Daniel Ek is the co-founder and CEO of Spotify. Read his five big bang book recommendations below...
T-5: Featuring Daniel Ek
Daniel Ek is the co-founder and CEO of Spotify. Read his five big bang book recommendations below...
01
7 Powers
BY Hamilton Wright Helmer
Hamilton Helmer is the best kind of big thinker – he offers great insights that you can turn into real world action. At Spotify the 7 Powers are widely used as we discuss new initiatives. His distillation of the key types of strategic power, how to find them, how to leverage them, and how to maintain them is a fantastic toolset for companies at every stage.
02
Black Box Thinking
BY Matthew Syed
Since reading this book, I’ve literally incorporated this approach to problem solving into my everyday life. I’ve always encouraged those around me not to be scared of failure because I believe it’s the most valuable learning tool.
03
Poor Charlie's Almanac
BY Peter D. Kaufman
I’ve been enjoying Charlie Munger’s speeches online for years, and this is the ultimate collection of the best of them. Watching “Becoming Warren Buffett’ on a recent flight reminded me how much of a legend Charlie is.
04
The Alchemist
BY Paulo Coelho
I spent an inspiring evening with Paolo at his Rio home, around the time we were launching Spotify in Brazil. It was fascinating to talk to him about how this book came to be such a hit — he never backed down, and allowed people to read it for free in order to then boost sales — much like how Spotify’s freemium model was perceived in the early days.
05
Guns Germs Steel
BY Jared Diamond
A brilliant Pulitzer Prize-winning book about how the modern world was formed, analyzing how societies developed differently on different continents. I like how this is written from a biologist’s point of view rather than purely based on history or anthropology.
