What business leaders can learn from Stephen King

King's 'On Writing' is a classic text about his craft

Stephen King is known first and foremost as a horror writer. However, one of his best-known books happens to be nonfiction. “On Writing,” published in 2000, is part autobiography and part instruction manual. King explains how he came to his craft and offers advice on ways aspiring writers can improve.

Stephen King doesn't believe writing can be taught

But he does believe it can be learned. He argues that the best writers are "voracious readers" who start their careers by copying the style of the masters before developing their own.

King is a major influence on modern genre writers

Stephen King's influence is felt across literature, film, and television—even outside the many books and adaptations that make up his long and storied career. This podcast features interviews with "Lost" showrunner Damon Lindelof and horror novelist Grady Hendrix, two writers who also happen to be King superfans.

Why Stephen King bought the van that nearly killed him

Back in 1999, writer Stephen King was struck by a vehicle near his home in Bangor, Maine. It's a story he recounts in his memoir "On Writing," though that sober-minded text doesn't reveal a fascinating bit of trivia: King initially bought the van intending to obliterate it with a sledgehammer. King did end up purchasing the vehicle, though he didn't destroy it himself. This article uncovers why.

Stephen King is drawn to horror's childish power

This 1986 appearance promoting King's directorial debut finds him reflecting on what makes horror, which he says is its ability to strip away pretense, reducing supposedly sophisticated people to terrified children. He also seems to have already soured on the movie business, calling filmmaking "a primitive way to create," a not-so-subtle dig at Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of "The Shining," which notoriously disappointed King.

King was awarded the National Medal of the Arts in 2014

For decades, Stephen King has been a pop-culture titan, though he was often pegged as unserious and formulaic by the more high-minded literary establishment. That began to change in the 1990s, with critical reconsiderations of his work. It was fully cemented in 2014, when he received the National Medal of Arts.

Joyce Carol Oates praised King's working-class characters

Joyce Carol Oates is a writer who, like Stephen King, has a massive body of work that moves between styles and genres. Unlike King, she was never derided by critics as being overly commercial. Introducing King at Princeton University in 1997 and 2016, she made the case for King as a serious American writer in the Gothic tradition of Edgar Allan Poe.

One of Warren Buffett’s investing principles is investing in well-managed companies

The "Founders" podcast reviews biographies of the world’s top entrepreneurs, and this episode explores a 2012 book about Warren Buffett. The episode includes Buffett's advice on becoming a better business manager and investor.

'Carrie' kick-started a wildly successful career

King has published more than 60 novels—along with dozens of novellas, hundreds of short stories, and several collections of nonfiction—and has sold over 400 million books. This 2024 interview finds him reflecting on his debut novel, and breakthrough hit, "Carrie," and the wild success that followed.

'Ogilvy on Advertising' is David Ogilvy's career memoir full of his favorite copywriting advice

Ogilvy is one of the most famous and influential advertising executives in history, known for his focus on research-driven advertising. But he also wrote multiple books, including "Ogilvy on Advertising," which the Founders podcast dives into in this episode.

How to resolve conflict with words, from speaking coach Jefferson Fisher

Fisher claims arguments shouldn't be won but rather unraveled. He gives numerous tips on how to approach arguments like a tested lawyer. In this "Diary of a CEO" podcast episode, host Steven Bartlett gleans incredible insights on how to spot a liar, how to resolve arguments, and more.

Lessons learned from Steve Jobs

From predicting our screen-filled future in 1983 to slashing Apple's product line in 1997, Steve Jobs believed in focus, simplicity, and the fusion of technology and art. His philosophies still influence how products are built and marketed today.

How to write a great speech

Before walking onto a stage or booting up a Zoom meeting to deliver a speech or presentation, you have to know what story you want to tell. This story acts as a keystone, providing an ideological foundation on which the rest of the speech balances. This story should be bigger than the moment it's delivered, giving listeners the ability to connect to expressed concepts across time.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used disciplined organizing tactics to win civil rights

This resource focuses on Dr. King as a strategic organizer, detailing how he selected campaign targets, partnered with local leaders, adapted his tactics, developed leadership pipelines, and employed political pressure to convert moral protest into political change.

