spectacular turnaround, unveils his personal playbook for achieving extraordinary outcomes by putting people and purpose at the heart of business. Back in 2012, “Everyone thought we were going to die,” says Joly. Eight years later, Best Buy was transformed as Joly and his team rebuilt the company into one of the nation’s favorite employers, vastly increased customer satisfaction, and dramatically grew Best Buy’s stock price. Joly and his team also succeeded in making Best Buy a leader in sustainability and innovation.
From Generosity to Justice: A New Gospel of Wealth
In From Generosity to Justice: A New Gospel of Wealth, Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, articulates a bold vision for philanthropy in the twenty-first century. With contributions from an array of thinkers, activists, and leaders including Ai-jen Poo, Laurene Powell Jobs, David Rockefeller Jr., and Dr. Elizabeth Alexander, Walker challenges and emboldens readers to consider philanthropy as a tool for achieving economic, social, and political justice.
The Wisdom of the Bullfrog
Admiral McRaven dealt with every conceivable leadership challenge, from commanding combat operations—including the capture of Saddam Hussein, the rescue of Captain Phillips, and the raid for Osama bin Laden. THE WISDOM OF THE BULLFROG draws on these and countless other experiences from Admiral McRaven’s incredible life, including crisis situations, management debates, organizational transitions, and ethical dilemmas, to provide readers with the most important leadership lessons he has learned over the course of his forty years of service.
True North: Emerging Leaders Edition
In True North: Emerging Leader Edition, renowned leadership expert Bill George and Millennial tech entrepreneur Zach Clayton issue the challenge to emerging leaders—from Gen X to Millennials and Gen Z—to lead their organizations authentically through never-ending crises to make this world a better place for everyone.
Moonshot: Inside Pfizer’s Nine-Month Race to Make the Impossible Possible
The exclusive, first-hand, behind-the-scenes story of how Pfizer raced to create the first Covid-19 vaccine, told by Pfizer’s Chairman, CEO, and recent HOW Conversations guest, Dr. Albert Bourla. A riveting, fast-paced, inside look at one of the most incredible private sector achievements in history, Moonshot recounts the intensive nine months in 2020 when the scientists at Pfizer, under the visionary leadership of Dr. Albert Bourla, made “the impossible possible”—creating, testing, and manufacturing a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine that previously would have taken years to develop.
It Could Happen Here: Why America Is Tipping from Hate to the Unthinkable―And How We Can Stop It
CEO of the storied Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt, has made it his personal mission to demonstrate how antisemitism, racism, and other insidious forms of intolerance can destroy a society, taking root as quiet prejudices but mutating over time into horrific acts of brutality. In this urgent book, Greenblatt sounds an alarm, warning that this age-old trend is gathering momentum in the United States—and that violence on an even larger, more catastrophic scale could be just around the corner. Use promo code: ADLMEMBER
The Empathy Diaries
Recommended by The HOW Institute staff, MIT professor Sherry Turkle ties together her coming-of-age and her pathbreaking research on technology, empathy, and ethics. Growing up in postwar Brooklyn, Turkle searched for clues to her identity in a house filled with mysteries. She mastered the codes that governed her mother’s secretive life. She learned never to ask about her absent scientist father–and never to use his name, her name. Before empathy became a way to find connection, it was her strategy for survival.
The Warmth of Other Suns
Recommended by HOW Conversations guest Sondra Samuels, this Pulitzer Prize–winning author chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life.
The Splendid and the Vile
Recommended by HOW Conversations guest Dr. Heather Wilson, this book is an intimate chronicle of Winston Churchill and London during the Blitz—an inspiring portrait of courage and leadership in a time of unprecedented crisis.
The Boys in the Boat
Recommended by HOW Conversations guest Dr. Heather Wilson, out of the depths of the Depression comes an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times—the improbable, intimate account of how nine working-class boys from the American West showed the world at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin what true grit really meant.
2034
From The HOW Institute Board member Admiral James Stavridis, and co-author Elliot Ackerman, both former military officers and award-winning authors, comes a chillingly authentic geopolitical thriller that imagines a naval clash between the US and China in the South China Sea in 2034–and the path from there to a nightmarish global conflagration.
The Hero Code
Written by HOW Conversations guest Admiral William H. McRaven, THE HERO CODE is a ringing tribute to the real, everyday heroes he’s met over the years, from battlefields to hospitals to college campuses, who are doing their part to save the world.
