18 Books I liked Reading in 2018

Happy Holidays to everyone. As the year ends I wanted to share some of the books I enjoyed reading this year. I would say this year has been one of the best in terms of terrific books. Please check out my favorite books of 2018 below. Most of them are business books which is my preferred genre and I have also reviewed some of them so if you are interested you can check it out by clicking the related links. 

This is Marketing by Seth Godin – The master is back with a book. He does make writing look easy. The main point is you need to produce work that matters for people you care about. Marketing is about asking questions and initiating change. We are all marketers of course whether we are pitching for a promotion or anything else. You must know the smallest viable market and cater to that need. Overall a breezy read. Marketing is all about earning the trust of the customer and having a strong product to sell. If the trust is established strongly the sale becomes easier.

Atomic Habits by James Clear – The premise of the book is your habits determine your success. If you have read The Power of Habit you know about the cue, routine and reward. A similar thing is said here where he talks about cue, craving, response, reward. The basic advice is if you want to become a writer write one page daily and if you want to be an athlete exercise 10 minutes daily. Instead of focusing on outcome you focus on changing your identity. By writing one page a day you establish the identity of a writer. If you want to exercise first thing in morning sleep with your exercise clothes. Make the habits obvious, satisfying, easy and rewarding. There are also ways to ditch unhealthy habits. Good solid read.

Blitzscaling by Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh – Blitzscaling is a wonderful concept for startups that want to scale. It is basically prioritizing speed over efficiency. I really liked the book Blitzscaling by Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh. The basic thesis which Alvin Toffler predicted in Future Shock is that change is the only constant. If you can be nimble and steady in the face of chaos you have a better chance of survival. It is all about scaling fast, moving fast and breaking things. There are 3 suggestions to thrive one is to be a first responder, second is to be a model of stability in a sea of change and finally be a consistent learner. The three techniques of Blitzscaling which are the heart of the process are business model innovation, strategy innovation and management innovation. There are 9 counter intuitive rules of Blitzscaling which I liked. Here is my article on it.9 Counter Intuitive Rules of Blitzscaling.

Connecting the dots by John Chambers – This is one of the best books on leadership from a leader who has turned around an organization. Disrupt or be disrupted and be ready to dream big to win big. There are also good suggestions on building a talented team and great culture. Check out my review here. 9 Lessons from John Chambers

AI Superpowers by Kai-Fu Lee – I have read quite a few books on AI and this one is good. This also speaks about how far China has gone to be a leader in the race of AI. There are four types of AI Internet AI, Business AI, Perception AI and Autonomous AI. There is also a section on what jobs will be impacted by AI.

Dare to lead by Brene Brown – I have read all of Brene Brown books and they are excellent. The main theme of this book is to be vulnerable and if you have read Daring Greatly or Rising Strong there is some repetition here. One of the other takeaways is to define clearly two values you want your life to stand for and then monitor how closely you stay true to those values. Let go of perfectionism and shame. Create a culture of openness and candor.

Leadership in Turbulent times by Doris Kearns Goodwin: This is one of the best books on leadership you will ever read. 4 leaders Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson are dissected right from their childhood through their adversity to their leadership philosophy. This is truly a tour de force. I loved the last section which has great leadership tips for all of us. Some of these types of books can be dry to read but this is so engaging I couldn’t put it down. The big takeaway is they persisted well beyond any personal setbacks. In fact one of the examples provided is Lincoln's friends had to hide sharp objects from his room because he could hurt himself. Theodore Roosevelt lost his wife and mother on the same day. It is an inspiring account of what true leadership is in times of crisis. Abraham Lincoln stood for transformation leadership. Some of the things he did well were gather first hand information, acknowledge when failed policies demand a change, and exhaust all possibility of compromise before imposing executive power. Theodore Roosevelt stood for crisis management. Some of the things he did were to calculate risks of getting involved, use history to provide perspective, and be ready to grapple with reversals. Franklin Roosevelt stood for turnaround leadership. Some of the things he did were draw a demarcation between what has gone before and what is about to begin and strike balance between realism and optimism. Lyndon Johnson stood for visionary leadership. Some of the things he did were make a dramatic start, lead with your strength and master power of narrative.

Imagine it forward by Beth Comstock and Tahl Raz: This is all about unleashing the imagination of the people who work in your organization. Of course, it is a part biography and even if you ignore those parts there is enough here of value. The main thesis is the change is never going to be slower than it is today. The only way to play in the future is to embrace change as Tom Peters likes to say. You must truly re-imagine yourself to have a successful future. One of the ideas is that if something occurs a third time it is a trend. She also talks about emergent leadership which is all about ditching hierarchy, giving people permission to fail, controlling the information flows and managing the space where you don't know what will happen next. This is a good book on dealing with change. Imagine it forward Review.

21 lessons for the 21st century by Yuval Noah Harari: If you have read Homo Deus there is some repetition here. He also doesn’t really offer any clear pathway forward and it could be argued that no one else has as well. There is a lot of talk about AI and how none of our jobs are safe from automation. He also dwells into religion, terrorism and so many topics across the board. Last chapter he talks about meditation. The main takeaway is to keep reinventing yourself all the time. The key question is even if universal basic income is provided and we don't need to work for money what will humans do to find meaning. I tried to answer this question with this article. https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/what-humans-should-do-find-meaning-when-robots-take-shyam/

Getting Back to Happy by Marc Chernoff and Angel Chernoff – This was a very practical book on happiness. I think at a deep level all of us know what makes us happy and it is just a reminder. Of course, the usual stuff needed to be happy are first to be disciplined. The other suggestion is to have a morning routine like exercising, meditation and reading. The other key is to be grateful for everything you have. Look at your calendar and remove all the things that are there now. Once you do that decide what you want to put back. Learn to say no and don’t overextend yourself. I have also come up with my A to Z of Happiness. Check it out here 26 Tips to be at your Happiest. 9 Ways to get Super Motivated

Leading with Emotional Courage by Peter Bregman – This is an excellent book on how we can play with different emotions. The thesis is to be authentic and accept differing viewpoints. One of the suggestions is to watch something you wouldn’t agree with and then see what emotions are being displayed there. You develop emotional courage by developing self-awareness. Bregman says to be a great leader you need to be confident in yourself, you need to be able to connect to others, you need to be connected to a purpose and someone who can act with emotional courage.

