Many of us learn ABOUT Nelson Mandela and he and his compatriots efforts to overcoming apartheid in South Africa but reading this autobiography brought a depth of clarity and understanding to me that I didn’t expect. Given these are his words, most of which were written secretly during this prison years, it speaks volumes to his leadership style, his priorities, his sense of purpose, and his visionary view of the future of he and his countrymen (including whites and other ethnicities). I read this book as a historical view for Southern Africa in preparation for my trip to Malawi to do business training and development. I figured it would provide me a general region wide view of the past 50 years from his eyes and timeline of events. It did help bring a lot of context for me but was also a lesson in overcoming adversity, extreme perseverance, collaboration among friends as well as adversaries, and personal discipline through many trials and challenge. I would recommend this book to anyone looking to expand on their first person accounts of leadership and change management, as well as those seeking to add to their understanding of African and world history.
Shantaram: A Novel
Shantram is an amazing book, vivid in its descriptions and captivating in its characters and their numerous adventures. Told from the perspective of Lin, a convict who escaped from an Australian prison, it chronicles his trials, adventures, and misadventures in the 80’s in what was then called Bombay, India, as well as several other locations. I listened to the Audible book, twice now, which is quite well produced. The narrator is obviously a voice actor with a diverse set of character voices and accents in his toolbox. This book is considered a top book for world travelers and vagabonders and for good reason. It explores many difficult subjects including extreme poverty, famine, drug use, organized crime, murder, but also many others including love, friendship, mentorship, philosophy, nationalism, and more. I recommend this book widely as a great novel and a serious page turner.
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
This is the book that I say to myself “I SHOULD HAVE WRITTEN THAT!!!”. McKeown does a great job in distilling timeless principles like Pareto’s 80/20 Rule as well as newer fundamentals like Theory of Constraints, into a digestible and practicable set of principles that anyone can use in their daily and work life. This book has been out for a while and I continue to see it and the author referenced alongside other books like Checklist Manifesto, 4 Hour Work Week, and other easy reads for entrepreneurs and productivity focused people. I recommend this book for any professional seeking a set of principles by which to focus their work and lives on what’s truly essential (vs. focusing on efficiency - doing the wrong thing super well is a waste!).
Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big, 10th-Anniversary Edition
Small Giants is a great expose on a variety of companies, spanning several industries that represent a larger set of companies out there that, if they so desired, could grow quite large and focus on profitability as a big driver of that growth. However, these companies choose to stay “small” by many standards, focusing on excellence, customer experience, and employee satisfaction as key elements of their business models. I found it inspiring and a great contrast to much of the literature in the business world today about either startups that scaled up to multi-billion dollar companies or those companies that have survived for decades. This book is choc full of interviews, examinations, and explanations of the principles and practices at the heart of these organizations. Any entrepreneur, leader, manager, or employee seeking to expand their view of alternative organizations to work for would benefit from reading this book.
The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less
Have you ever been overwhelmed by the number of options and choices you have for one single decision? What about a seemingly endless stream of choices and options? What about always feeling regret and anxiety after finally making a choice and taking action? In Paradox of Choice author Barry Schwartz explores the psychology of choice from an economic, professional, and personal perspective. Backed up by research, this book uses a model of “types of choice makers” - Satisficers and Optimizers, each having it’s positive attributes but also, when in the extreme, can result in significant psychological impairments. I’ve experienced plenty of the symptoms this book describes but I’ve also seen it play out as I raise my children. They’re overwhelmed by choice ALL THE TIME that we as parents and society impose upon them. This book was an eye opener from a personal level but also as a professional in continuous improvement, management, and engineering. Being deliberate and well thought out when presenting alternatives and choices for decision makers will much more beneficial for everyone in the long run if they are trimmed down, paced, and crafted in appropriate ways. This book will help you identify your own choice making attributes, those in others, as well as how to step back from feeling overwhelmed or overwhelming others with choice. I recommend this book extensively to parents, managers, marketers, consultants, engineers, and UW Philosophy Department professors and graduate students.
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman lays out a significant body of research, application, and experimentation concerning cognitive biases, neurology, and evolutionary psychology. While the book is lengthy and can be dry at times, it is organized around specific biases, how they were identified, what the latest research suggests, and how one can work to overcome there ill effects in work and life. I love the “System 1” and “System 2” model, while he openly states is VERY imperfect, it does help the reader to differentiate the conscious, aware, slow and “thinking” brain from the unconscious, fast, and unaware parts of our brains. This book and associated research is cited extensively in many other books I’ve read across marketing, psychology, business, management, network theory, innovation, and much more. This is a centerpiece of cognitive theory and principles and I recommend this book widely to friends and colleagues.