Human Kind
Recommended by The How Institute Board member Paul Polman and from New York Times bestselling author of Utopia for Realists comes a “bold” and “extraordinary” argument that humans thrive in a crisis and that our innate kindness and cooperation have been the greatest factors in our long-term success on the planet.
The Best and the Brightest
David Halberstam’s masterpiece comes recommended by HOW Institute Board member, Nancy Gibbs. Using portraits of America’s flawed policy makers and accounts of the forces that drove them, The Best and the Brightest reckons magnificently with the most important abiding question of our country’s recent history: Why did America become mired in Vietnam, and why did we lose? As the definitive single-volume answer to that question, this enthralling book has never been superseded. It is an American classic.
A Most Beautiful Thing
Recommended by HOW Conversations guest Lieutenant General Nadja West, this novel is a moving true story of a group of young men growing up on Chicago’s West side who form the first all African American school rowing team in the nation, and in doing so not only transform a sport, but their lives.
Teams of Teams
Written by HOW Conversations guest General Stanley McChrystal, this book provides an extraordinary example and exposition of such an accomplishment. It details with compelling examples why resilience and adaptability, not efficiency, are today’s key success factors in overcoming challenges in various human concerns.
To Kill a Mockingbird
Recommended by The HOW Institute Board member Admiral James Stavridis, the novel is a gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequalities through the eyes of a young girl, as her father—a crusading local lawyer—risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime.
The Bedford Incident
Recommended by The HOW Institute Board member Admiral James Stavridis, this is a novel of the sea,and it is told with a skill that merits comparison with the best. It consists of three parts: The War is the cold war of the 1960’s, but on a little-publicized and bleakly isolated front where opposing naval forces secretly maneuver against each other in the eternally empty reaches of the Arctic Ocean. The Chase is by a modern American destroyer on the track of a Soviet submarine whose mission is to probe NATO defenses based on Greenland. The Battle is finally joined above the algaed hulk of a melancholy victim of one of the last traditional battleship engagements in the North Atlantic.
The Leaders Bookshelf
For the last several years The HOW Institute Board member Admiral James Stavridis and his co-author, R. Manning Ancell, have surveyed over two hundred active and retired four-star military officers about their reading habits and favorite books, asking each for a list of titles that strongly influenced their leadership skills and provided them with special insights that helped propel them to success in spite of the many demanding challenges they faced. The Leader’s Bookshelf synthesizes their responses to identify the top fifty books that can help virtually anyone become a better leader.
Sailing True North
In Sailing True North, The HOW Institute Board member Admiral Stavridis offers lessons of leadership and character from the lives and careers of history’s most significant naval commanders. He also brings a lifetime of reflection to bear on the subjects of his study–naval history, the vocation of the admiral, and global geopolitics. Above all, this is a book that will help you navigate your own life’s voyage: the voyage of leadership of course, but more important, the voyage of character.Sailing True North helps us find the right course to chart.
Once an Eagle
Recommended by HOW Conversations guest Admiral William H. McRaven and a No. 1 New York Times Bestseller, Once an Eagle has been a favorite of American military men and women since its writing. The novel tells the story of Sam Damon, career Army officer, from his initial enlistment to his rise to general officer rank.
All Quiet on the Western Front
Recommended by HOW Conversations guest Admiral William H. McRaven, All Quiet on the Western Front is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The book describes the German soldiers’ extreme physical and mental stress during the war, and the detachment from civilian life felt by many of these soldiers upon returning home from the front.
Foundations of Moral Obligations: The Stockdale Course
Recommended by HOW Conversations guest Admiral William H. McRaven, Joseph Brennan’s lively introduction to the wisdom of the ages is a practical guide to ethics and morality.
Are leaders made by history, or do they make it?
Gautam Mukunda, a Harvard Business School Professor who spoke to HOW-IS’ first NXT-GEN class, offers an enticingly fresh look at how and when individual leaders really can make a difference.
Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age
Based on five years of research and interviews in homes, schools and the workplace, MIT Professor and noted author, Sherry Turkle, argues that we have come to a better understanding of where our technology can and cannot take us and that the time is right to reclaim conversation. The most human—and humanizing—thing that we do.
HOW: Why HOW We Do Anything Means Everything
Dov Seidman’s seminal book explores how we think, how we behave, how we lead, and how we govern our institutions and ourselves to uncover the values-inspired “hows” of twenty-first-century success and significance. With in-depth insights and practical advice, HOW will help you bring excellence and significance to your business endeavors—and your life—and refocus your efforts in powerful new ways.