New Power by Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms– This is an excellent book on the new power structure. They key is most of the new power structures will be decentralized and more transparent. There are numerous examples here of movements that have changed the world and leaders who are doing the same. They have classified leaders into crowds, co-opters, cheerleaders and castles. It is an informative read.

When by Daniel Pink – The premise of the book is simple. It is that when you decide to do something is as important as how you do it. For example, if you are an early morning person you should schedule the most difficult tasks for morning. This is vujade for me as we have known this for a long time and science just confirms it. You should take breaks during the day. Take nature walks even if it is for 5 min. Take a nap when you can for 20 min and take the coffee just before you take the nap. If you are in a midlife slump set new goals, be self-compassionate and appreciate how good you have it. For your career check if you are enjoying what you are doing, do you have autonomy, is it aligned with your life goals and will you stay in this job for the next 5 years. Another example was have earning calls with investors earlier in the day than afternoon to get better results. Schools for teenagers should open later in the day to adjust their biological clock. Overall an enjoyable breezy read just like his other books.

Powerful by Patty McCord– I am sure you have heard of the unique Netflix culture especially the slide share presentation which details it out. The main theme here is radical honesty. Be brutally honest with your employees, give them full autonomy, get rid of performance appraisal, give unlimited vacation and many more ideas to create a culture of freedom. The overall theme of the book is about giving employees freedom and responsibility while ensuring they are also challenged. There is also a suggestion to do away with the performance appraisal if it is not working. This is a quick read especially if you already read the slideshare on Netflix culture.

Thinking in bets by Annie Duke – This was an informative read. If you have read Thinking Fast and Slow this might sound familiar. Basically, the thesis is the quality of your life comes down to the quality of your decisions and luck. Don’t assume that a bad outcome means it is a wrong decision. Involve others in decision making, create a decision matrix (for example never accept if someone says I am 100 percent certain), and finally say I am not sure. The basic point is uncertainty is the name of the game and you can never really know if your good decision will always lead to good outcomes. There are lots of examples like Pete Carroll the Seattle Seahawks coach making a decision for which the outcome didn't turn out as expected. However, the author successfully argues that the decision was correct even if the outcome didn't go in his favor. This is a crucial lesson for all of us sometimes we do everything right and still we don't get what we anticipated. It doesn't mean we are wrong it just means there is uncertainty in any decision we make. Life is more like a game of poker with uncertainties than chess which is more favorable to good resourcefulness.

Lincoln and Churchill by Lewis E. Lehrman - I think we can learn more from real leaders than leadership theorists. This is a well-written book. The main thing I learned was both had an indomitable will. They also worked crazy hard. Churchill was great at writing but that was not due to innate talent it was due to relentless hard work. Lincoln was a great listener, was humble and at the same time had a desire to succeed for the nation. He fought for a larger cause. John Hay who worked with Lincoln said “It is absurd to call him a modest man. No great man was ever modest. It is his intellectual arrogance and unconscious assumption of superiority that men like Chase and Summer never could forgive.” Historian Robert Rhodes James wrote that “The well born Churchill had immense application and capacity for work. He was not a natural speaker with an inability to pronounce the letter S but which he turned to advantage. Nor was he a natural writer- if such a thing exists. It was all hard work. Nothing came easily to him. Those glorious speeches and those marvelous books were the result of much toil. It was a triumph of character.”

Great at Work by Morton Hansen – Well-written book overall awesome motivation for me to implement some of the suggestions. This is truly a ground-breaking study on what it takes to be a top performer. First lesson is to do less but obsess more. Roald Amundsen won the race against Robert Falcon Scott due to his obsession with using dog sleds and he also got the best dog handler on his team. He got Green handler dogs instead of Siberian Huskies. Scott had more budget but he tried dogs, ponies and many other things. The key is to focus and not spread too wide. Eliminate all fluff and completely do away with distractions. For example, the author while writing for the book completely switched off internet connection while writing. You can turn off notifications for social media. In my case I don't have any of the apps for Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. So every time you have to log in through browser which means you might check fewer times. The key is to focus on creating value and obsessing only on the top activities. Find ways to add more value, use 15 min to learn a new skill, get quick nimble feedback and de-automate some of your routines. One example which stuck with me was that of Magnus Carlsen who always wanted to keep learning even when he is already one of the best chess players of all time. This is what top performers do they blast through any stall points and never get complacent. Great at Work

The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle – I liked his other book “The Talent Code” as well. The key is to build safety in your organizations by making it easy for people to speak up. The next key is vulnerability and as leaders you need to be open about your mistakes. Lot of examples here. Finally build purpose into the organization. It is a good breezy read with lots of examples from Pixar, Sports and Navy seals. Pixar was famous for using Brain Trust meetings where everyone is given a voice. Also the directors were given full ownership instead of just the executives. Check out Creativity by Ed Catmull which is a great book. 3 Keys to Build a Winning Culture

Here are my end of year books for the previous three years.

My favorite books of 2015

My favorite books of 2016

My Favorite books of 2017

The views expressed in this article are my own and do not represent my organization. Thanks for reading this post.