How Walt Disney's life impacted his business

Walt Disney has a legacy of ingenious innovation and undying creativity. This podcast walks listeners chronologically through the major events of his life, as reported in Neal Gabler's biography "Walt Disney: the Triumph of the American Imagination," and explains how they led to his groundbreaking work in film, storytelling, and business.

'The Firm' is a book about the influence of top consulting firm McKinsey

The author argues that consulting firms are so valuable to the companies that hire them because the clients don’t have to take the blame for any changes the consulting firm decides to make within the organization.

How a Philadelphia soup kitchen taught business students about ethical decision-making

As the St. Francis Inn—a Philadelphia soup kitchen—struggled with decisions about moving its operations to serve more people, a management professor at St. Joseph's University realized his students might have been able to help. Business students used ethical decision-making frameworks to help the soup kitchen serve more people and attract more volunteers.

Tony Hawk’s rise from outsider to skateboarding legend

In this podcast, Tony Hawk discusses his path from being an outsider in a niche sport to becoming skateboarding’s most recognizable figure—reflecting on competition dominance, business ventures, and lessons learned throughout his career.

A Guardian writer turned midlife chess slump into an obsession

Journalist Stephen Moss embarked on a chess self-improvement journey described in "The Guardian." Not a how-to, but a reflection on loss, drive, and whether mastering chess can mean mastering oneself.

A guide to the best baseball books

If you're really all-in on the game, then you might want to dig into one of these classics, like Michael Lewis' "Moneyball," about the analytics that changed the sport, or Bob Uecker's autobiography, "Catcher in the Wry."

The Ramones' 'Pet Sematary,' the theme song for the Stephen King novel of the same name, was written while the band was admiring the writer's collection of horror memorabilia.

John Steinbeck's philosophical ideas, which he often explored in his novels, wrestled with the role of the individual and the power of community.

HBO's business model is based on driving the cultural conversation

HBO CEO Casey Bloys steered the network’s programming to critical acclaim and cultural relevance with hits like “Succession” and “The White Lotus.” Bloys discusses how the network’s programming evolved as it shifted toward streaming—and how the success of shows like “House of the Dragon” informs HBO’s future.

How to form lasting, healthier habits

James Clear's "Atomic Habits" is a bestselling book about making small, realistic changes to create healthier habits. This brief piece breaks down three key lessons from the book as well as four simple steps toward adopting its approach.

The case for optimism

Author, editor, and thinker Kevin Kelly makes an argument for optimism. Not only as a personal philosophy, but as a moral obligation, focusing on the need for optimism in overcoming challenges. Drawing examples ranging back to the Wright brothers,...

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

Winning a Steve Martin look-alike contest led Bill Nye to pursue comedy

Doing impressions helped Nye realize he enjoyed making people laugh, and he pursued stand-up and comedy writing gigs while working at Boeing after college. On October 3, 1986, he left his engineering job to pursue a full-time career in the entertainment industry.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

How the most famous Ebola book, The Hot Zone, which sold 3.5 million copies and was translated into 30 languages, got aspects of the disease so wrong.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

American short story writer Flannery O'Connor raised 40 peacocks, which became potent symbols for her fiction's elegant violence

Watch this video that uses Lego bricks to explain how venture capital works.

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, but became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.

Before writing 'Walden,' transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau nearly burned down his hometown with a campfire that grew out of control.

Read a deep dive on the 'all-purpose healing' peptide BPC-157.

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

Sears sold DIY house kits starting at $600 in its famous catalog from 1908 through the 1940s, resulting in roughly 10,000 'Sears and Roebuck houses' being built.

Studies suggest when you sleep is as important as how much you get, and syncing with your circadian rhythms may lead to less fatigue and improved long-term health outcomes

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

Doctors differentiate between a phobia and fear by asking patients whether their fear interferes with their day-to-day activities.