Eric Ries

The Leader's Guide

John Elbing

It is hard to position this book in the larger set of lean startup books out there. It is almost as if there are two books in one.

I have read at least a dozen lean startup books. After reading the "canon", (The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works and/or The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company), it is very interesting to delve into more targeted volumes, based on your specific interest.

I found Lean Customer Development: Build Products Your Customers Need and Lean Analytics: Use Data to Build a Better Startup Faster both remarkable.

So, back to The Leader's guide. 

The first 2/3 expands on the initial Lean Startup book with real life teachings. It's a little like the three bears: not enough if it's your first discovery of lean startup, a little redundant if you are knowledgeable and just right to refresh your understanding part way through a project.

The last third could be a great book on its own: how to develop entrepreneurial management in your established company (or startup). It reads as a coach handbook, with theory, practical advice, coach-oriented advice, misconceptions, ... If I could get my dream job of fostering innovation in a large company, it would be my go-to manual!

If the shift of focus from startups to established companies piques your interest, I recommend Lean Enterprise: How High Performance Organizations Innovate at Scale which targets software companies.

Of course, there is the issue that the book is not for sale. There will only ever be the 10'000 copies for the Kickstarter participants. If you are not one of the happy few, you will have to be creative. If you live near Geneva, Switzerland, I can loan you my copy ;-)

The Leader's Guide

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