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Dr. Cialdini does a great job in describing the fundamental components of our psychology and neurology that result in characteristics that influence how we’re persuaded to take action and change our behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs. His 6 Principles of Persuasion are: Reciprocity, Scarcity, Authority, Consistency, Liking, and Consensus. In each chapter on these principles, he relates research, real world examples, and his own personal experiences with being knowingly and unknowingly persuaded by these or a mixture of these tactics. I found this book VERY helpful in understanding my own psychology and susceptibility to persuasion but also what I can do to divert or at least be much more aware of when these principles are being used directly or through advertising on me. These are just fundamental human characteristics and not “bad” in and of themselves, it’s on bad when unethical or devious intents and outcomes are sought. I recommend this book for all leaders, managements, change agents, continuous improvement professionals and for those interested in psychology, cognitive biases, and marketing.
Leadership on the Line, With a New Preface: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Change
Leadership On the Line is one of those books built from an original article in the Harvard Business Review but is also in their “Top 10 Must Reads” on Change Management. Heifetz and Linksy describe in detail various hazards of leadership in change, both with theory and real life examples they use from their extensive research, and then what are proven methods to overcome and live through times of change as a leader. I enjoy any book that blends research, real world examples, and a system developed from both that research and real world example, and then even to then continuously validate it with consultation and improvement, that’s the whole improvement cycle right there applied to leadership! I recommend this book for all leaders and change agents practicing leadership and looking to expand their understand of leadership principles in times of strife and change.
Trives: We Need You To Lead Us
In true Seth Godin style, he captures an angle and an underlying substructure into leadership, marketing, content creation, and followership, and makes it an understanding and tactical philosophy and method. He takes Networked Leadership and helps the reader understand that if one is truly a leader, with an idea, message, or motto, that their is likely a Tribe of other interested people out there waiting for a leader. However, this book is also a rich insight into organizations, team work, leadership, and management as well. It can provide many institutional roles a way to understand how people work and think together in pursuits of interests, passions, and common goals. This is in my Top 10 for marketing and content/product creation for sure.
How Will You Measure Your Life?
Clayton Christensen, more well known for his book Innovators Dilemma, writes clearly and with personal passion, about how he transferred his knowledge of what’s been successful in the business world into how he could be more successful and impactful in his personal and professional endeavors. He translates concepts like vision, mission, strategy, and tactics into how to envision, pursue, and adjust ones pursuits according to what one really wants out of life and work. This book played an important part in my own life, transitioning out of the Boeing Company, as well as pursuing the consulting model of “Life & Business Transitions” at Next Callings. I recommend this book for people of all disciplines and positions as well as mindsets.
The Clock of the Long Now: Time and Responsibility
Stewart Brand is one of the greatest thinkers of our time. Founder of the Whole Earth Catalog and the author of a host of other design and futurist oriented books, the Clock of the Long Now is a book fit for anyone seeking to understand underlying structures in our thinking, technology, and how those play out in the evolution of our societies. This book is great to understand some of the inherent drawbacks of the way we’ve pursued technological development, potential pathways for solutions, but also for a great exploration of Strategic Thinking in general, especially as it relates to design and societal ramifications of our technology. I recommend this book for techies but also for anyone wishing to expand their strategic thinking reading into a clear, outcomes oriented thought experiments.
Talk Like TED: The 9 Top Public Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds
Talk Like TED is one of several Story Telling and Presentations oriented books I read a while back. It’s 9 Lessons for public speaking and storytelling are useful in any industry, in any stage of organizational growth or challenges, for ANY employee - manager, leader, or individual contributor. It’s a lesson on psychology, empathy, communication, and clarity of thought. I recommend this book to wide audiences hoping to create communications that will achieve their desired results of getting through to your listeners (customers, employees, etc.) and having them walk away with a clear understanding of your message but also inspired to take action.
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers
Author, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist Ben Horowitz does a great job in recounting and distilling many tough lessons he learned FIRST HAND as a startup entrepreneur, developer, and manager. The book is told from his first person perspective, historically, of the challenges, dilemmas, and outcomes from his long history in the tech startup world. The questions he faced and poses to the reader will help you to understand these seemingly impossible circumstances, how to navigate through them, communicate to key stakeholders, but also come through the experiences having learned a great deal no matter what. I recommend this book for any entrepreneurs, managers, as well as employees that want to understand more deeply the true life experiences at the top of major companies and that it’s definitely not as easy as many people would think it is.
Factory Physics for Managers
Factory Physics for Managers is a clear, cohesive, and coherent summary of the fundamental nature of factory’s and productive systems in general. Ed Pound et. al do a great job in 1) Convincing the aspiring manager that while the book contains technical content and underpinnings, the investment in reading and digesting the material will pay immense dividends to their understanding of effective operations as well as provide them with the firepower to truly manage their systems in a strategic and effective way. If you understand these principles, apply them in your business, and continuously improve with them, you’ll find your profitability as well as the shear enjoyment of your work increase immensely. I’ve met and worked with Ed Pound on the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering Work Systems Division Board of Directors and I know his understanding of this material and the science of factory management is deep, comprehensive, and tested time and again across almost every area of manufacturing. I recommend this book for Operations Managers, Industrial Engineers, Continuous Improvement Experts, Senior Leadership (C Suite), Supply Chain Experts, and anyone interested in the science underlying the production of goods and services.