In this segment of Ryan Deiss’s YouTube video, two speakers discuss a curated list of books that business founders and leaders should read to improve people leadership and team building. Speaker A reads each title, while Speaker B assigns a tier rating (S, A, B, C) and provides concise commentary on why the book merits that rating. The discussion covers eight titles, highlighting criteria such as depth of people‑leadership insight, relevance to team dynamics, target audience, length, and practical applicability. The segment serves as a quick‑reference guide for founders seeking high‑impact reading material on hiring, team culture, and executive effectiveness.
Scaling People by Claire Hughes Johnson.
This might be the best book on people leadership, most complete ever. This is definitely S-tier, and nobody's read it.
The Ideal Team Player by Patrick Lencioni.
Again, essential reading. The idea that you want somebody who's humble, hungry, and smart, and the downside to having an employee that's missing even one of those traits. It's absolutely essential reading. I'm gonna give it A-tier.
The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni.
5 Dysfunctions is a great Book, the principles are solid. I don't get into a lot of the, like, let's do team offsites where we're talking about our past and stuff like that. So for that reason only, I'm gonna demote it to B tier, but it's a great book.
The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz.
I love the book. I think there's a lot of wisdom in it, but it's targeted more for funded companies, and it gets into team stuff, but it's not focused on teams, so I'm gonna give it a C tier.
The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker.
Again, Effective Executive, this is the quintessential book, in my opinion, on leading people and teams. If there is an S tier, has got to be on it.
Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell.
I love Buy Back Your Time. I love Dan. There's good stuff in there about teams, but it's not focused specifically on teams, so I'm going to give it B tier. Not because it's a bad book, just— this is a list about teams.
Topgrading by Jeff Smart.
Topgrading is, you know, probably one of the best books on hiring. It's just so freaking long, and I think Who, which is written by basically his kid, is better. So I'm going to give Topgrading B tier, not 'cause it's not a great book, it's just 'cause it's so dang long you're probably not gonna finish it.
Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh.
I mean, Tony Hsieh, great leader, rest in peace, but I'm sorry, I just don't think it's a very good book on people leadership. It basically says that if you get the culture right, everything else will take care of itself. It's just not the case. I think it worked back when he was talking about it, and certainly works if you're a funded company. I just haven't seen it work at entrepreneurial companies, so I'm gonna give it a D tier.
