The 7 best books I’ve read in 2020

It’s that time of the year again… time to reflect and introspect about our journey through the year… Whilst 2020 has been an incredibly difficult year for everyone, upon reflection I think, the two silver linings for me were seeing my 3 years old daughter growing up and cherishing every moment with her during the travel-restricted period imposed by a raging pandemic (a consultant by profession, I spend almost 60% of my time traveling), and going into an overdrive mode of reading while sitting on the armchair placed comfortably on my porch.

I have tried not to count the number of books I was able to complete this year but would certainly like to reflect upon the content and learning I took on the journey. Idea was to obviously expand my reading horizons and try venturing into uncharted territories and develop a gamut of competencies from leadership to technology, from human psychology to Geopolitical affairs. That said, I must admit that as consultant from Big 4, I have been guilty of typically focusing on the business and leadership related topics.

Trying to narrow down the list into the top 7 books I liked from an eclectic mix of books is an uphill task as I believe, every book, no matter how inconsequential, reshapes the contours of your outlook towards life. I would really hope some of these may be worth an investment of your time and money should you choose to read them.

Do leave your thoughts in comments if you agree/disagree with the selection list highlighted in the subsequent section.

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Loonshots by Safi Bahcall

To put things in perspective, how many authors would go out and study ideas which had remarkable transformation potential but were dismissed and the champions of those ideas were written off as crazy; Safi in his book likes to call such ideas as ‘Loonshots’ (on the contrary, a ‘Moonshot’ is an ambitious goal, widely expected to have great significance). This is a ground-breaking book that transcends boundaries of business, industries and time.

A physicist, historian and a business thinker, Safi closely analyzes multiple organizations and explores how smaller teams once known for identifying and nurturing breakthrough ideas almost miraculously turn into a team that becomes a loonshot killer when they become successful and bigger. Some important excerpts:

“In every creative field, we see legendary teams suddenly, and mysteriously, turn.”

“As teams and companies grow larger, the stakes in outcome decrease while the perks of rank increase. When the two cross, the system snaps. Incentives begin encouraging behavior no one wants. Those same groups—with the same people—begin rejecting loonshots.”

Backed by comprehensive research, Safi uses the ‘Phase Transition’ phenomenon to explain what could have changed culturally and structurally within the organization that precipitates barriers and opponents to the growth of loonshots. He further provides a theoretical framework and principles for the organizations who wish to continue the process of championing not just an individual loonshot but consistently producing and nurturing loonshots.

With real-life examples including stories from IBM, Pixar, Nokia and an amazing ‘Decision-making Process’ lesson from Gary Kasparov, this book has helped me recalibrate the economics of innovation and real-life continuous improvement, a boardroom priority given the rapidly transforming business landscape.

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Competing in the age of AI by Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani

The book opens up with a wonderful quote from Satya Nadella, CEO Microsoft who says “AI is the ‘runtime’ that is going to shape all of what it do”. Given my expertise in advising organizations on their Digital Enablement journey, I was immediately hooked with this book.

Marco and Karim highlight how organizations can adopt AI driven operating model using concepts – Scale, Scope, and Learning. Read the below excerpt that explains the concept further.

“…when an activity is digitized (like converting a paint stroke into pixels), profound changes take place. A digital representation is infinitely scalable — it is now possible to easily and perfectly communicate the pattern it represents, replicate it, and transmit it at virtually zero marginal cost to a near infinite numbers of recipients, anywhere in the world. Moreover, digitizing the activity makes it easily connectable, also at zero marginal cost, to limitless other, complementary activities, dramatically increasing its scope.”

In an amazing storytelling style, Marco and Karim nicely weave the narrative which touches upon various important aspects like the impact of AI on the strategy development, architecture, business and operating models, which are ‘must-to-consider’ for any growing and transforming organization.

If you want to understand how algorithms (and data, analytics, digital networks) are driving change and what does the future beckons for us, please don’t miss this book. Given the transformative potential of digital technologies, this book will help the readers, to get a real-life view of the immortal words of the Walter Gretzky, ‘skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been’.

