Podcast
Build with Leila Hormozi book recommendations
How can you create an unshakeable business? My name is Leila Hormozi and I crossed $100M by the age of 28. Now I’m growing acquisition.com into a billion-dollar portfolio. In this podcast, I share the lessons I’ve learned in scaling big businesses and helping our portfolio companies do the same. Buckle up, Let's BUILD. New Episodes Every Monday & Wednesday!
Latest mentions
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Overcoming Overeating
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Topgrading
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Conscious Capitalism, Updated and Expanded
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Antifragile
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How to Win Friends and Influence People
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... Trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen
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Managing Oneself
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Rich Dad, Poor Dad
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Crush It!
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Gym Launch Secrets
Most recommended on Build with Leila Hormozi
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... Trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen
On Build with Leila Hormozi ("5 Books that Turned Me Into a $100M CEO (In my 20's)", 2022-08-25), host Leila Hormozi reflected on Viktor E. Frankl's book, Man's Search for Meaning. She shared that it was the second book to profoundly alter her perspective during her early twenties. Hormozi explained that a major lesson from the text centers on confronting internal fear directly and learning to accept it, emphasizing how embracing this mindset shaped her personal development and professional growth as an executive.
Discussed“The second book that changed my perspective in my early 20s was 'Man's Search for Meaning.'”
Where to get it
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Antifragile
On Build with Leila Hormozi, Leila Hormozi recommended Nassim Nicholas Taleb's concept of antifragility from his book "Antifragile." She used the book's core premise to argue that exceptional leaders must go beyond mere resilience and actually grow stronger through adversity.
Recommended“and I think it was one of the best books I ever read was about anti fragility the best leaders are not just resilient they are antifragile”
Where to get it
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Conscious Capitalism, Updated and Expanded
On the March 9, 2025 episode of Build with Leila Hormozi titled How He Lost $30M, Then Built a $550M Business | Mike Salguero, Leila Hormozi referenced Conscious Capitalism, Updated and Expanded by John Mackey and Raj Sisodia. Hormozi brought up the book when discussing how Whole Foods founder John Mackey outlines win-win outcomes for the community, customers, and employees.
Discussed“have you read um John Mackey's book founder of Whole Foods yes where he talks about win win Winn you know win for the community win for the customer”
Where to get it
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Crush It!
Host Leila Hormozi discussed Gary Vaynerchuk's book on Build with Leila Hormozi in the episode "5 Books that Turned Me Into a $100M CEO (In my 20's)." Hormozi recounted reading the book in her early twenties after the owner of a small gym where she worked recommended it. She explained that reading it taught her a critical lesson about how social media would become integral to all aspects of business, shaping her perspective on modern brand building and entrepreneurship.
Discussed“The last book I read in my early 20s was 'Crushing It.'”
Where to get it
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Gym Launch Secrets
On Build with Leila Hormozi, host Leila Hormozi discussed Alex Hormozi's book Gym Launch Secrets during the episode "From Bumble to $100M Business." Leila Hormozi recalled visiting her boyfriend's apartment a few weeks after they began dating and finding a large book sitting on his glass table. Opening it to discover the title Gym Launch Secrets, she realized he was serious about starting a company, marking a significant milestone in their early relationship and business journey.
Discussed“We kind of just kept dating, and then a few weeks in I went back to his apartment, and there was literally a huge book on his glass table. I opened it up, and it was called 'Gym Launch Secrets.' I was like, 'Oh, you're serious; you're starting a company?'”
Where to get it
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How to Win Friends and Influence People
On the podcast Build with Leila Hormozi, host Leila Hormozi featured How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie in the episode "5 Books that Turned Me Into a $100M CEO (In my 20's)." She introduced the title as her first book selection, noting that it had a significant impact on her during her 20s and would likely not come as a surprise to her audience. Hormozi discussed specific insights gained from reading the work, emphasizing a key takeaway that encouragement is more effective than criticism when interacting with others.
Discussed“The first book is probably not a surprise to you: it's 'How to Win Friends and Influence People.'”
