2018 Reading List & Book Review

Can you believe 2018 is almost over? This year has been super active and busy on the work and personal fronts, though it was a most enjoyable year of reading, thinking and learning. And yes, reading old school books with a real cover and scruffy pages. Kindle reading isn't my thing. Fun fact: Did you know book sales are up in America? As an author myself, I'm very happy to see books and reading experiencing a renaissance of sorts. I managed to keep up with my one book per month average and continue to keep my 2017 New Year's Resolution in tact for another year. According to Pew Research Center, about a quarter of American adults (24%) say they haven’t read a book in whole or in part in the past year, whether in print, electronic or audio form. This year I made a point of only reading books that were personally given to me, recommended by someone close to me, or I happened to know the author. There were some books I didn't get a chance to read that will have to wait for next year, though I welcome recommendations or suggestions for 2019. Like last year, I have each of the books I read this year (and reviewed below) on my shelf, so happy to share or trade them. What have you been reading that you recommend? Sharing is caring and I hope you enjoy this year's version as much as last year.

Have a wonderful holiday and festive period. I hope to see you in 2019.

January

The Medici Effect by Frans Johansson

The name of the book comes from the famed Medici banking family from Florence who funded creators and entrepreneurs from a wide range of disciplines, in 15th-century Italy. The book essentially articulates that when you step into the intersection of different fields, cultures, skills, disciplines or people, you can combine existing concepts spurning a large quantum of extraordinary new ideas. Otherwise known as, innovation. The author terms this Intersection, this aha moment, the melding of diverse ideas and skills, The Medici Effect. The book outlines how to find such intersectional ideas and make them happen. Bringing the new ideas to life. Really good book and worth reading. Thoroughly enjoyable and worthwhile.

KEY TAKEAWAY: Light can only shine brightly in the darkness; sometimes your best ideas come from those with fresh eyes and perspectives.

February

Bling Dynasty by Erwan Rambourg

This book was given to me at a Chinese New Year celebration in February. The name of the book is super cool and worthy of judging this book by its cover. The author, Erwan Rambourg, is also a colleague and expert on all things China luxury and consumer retail, and I had the pleasure of meeting him in person and getting the book at the said event. The book is very easy to read and a good summary of how China - and Chinese consumers - have dominated the luxury retail landscape this past decade. No doubt you're aware that China is fast getting richer, and only lags behind America in the number of billionaires - but there are tens of thousands of millionaires - following their consumption patterns is particularly interesting to note. Lucky for these new cashed-up consumers, there's an array of Western luxury-lifestyle brands ready and willing to spread the love across China. The book also tells the story of the rising middle class and consumer preferences in China. In some ways, it reads like a really detailed series of analyst or research reports so it's a good guide for those interested in reading about China.

KEY TAKEAWAY: There are 415 million Millennials in China. Like in the U.S., their choices, preferences and behavior's will dictate the future of the economy (and the world) over the next three decades.

March

Talent Wins by Ram Charan, Dominic Barton and Dennis Carey

This book really struck me as I think a lot about organizational culture, human behavior and the drivers behind talent motivation. Over the last 10 years I've had the esteemed honor of having met, sought advice and spoken with one of the co-authors, Dominic Barton, who has been nothing short of amazing to me with his wise counsel and career advice. When I read that he'd co-authored a book about themes I care deeply about, pre-ordering the book was a no-brainer for me. As machines and technology continue to disrupt the way we live, work and play, in spite of potential for human capital to be displaced, the War for Talent has arguably never been more fierce. The central thesis of the book largely focuses on reinventing Human Resources and essentially redefining the language to rather focus on Talent. Essentially the book articulates how traditional talent-mapping and planning has been largely predictable, but in today's unpredictable environment, the ways of the past aren't going to cut the mustard in the future. This book is really targeted for the C-suite and shows corporate leaders how to bring the same rigors that they apply to financial capital - to their human capital - and elevating Human Resources (or Talent) to the same level of importance as Finance is within their organizations.

KEY TAKEAWAY: Counter-intuitively, increased automation and technological disruption will actually place a higher value and premium on top talent.

China Mobile Economy by Winston Ma

I visited China in April and decided to re-read this book on the long flight across the Pacific Ocean. The book is written by an old friend Winston Ma. Suffice to say the title of the book nails the thesis that China is perhaps the most advanced mobile-driven economy in the world today. Winston really got ahead of that trend early when he wrote the book and it's a really good primer for the tectonic shifts that have transformed the Chinese economy, mobile-led consumer behavior and shifts in consumption patterns. Many have argued that Chinese innovations have inspired the later mobile-led innovations (especially in payments) adopted in the U.S. with the likes of Apple, Amazon, Facebook etc that we all take for granted use on a daily basis.

