28 Books Like Unreasonable Hospitality

This book is an inspiring and highly practical guide from one of the most respected leaders in the hospitality industry. As the co-founder of Ritz-Carlton, Schulze shares the secrets behind creating a culture of excellence that drives world-class service and lasting success.

He emphasizes the importance of a customer-first mindset, empowering employees to take ownership and setting uncompromising standards that everyone in the organization strives to meet. Schulze’s approach shows that excellence isn’t just about meeting expectations—it’s about consistently exceeding them in every detail. This book is a masterclass for leaders who want to build a high-performance organization that stands out and thrives through exceptional service and an unwavering commitment to excellence.

In some ways, Horst Schulze invented modern hospitality in America. His leadership lessons can be seen in the way companies like Chick-fil-A interact with their customers. This is a journey of greatness that we can all emulate. 

This book is a powerful leadership manifesto that revolves around resilience and relentless positivity. Fleck’s philosophy is more than a slogan; it’s a mindset. He teaches leaders to embrace adversity, stay focused on the present, and keep moving forward, no matter the challenges.

Through deeply personal stories and proven strategies, Fleck shows how passion, sacrifice, and responsibility build success, not just in teams but in life. His approach challenges leaders to create a culture of enthusiasm and perseverance, motivating their people to pull together toward a common goal. If you’re looking to inspire your team and lead with a relentless, positive attitude, this book will give you the tools to do it.

P.J. Fleck uses his story of the pain and loss of a child to create a fundamentally new way of looking at a life philosophy that becomes a north star to those of us who more than occasionally… show more.

This book is a profound and practical guide on how love can transform leadership. Manby, who’s spent decades in executive roles, argues that love isn’t just a feel-good concept—it’s a strategy for success. He shares seven principles of agape love, like patience, kindness, and honesty, which foster stronger relationships, deeper trust, and higher performance in the workplace. Manby shows that when leaders embrace these values, they create a culture where employees feel valued, morale soars, and productivity flourishes. His message is simple yet powerful: leading with love is not just good for people; it’s good for business, and it leads to sustainable success.

At a time when it seems everyone around us is lonely and sad, Joel not only gives us permission to tell people we love them but gives us the language to do it in a safe and affirming manner.

This is a game-changing book for leaders looking to stay relevant, adaptable, and authentic in today’s fast-paced world. Lomenick distills leadership into three essential traits: Humble, Hungry, and Hustle. Through a combination of practical insights and personal stories, he provides actionable habits that leaders can adopt to improve themselves and their teams.

Lomenick encourages leaders to embrace humility, never lose their hunger for learning and growth, and maintain a relentless drive to get things done. This book offers a roadmap for becoming a leader who not only achieves results but also inspires and empowers others, making it a must-read for anyone serious about long-term leadership success.

H3—Humble, Hungary, and Hustle exemplifies Brad Lomenick’s life and commitment to lifting up everyone around him. After reading this book, you will understand why Brad is referred to as the most connected Christian leader in America. 

Cagan’s book is a deep dive into the principles of modern product management. It expands on the theoretical ideas that Patton introduces in User Story Mapping, and provides many additional tips for engaging customers, experimenting with product ideas, and tracking outcomes. In addition, it deals with the organizational side of product management, so it will be valuable to people working for larger companies that need to manage staff and set up company-wide processes.

Reading this book will help you expand your views of product management, and add lots of additional tools to your thinking process.

I have found over 35 years of selling that when salespeople are 100% focused on helping customers to succeed, they succeed. The essence of this book is that if you can help your clients, for example, to impact the metrics that matter to them, such as reducing costs and wastage and increasing revenue, quality, and productivity, then both the buyer and the seller will win.

I believe that selling should be about helping customers to succeed, and this book contains a host of valuable ideas and methods to help you to do exactly that. My experience has shown me how important it is to ask the right sort of questions to understand a customer’s situation so that the right solution can be provided.

This book provided me with some excellent insights into how to improve the questions that I asked my customers.

Melissa is rewriting the book on modern product management. Her advice is hard-earned, practical, and useful. If you’re interested in starting a career in product management, this book offers up specifics on what exactly is product management and how to excel at it in modern, agile cultures.

Want to create more raving fans for your business? Maybe true success isn’t in the number of your customers but the depth of their loyalty. David Meerman Scott writes this book together with his daughter Reiko Scott, delivering a multi-generational perspective into what it means to be a fan, and how to cultivate them.

Marc Benioff, the founder of Salesforce, more or less wrote the playbook for B2B startups. In Behind the Cloud, he shares a lot of the tactics that helped make Salesforce the market leader that it is today. Benioff’s work helped shape Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and the Cloud for B2B entrepreneurs. On and all, it’s a very entertaining book with a lot of interesting ideas.

I don’t think I’ve ever read a better book on management than this one. Charles Koch is, of course, no ordinary business leader—his results speak for themselves. Building one of the largest private companies in the world requires not just strategic brilliance but a deep understanding of human nature, incentives, and organizational design.

What sets Koch’s approach apart is his profound respect for human excellence. His Market-Based Management (MBM) system is one of the most person-centered frameworks I’ve encountered. Unlike the rigid structures of traditional corporate hierarchies, Koch embraces dynamic, self-organizing teams. There are no job descriptions or top-down mandates—teams select their own members and redefine roles based on each individual’s strengths, experiences, and comparative advantages. It’s simple, obvious in hindsight, yet uncommon and revolutionary in practice.

His philosophy aligns closely with my own conviction that true value creation is rooted in empowering individuals to operate at their highest… show more.