The Thanksgiving holiday, like Christmas, gives me a natural pause to reflect on what I’ve read this year and where I want my reading to take me next. My November reading list includes Sam Walton: Made In America, The Red Bull Story: The Unbelievable Success of Dietrich Mateschitz and His Energy Drink Empire, It’s How We Play the Game: Build a Business. Take a Stand. Make a Difference, and Bloomberg by Bloomberg. For a look at what I’ve read previously, you can find my full list here.
Sam Walton tells the story of building one of the world’s greatest retailers in Made in America. Dietrich Mateschitz reveals how he became one of the most influential marketing minds of his generation in The Red Bull Story. It’s How We Play the Game explores the challenge of scaling a family-run business (Dick’s Sporting Goods), while Bloomberg by Bloomberg offers lessons on reinvention and building a second career from scratch. Let’s start the November reading list with one of my favorite entrepreneurs: Sam Walton.
Sam Walton: Made In America
In Sam Walton: Made In America, Walton tells the story of Walmart in his own words. The book is raw in the best way.
Walton comes across as modest yet quietly confident—relentlessly ambitious and never one to take “no” for an answer.
The book closes with practical life and business advice from Walton himself:
- Competition: Walton loved competing—it’s the heart of business.
- Partnership: Teamwork played a role in Walmart’s success. Teams, not individuals, create outsized returns.
- Money: Walton sacrificed everything to make Wal-Mart what it is. He questions that sacrifice.
- Celebrity: Being famous never mattered to Walton. He drove a truck because of its utility—he needed to haul around his quail hunting dogs.
- Family: He and his wife Helen instilled values he hoped would last multiple generations—hard work, honesty, neighborliness, and frugality.
For more on Sam Walton, the building of Walmart, and the lessons behind it all, check out the book below:
The Red Bull Story: The Unbelievable Success of Dietrich Mateschitz and His Energy Drink Empire
The Red Bull Story: The Unbelievable Success of Dietrich Mateschitz and His Energy Drink Empire tells the story of the Austrian marketing mastermind behind Red Bull.
Wolfgang Fürweger builds a profile of one of the greatest brand builders of the modern era.
He covers how Mateschitz came up with the product in Hong Kong, how marketing was the fuel that propelled Red Bull, why sports are invaluable to the brand, and the business principles of its success.
For a deeper look at Red Bull, Mateschitz, and how to build a brand through marketing, read the book below:
📚 The Red Bull Story: The Unbelievable Success of Dietrich Mateschitz and His Energy Drink Empire
It’s How We Play the Game: Build a Business. Take a Stand. Make a Difference
It’s How We Play the Game: Build a Business. Take a Stand. Make a Difference. is the story of Dick’s Sporting Goods told by founder Dick Stack’s son, Ed Stack.
Dick’s started as a small bait-and-tackle shop in Binghamton, New York, in the late 1940s. Today, it’s a multi-billion-dollar operation with more than 750 stores.
Ed bought the business from his dad. The handoff was tumultuous at best as Dick didn’t want to relinquish the reins of what he started.
The business faced near-death more than once under Ed’s leadership, but his steadiness ultimately righted the ship.
For more on the story of Dick’s Sporting Goods, the Stack family, and the perseverance required to build something that lasts, read the book below:
📚 It’s How We Play the Game: Build a Business. Take a Stand. Make a Difference
Bloomberg by Bloomberg
Bloomberg by Bloomberg is Michael Bloomberg’s story in his own words.
Bloomberg started at Salomon Brothers after graduating from Harvard Business School. He was forced out of the firm in the early 1980s after working his way up to partner.
That firing set the stage for an extraordinary career building a financial-technology empire.
The book is that story in intimate detail—from the grind of working 7 to 7, six days a week, to the early scrappiness of Bloomberg LP.
For more on Michael Bloomberg and his story, read the book below:
November Reading List: Key Takeaways
Together, these books explore starting small, perseverance, competition, family, marketing, brand-building, and the long road to scale. Each of these entrepreneurs shows that how you build matters just as much as what you build.
The main takeaway from my November reading list is this: Sam Walton and Ed Stack show how outward by starting small, Dietrich Mateschitz proves the power of brand-building-led growth, and Michael Bloomberg reminds us that re-invention is always possible.