KEY TAKEAWAY: The Chinese e-commerce market is 43% of the world (larger than the U.S. and UK, combined) and the Chinese mobile payments market is approximately 10x the U.S.

April

No Ordinary Disruption by Richard Dobbs, James Manyika and Jonathan Woetzel

My Dad has been raving on about this book for a while - written by fellow McKinsey alum - so when I visited home in Sydney, Australia, in March he gave it to me to read on the plane back to New York. The name of the book is fairly self-explanatory and is very dense with data points and interesting facts and figures. It outlines how there are four major global forces essentially driving the disruption: emerging markets, technology, demographics and flows (trade, capital, information etc). Needless to say the depth of analysis is mind-blowing! I really enjoyed this book and the global macro view, weaving everything together and making it easy and enjoyable to read. In some ways, it reads like a story book, except this is fact, not fiction! The only downer is the book is very data heavy but is a few years out of date since coming to press so some of the figures are a little out of date but it's a really worthwhile book to read I'd suggest.

KEY TAKEAWAY: There are many people who believe the world feels different. When you actually analyze the data, the answer is: it really is different. 

May

Soccernomics by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski

The 2018 FIFA World Cup - world's biggest sporting event - is coming up in June and I got into the mood by reading this very interesting and entertaining book! My wonderful colleague Hiren Shah first mentioned the book - and concept of Soccernomics - to me about a year ago. So I decided the wait for the updated and revised edition timed for release in April just in time for the World Cup to start in June in Russia. For the Americans reading this, Soccernomics is the soccer equivalent of Moneyball and the Billy Beane approach to using data and analytics to make informed, evidence-based decisions for almost anything and everything from player buying and selling, team selection, tactics, where to place corner kicks, how to take penalty kicks, which countries have out- and under-performed at World Cups (spoiler alert, Spain has outperformed and England hasn't underperformed at major tournaments, rather English fans' expectations are unrealistically high). Essentially the book makes the case that soccer - like most sports - has traditionally been dominated by people who are suspicious of formal education and have rather relied on their gut feeling in relation to decision making. Gut feeling is important when it is contextualized with data and evidence regarding decision making.

KEY TAKEAWAY: Australia have no chance of winning the World Cup any time soon, but the U.S. will likely get there one day.

June

Deep Thinking by Garry Kasparov

In May, I was grateful to attend the Wall Street Journal Future of Everything Festival in New York, invited by my old mate Rajiv Pant. The Artificial Intelligence (AI) track was sold out with a long waiting list and it was soon easy to understand why given the incredible content and speakers lined up, including former the man regarded by many as the greatest chess player in history, Garry Kasparov. I was lucky enough to meet Kasparov after his remarks and purchase two autographed copies of his new book, one for me, the other I mailed to my Dad in Australia. For those who need reminding, Kasparov became the youngest-ever world champion at age 22 in 1985 and spent twenty years as the world's top-rated chess player. His legendary chess matches against the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue in 1996 and 1997 made him a central figure in AI and the evolution of the human-machine relationship. Kasparov speaks and writes frequently on innovation, decision-making, and risk, and Deep Thinking certainly incorporated these theme against a backdrop of Kasparov's chess career - and the game of chess - and the battle for machine intelligence supremacy over humans. The essence of the book surmises that one machine or artificial intelligence reaches or exceed humans - the singularity - then humans will be forced to start thinking (again) and unlock newfound creativity and purpose that has essentially been neglected. In Kasparov's words, "I have argued that our technology can make us more human by freeing us to be creative, but there is more to being human than creativity. We have other qualities that machines cannot match. They have instructions while we have purpose." I certainly recommend reading this book and don't be dismayed by the middle chapters that are very chess-heavy, the beginning and end are very valuable if you haven't got the patience for the middle.

KEY TAKEAWAY: The smartphone in your hand (or pocket) today is vastly more powerful than the supercomputer Deep Blue.

