2021 in Books

Made in America — Sam?Walton

Starting off, this is one of the best business books I have ever read. Sam Walton’s journey of taking Wal-Mart from a single store in rural Arkansas to the multi billion dollar retail empire it had become by the eighties is nothing short of awe-inpsiring. Walton takes the reader along for a ride as he recounts all the milestones — and hardships — he faced while leading Wal-Mart on its steady march through the U.S, and eventually outside it’s borders. The book is filled with little nuggets of inspiration throughout. From Walton’s “10 Rules for Running a Successful Business” to his approach around decentralizing company control, and his philosophy on creating customer value, it is not hard to see why this book is consistently among the most loved by business leaders. Even though much of what he writes is in the context of discount retailing, an idea once popularized by Wal-Mart, the lessons are universally applicable to almost any venture.

We exist to provide value to our customers, which means that in addition to quality and service, we have to save them money. Every time Walmart spends one dollar foolishly, it comes right out of our customers pocket. Every time we save them a dollar, that puts us one more step ahead of the competition — which is where we always plan to be.

Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul — Howard?Schultz

I’ve always been fascinated by how Starbucks has created a 100 billion dollar empire out of selling something as simple as a cup of coffee. But one thing that has been obvious even to me, as a customer, is that the coffee itself is just a ruse. What Starbucks is?really?selling you is an experience. This book, written by the former CEO and Chariman of Starbucks, underscores exactly why this philosophy is so core to the Starbucks brand.?Schultz, who led the company in it’s earliest years between the mid eighties and 2000, later rejoined as CEO in 2008 amidst the financial crisis as the company faced rapidly declining sales and precipitating customer trust. As Schultz himself admits, with a few glaring exceptions like Steve Jobs, founding CEOs coming back for a “second act” is rarely a good recipe. Schultz, however, brought with him a strong conviction not just in Starbucks as a company, but rather a brand that stood for so much more. While the recounting comes across as bombastic and has been criticized for being a bit contorted at times, it nonetheless provides good insight into the how the world’s largest coffee company works, and what makes them so successful.?

There are moments in our lives when we summon the courage to make choices that go against reason, against common sense and the wise counsel of people we trust. But we lean forward nonetheless because, despite all risks and rational argument, we believe that the path we are choosing is the right and best thing to do. We refuse to be bystanders, even if we do not know exactly where our actions will lead.?

My Life in Full — Indra?Nooyi

A first generation immigrant, a woman, and a person of colour — when it comes to being an “outsider”, Indra Nooyi checks almost every box. This is what makes her story all the more admirable. This is probably the book I was most looking forward to all year, and it did not disappoint. Nooyi takes us all the way back to her childhood, growing up in a middle class family in Madras, India and describes how she charted her course to become the first woman of colour to lead a Fortune 500 company in PepsiCo. The book touches on a lot of important issues like gender roles, lack of diversity in the industry, as well cultural expectations — and how these often play out in the workforce. For immigrants like myself, her story is deeply inspiring and provides a source of confidence on which to build our own careers, and find our place in society.

Diversity is a program. Inclusion is a state of mind.

Invent and Wander — Jeff?Bezos

Majority of this book is in the form of annual letters written by Bezos to Amazon’s shareholders, starting all the way back in 1997. Each of the letters goes into detail about the company’s business that year, all the ups and downs, new ventures created and shuttered — as well as the plan for the road ahead. Reading any of these letters in isolation is in itself very illuminating. But reading all of them in chronological order is a great way to get perspective on how the company has steadily grown over time, while keeping true to it’s core values of customer obsession, constant invention and “day one” mentality— even as it has entered new markets, and disrupted new businesses.

To invent you have to experiment, and if you know in advance that it’s going to work, it’s not an experiment.

Digital Minimalism: Choosing a focused life in a noisy world — Cal?Newport

Adding this book to the list feels like I’m cheating a little. It is not really about running a business or starting a company. Rather, it is an exploration of our relationship with the technology around us, which feels doubly important to me as someone who is not only constantly surrounded by tech products and applications, but also works in the industry. My biggest takeaway from this book has been to make a more conscious effort to evaluate if/how technology is serving me — or as the author puts it, being more?intentional?with my use of technology. It is important to recognize that your attention, much like your time, is a finite resource, and you need to play in active role in deciding how and where you spend it.

Digital minimalists see new technologies as tools to be used to support things they deeply value — not as sources of value themselves. They don’t accept the idea that offering some small benefit is justification for allowing an attention-gobbling service into their lives, and are instead interested in applying new technology in highly selective and intentional ways that yield big wins