Where to get it
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Managing Oneself
On Build with Leila Hormozi, host Leila Hormozi featured Managing Oneself by Peter F. Drucker in the episode 5 Books that Turned Me Into a $100M CEO (In my 20's). Hormozi reflected on her professional growth and shared how specific literature shaped her executive career. She identified Drucker's book as the third publication that proved exceptionally beneficial during her twenties, crediting its lessons on self-management with helping her develop the operational skills needed to run a major company.
Discussed“The third book I found incredibly helpful in my 20s was 'Managing Oneself' by Peter Drucker.”
Where to get it
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Overcoming Overeating
On the April 11, 2025 episode of Build with Leila Hormozi titled The Celebrity Trainer: From Food Lines to Fitness Empire (Senada Greca), guest Senada Greca discussed her past struggles with restrictive eating and binge eating. She mentioned that a therapist in college recommended the book Overcoming Overeating by Jane R. Hirschmann and Carol H. Munter to help her navigate those patterns, and host Leila Hormozi confirmed that she had also read it.
Recommended“And at the time again I saw another therapist in college who who I spoke to about that restrictive and binging pattern. Um who who gave me like this really good book overcoming overeating because I now had turned into it had gone from like anorexia like starving yourself to now binge eating.”
Where to get it
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Rich Dad, Poor Dad
On Build with Leila Hormozi, in the episode titled "5 Books that Turned Me Into a $100M CEO (In my 20's)" from August 25, 2022, Leila Hormozi reflected on the literature that shaped her professional journey. She shared that Robert T. Kiyosaki and Sharon L. Lechter's "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" was the fourth book to fundamentally change her mindset, which she originally read in a break room while working as a personal trainer at a large gym.
Discussed“The fourth book that changed my mindset was one I read in the break room when I was a personal trainer at a large gym: 'Rich Dad Poor Dad.'”
Where to get it
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Topgrading
On the March 9, 2025 episode of Build with Leila Hormozi, Mike Salguero brought up Bradford D. Smart's book Topgrading. He discussed it while explaining how utilizing the threat of reference checks works well to uncover the truth about a candidate's resume.
Recommended“there's a book called top grading which is all about like finding the best people uh they talked and this has worked really well too they talk about um the threat of reference check”
Where to get it
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“I saw another therapist in college who who I spoke to about that restrictive and binging pattern. who who gave me like this really good book overcoming overeating because I now had turned into it had gone from like anorexia like starving yourself to now binge eating. And because obviously those two almost come together sometimes you can't spin this”
“there's a book called top grading which is all about like finding the best people uh they talked and this has worked really well too they talk about um the threat of reference check”
“have you read um John Mackey's book founder of Whole Foods yes where he talks about win win Winn you know win for the community win for the customer”
“and I think it was one of the best books I ever read was about anti fragility the best leaders are not just resilient they are antifragile”
“The second takeaway from 'How to Win Friends and Influence People' is that encouragement works better than criticism.”
“This ties back to 'Man's Search for Meaning' —you must confront that fear and learn to be okay with it.”
“The third book I found incredibly helpful in my 20s was 'Managing Oneself' by Peter Drucker.”
“The fourth book that changed my mindset was one I read in the break room when I was a personal trainer at a large gym: 'Rich Dad Poor Dad.'”
“As I read 'Crushing It,' I learned that social media would become integral to everything.”
“We kind of just kept dating, and then a few weeks in I went back to his apartment, and there was literally a huge book on his glass table. I opened it up, and it was called 'Gym Launch Secrets.' I was like, 'Oh, you're serious; you're starting a company?'”
Episodes
| Episode | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|
| The Celebrity Trainer: From Food Lines to Fitness Empire (Senada Greca) | 2025-04-11 | 2 |
| How He Lost $30M, Then Built a $550M Business | Mike Salguero | 2025-03-09 | 2 |
| watch this if you feel like everything is falling apart | 2025-02-06 | 1 |
| 5 Books that Turned Me Into a $100M CEO (In my 20's) | 2022-08-25 | 8 |
| From Bumble to $100M Business | 2022-06-23 | 1 |