July

Human + Machine by Paul R. Daugherty and H. James Wilson

As mentioned earlier, in May I was grateful to attend the Wall Street Journal Future of Everything Festival in New York. Prior the first day's sessions on the Artificial Intelligence track, there was a breakfast co-hosted by The Wall Street Journal and Accenture discussing the future of work and new ways of working. The panel discussed the issues at hand, and one of them was H. James Wilson, the co-author of Human + Machine where I received a copy. Unfortunately it wasn't autographed! Be that as it may, it made for good plane reading to and from (~12 hours) a business trip to San Francisco. It was also timely reading as our team made history just weeks earlier launching Pepper the leading social humanoid robot and becoming the first major bank in the world to deploy a robot to retail bank customers in the U.S. (Like the MIT Review said, "Who said banking was boring?") Considering how we were one of the few organizations be grappling with the 4th Industrial Revolution and launched a real time case study with our robot, it was interesting to compare notes and read the theory and compare to our practical experience vis-a-vis, Pepper. The book essentially outlines how AI is radically transforming business, and more or less asks: Are you ready for it? But it's more than just AI and the whole technology or machine invasion of the workplace and what that means for humans. The book makes the point, rightly in my view, that it's not a binary choice between humans or machines, but rather about humans and machines. In many ways the winners will fill the "missing middle" as the book calls it, and that human capabilities will be augmented by machines, creating effectively superhuman capabilities. Finally, the book outlines the five crucial principles for the organizations who want to be the winners: mindset, experimentation, leadership, data and skills. Or, MELDS. Corporate America loves a good acronym! According to a good article by CNBC, in the real world robots are already taking human jobs, but it may not be such a bad thing. As luck would have it, I was in Miami for a keynote at the FinTech Americas Summit in September and bumped into James who was keynoting immediately following me. It was really great to chat with him and compare notes and recommend highly reading his book.

KEY TAKEAWAY: Robots will make us all more human.

August

What to Do When You're Having Two by Natalie Diaz

In May, we found out my incredible wife was pregnant. With twins! Many thoughts ran through our heads when the doctor confirmed it was multiple, not least of which were "double trouble" and "one, and done." In many ways, Rebecca and I perfectly compliment each other. Consider the following: a laid back Aussie, intense New Yorker; youngest child, oldest child; thrives in chaos, loves order; exponential, linear thinker; go with the flow, loves planning. You get the drift, it's a perfect combination and we balance each other out really well. Ying and Yang. In August I flew home to Australia to meet some colleagues in Sydney, speak at a conference, and see family over four very busy days. I ordered this book over Amazon for Rebecca to read, which she did, and she rightly suggested I take it to read on my 22 hours of flying from New York to Sydney. It was also a good distraction from my usual business-related reading, and I read the book fairly quickly. It certainly helped that Rebecca highlighted important sections and takeaways, and scribbled some notes in the book also, so it made things even easier for me to digest. The book itself was super easy to read and thoroughly enjoyable from an author who herself, was a mother of twins. I liked how the book flowed from the moment you found out the good news to the first year or so post-birth, explaining in simple and entertaining details what to expect and various options along the journey with numerous practical tips, advice and pitfalls. All the while stressing the importance of choice and doing what's right for your circumstances. The book made me even more excited for the birth scheduled for January 2019 and I highly recommend it to expecting parents of twins.

KEY TAKEAWAY: Buckle up and enjoy the ride!

September

Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

I'm a big fan of Taleb and his work, especially his candid and thoughtful interpretations and worldview. If you don't already follow him on twitter, you should. The name of the book is also the commonly used phrase, “skin in the game.” The phrase itself is often used, carelessly, but rarely analyzed are its true essence and meaning. Skin in the Game is as much about Taleb's worldview as it is about risk management judging fairness and justice, or to use Taleb's own words, it's "the ultimate BS-buster,” and “Never trust anyone who doesn’t have skin in the game. Without it, fools and crooks will benefit, and their mistakes will never come back to haunt them.” Accountability in this world of easy communications and hyperactive news cycles means people can say just about about anything and often never be held accountable. Whether that be a forecast, prediction or opinion, or worse, an allegation, accusation or threat. The subtitle of the book is Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life and very appropriate in today's world where seemingly out-of-touch decisions are often made that baffle, confuse and frankly inflame situations. This is in-part explained by what Taleb calls a "stubborn minority" (with or without skin in the game) that can impose its will on the relatively disinterested majority. There are many humorous parts of the book throughout, perhaps my favorite is what he terms the Intellectual Yet Idiot (IYI). In Taleb's own words the term refers to the semi-intelligent well-pedigreed "who are telling us 1) what to do, 2) what to eat, 3) how to speak, 4) how to think… and 5) who to vote for". They purport to represent a very small minority of people ("stubborn minority") but have an overwhelming impact on the vast majority because they can affect or influence public policy. According to Taleb, the IYI are often policy wonks, politicians, opinion makers, academics, journalists, and media pundits. Taleb points out that being educated and "intellectual" doesn't always mean that someone isn't an "idiot" for most purposes. "You can be an intellectual yet still be an idiot. 'Educated philistines' have been wrong on everything from Stalinism to Iraq to low-carb diets." Taleb dedicates a chapter to IYIs in his book Skin in the Game. This was the most enjoyable book I've read this year (at the time of writing) and I often would be laughing out loud throughout the chapters. Worth reading.

