Books Similar to Shoe Dog

You did read Shoe Dog, right? If not, read it and thank me later. If you have already read it, did you find yourself wanting to read a similar title? Then you’ve come to the right place.

5 Books Similar to Shoe Dog

Shoe Dog reads like fiction. The Hawaii trip, bad overseas partners, poor hiring practices, lack of exclusivity arrangements, and always on the brink of bankruptcy, or so it seemed. Does every startup incur that much drama in the early years? I really can’t wait to see what Hollywood does with the movie.

But let’s get back to the book and similar titles. So you want more, right? Here’s my list.

1. Good thing I’m writing this post in 2019 because I only read Derek Siver’s Anything You Want last April. I’ve now read it twice–don’t worry, it’s a short, easy read. Derek was the founder of CD Baby. He didn’t want the business to grow big. Too bad it did. I loved this little book, and you will too.
2. Mel and Patricia Ziegler are the husband-wife team who started Banana Republic and told their story in Wild Company. Similar to Siver’s book, it’s a business memoir of the startup follies of founders knowing nothing about business. Yet, they found a way to make it work.
3. I allowed my judgmental attitude to keep me from reading Arnold
   Schwarzenegger’s Total Recall for the longest time. I ultimately gave in, and I’m glad I did. Leaders read it. You’ll see how one man wrote down goals and then set out to achieve them. Let me know your thoughts on how he chose to be paid for Twins co-starring Danny DeVito. Hollywood has never been the same.
4. Probably the closest book I can find similar to Shoe Dog is about the founding of The Home Depot. Built from Scratch by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank was enjoyable, insightful, and hard to put down. I highly recommend it.
5. The book is old, and you’ll need to find a used copy, but my business education grew as I read CEO: Building a $400 Million Company from the Ground Up by Sandra Kurtzig. I’ll always cherish this book because it was one of the first 20 business books I ever read. You won’t be disappointed

I originally answered this question on Quora, listing 26 titles plus 3 bonus books. Here, I wanted to narrow the list down to just 5. All 5 can be easily digested during a 3-month period.

What do you think? Did I get it right? What would you have included?

Title Image by Thomas Serer