Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence
by Stephen A. Schwarzman
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software engineer, businessman, former Google CEO
Recommended by 4 notable people, including Ray Dalio and Samir Arora
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See customer reviews on Amazon →Part memoir, part playbook, What It Takes offers long, anecdote-heavy accounts of deals, hires, and leadership choices from Stephen A. Schwarzman’s career. The useful part is concrete, clear career-minded takeaways about decision-making under pressure and scaling organizations, delivered through vivid episodes; the limiting part is the self-focused tone and frequent move into granular deal description, which can feel self-congratulatory or tedious if you want impartial analysis or short, practical checklists.
This summary and audience guidance are AI-generated from the book's description and its recommendation history, last updated May 2026. Recommendations, quotes and sources elsewhere on this page come from published material and are not generated.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From Blackstone chairman, CEO, and cofounder Stephen A. Schwarzman, a longawaited book that uses impactful episodes from Schwarzman's life to show readers how to build, transform, and lead thriving organizations. Whether you are a student, entrepreneur, philanthropist, executive, or simply someone looking for ways to max...
Difficulty:hard
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Recommended by 6 sources and appears in Most Recommended Books, Finance, and Business.
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Consider The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis. Recommended by 15 sources.
“Michael Lewis chronicles the friendship and intellectual partnership of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, who championed the idea that cognitive biases shape our choices. The narrative reads like a buddy story, weaving their discoveries into personal anecdotes and the drama of their collaboration. You'll grasp key ideas—loss aversion, framing—through their story, but the book focuses on biography, not application. Helpful for understanding behavioral economics' origins; less useful if you want actionable advice. The emotional arc of their relationship can overshadow the science.”
Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.
