I recommend learning about two key figures, their principles and the way they conducted themselves throughout their life.
1. Admiral Rickover. Start with Rickover's "Doing a job" essay [1], and then move onto more detailed books, such as "The never-ending challenge of engineering" [2].
2. Lee Kuan Yew. Start with some of the more light-weight reads about the man, but to really understand what it takes to build something great from scratch, go through books by him [3]. You'll definitely learn many useful things through his books.