KEY TAKEAWAY: Judge people by their actions, not their words. That's how you tell if someone has Skin in the Game.

October

Modern Monopolies by Alex Moazed and Nicholas L. Johnson

Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of attending The Economist: Finance Disrupted in New York. After my panel concluded - which was super entertaining thanks to a pre-panel competition among panelists to not mention the word "blockchain" (Jesse McWaters lost!) - I was approached by a really nice guy to expand upon something that I'd said about platform business models. The gentleman was very interesting and insightful and when I asked him for his interest in the topic he politely mentioned he's the co-author of a book on the subject. It turns out I'd been speaking with Nick Johnson who co-authored Modern Monopolies. One-click buy on Amazon and my copy was delivered a day or two later. I started reading it about three weeks later on the evening flight out to Las Vegas for Money 20/20 and couldn't put it down where I read half of it. I read the other half almost a month later on a flight to Austin for the keynote at Future Branches 2018 and must say the book was easy to read, enjoyable, and one of my favorites reads of the year. In the world dominated by the likes of Google, Facebook, Snapchat, Tinder, Amazon, and Uber, have you ever paused to think what they intrinsically have in common? They're platforms. Platforms are the modern monopolies and the new business models that are building exponential organizations and rebuilding dinosaurs in order to compete in the 21st Century. Like an old fashioned marketplace, a platform, by definition, creates value by facilitating an exchange between two or more interdependent groups. So, rather that making things, they simply connect people. The Internet today is awash in platforms, in many ways it's what separates the winners from the wannabes. The advent of mobile technology and its ubiquitous connectivity have forever altered how we interact with each other, melding the digital and physical worlds and blurring distinctions between "offline" and "online." These platform giants are expanding their influence from the digital world to the whole economy. Modern Monopolies is a must read explaining the pathway forward and connecting the dots how we got here. I'm so grateful for my fortuitous meeting with Nick the co-author as I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

KEY TAKEAWAY: Don't build a business, build a platform.

November

Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Last month I finished Skin in the Game and loved Taleb's writing. So I picked up Antifragile a book and theory that I had heard much about. November was a busy month with lots of twins and baby-related medical appointments so reading wasn't the easiest. That said, Antifragile essentially makes the case for chaos and uncertainty. The analogy is used by Taleb (himself a weightlifter) that human bones get stronger when subjected to tension and stress, so too are many things in life that benefit from volatility and disorder. In other words, if something is fragile and subsequently breaks as a result of volatility or stress, that which thrives and flourishes under such tension is therefore, "antifragile." Think "fight or flight" as a similar way of explaining it. I personally related to the Antifragile theory and have often enjoyed the opportunities that chaotic environments afford. In fact, this year provided both personal and professional uncertainty that made for tremendous opportunity for development and achievement. The modern human conditioning in developed economies for aversion to any pain or even minor volatility creating grossly unprepared populations for major shocks and instability in the future, thus creating even greater systemic risks.

KEY TAKEAWAY: No pain, no gain.

December

Essentialism by Greg McKeown

Essentialism is a book I've been wanting to read and had it in my collection for many years, but I felt I wanted to wait for the "right time" to read it. In January 2014, I met the author Greg McKeown at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. At the time, Essentialism was about to be released and I thoroughly enjoyed chatting to Greg and appreciated that he was a straight up, no BS direct kind of guy, and I really liked that way about him. He also had the one of the coolest business cards in Davos that mirrored the illustration on the cover of his soon to be released book. I fondly recall Arianna Huffington lavishing enormous praise about Greg during the Annual Meeting and she gave me a galley copy of her own book, Thrive, that I really enjoyed reading along a similar theme about the importance of self healing during my very long flight/s home to Sydney, Australia. I bought Essentialism when it came out and fast forward half a decade and my plan was to read it at the end of this very hectic year, before the twins arrive. So I did. And I'm very glad to have waited to read this book last as we pause to think about the year ahead. This book is really about focusing on the important things and cutting out the rest. Essential vs non-essential. Rather than getting more things done, it's about getting only the right things done. In other words, it's a systematic discipline for discerning what is absolutely essential, then eliminating everything that isn't, allowing you to focus and make the highest possible contribution towards the things that really matter.  In so doing, reclaim our lives. If we don't control our lives, someone else will. Professional or personal. Same principle applies. I highly recommend reading this book to all professionals.

KEY TAKEAWAY: Less but better; saying the word 'no' is a complete sentence.

Jeremy K. Balkin is the award-winning author of Millennialization of Everything: How to Win When Millennials Rule the World

Disclaimer: views my own.