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Great by Choice by Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen

I have been a great fan of Jim Collin's writings. Books such as ‘Good to Great’ and ‘Built to Last’, in which he analyzes how organizations transform from good one to a great one, have had a profound impact on my outlook towards life, business and relationships. In his latest offering, Jim delves into atomic details on the performance transformation (his previous works) and also turns this massively insightful gaze to the variables like unstable environment and chaos into the equation.

What merits attention in this book is how lucidly Jim analyzes the ‘10xers’ (companies beating the industry standards by a magnitude of 10 times) and introduces concepts of “Fanatical Discipline”, “Empirical Creativity”, “Productive Paranoia”, and “Passion”.

Great read and highly recommended for all business leaders.

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Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

“It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured”.

These were the beautiful opening lines that instantly appealed to my psyche; I lamented the fact it had taken me this long to read this remarkable work. Shantaram is loosely based on Gregory’s life, an armed robber and a heroin addict from Australia who escaped prison and came to live in Bombay, India.

Every event in Shantaram’s life offers deeply profound life-altering lessons. The narrative, poetry in motion, takes the reader through seven different phases in Gregory’s life; from the prison life in Australia to the drug lord in India, this book is a sea of emotions (Trust, Love, Regret, Betrayal and Pain, all mellifluously weaved through the writings) .

Author says: “Every human heart-beat is a universe of possibilities.”

A compelling tale of life laced with opportunities and hardships, this book is recommended for those who want to embrace the journey of self-discovery.

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Good Economics for Hard Times by Abhijeet Banerjee and Esther Duflo

“Economics is too important to be left to economists”.

I am a big fan of Abhijeet Banerjee’s work. Have heard him in a number of conferences and admire his ability to pick important world and social issues (majority of them are so fundamental, you won’t realize these are issues at all) and analyze them through the prism of economic theories and the outcome of random trials and natural experiments.

The Nobel Prize winning authors and a sharp critique to some of the policies of the current Indian Prime Minister Modi and other prominent global world leaders, Banerjee and Duflo try to address some of the poignant questions like ‘should people vote for politicians that are against immigration policies?’, How automation will impact jobs and welfare?’, ‘Should climate Armageddon be left as-is?’, and despite the contentious nature of these topics authors manage to orchestrate a balanced debate, supported with empirical research, evidences and opinions.

For instance, the widely debated topic of ‘Universal Basic Income’ deep dives into how this topic is heavily politicized and despite popular claims that UBI will have a regressive impact on the society, economic theories and controlled empirical research claim otherwise. Insightful and provocative, in equal measure, this book touches raw nerves on issues that have long been brushed “under the carpet” and offers uniquely efficient solutions to urgent and palpable macroeconomic issues.

Authors quote: “There is no evidence that cash transfers make people work less”.

For a rather not so long book, it took me almost a month to assimilate the wealth of knowledge these two authors have drafted. A must read for everyone.

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Lessons from a War Zone by Louai Al Rouman

Right in the middle of the lockdown period, when the world was going crazy, we were finding innovative ways to continue program delivery while solving our client’s most critical problems. We had to develop nerves of steel to deal with the pressure-situation and I must say, there were numerous nervous moments for me and the wider team. On one of those difficult moments, my colleague Pradeep, who’s blessed with an incredibly calm demeanor, mentioned to me about the work of Al Roumani and how he dealt with the unprecedented difficult and hostile moments during his life.

In his book Lessons from a Warzone, Al Roumani eloquently paints the picture of wisdom gained through the heart-breaking Syrian war and provides insights into strategies and tools for developing a robust and resilient mindset in times of extreme crises.

Never hope for anyone to live in a Warzone, but in times of extreme crises (in our personal or professional life), there are many useful emotional and practical lessons in this book for everyone to gain from.

An excerpt from the book that is testimonial to author’s commitment to placing customer empathy front and center of his daily work.

“In difficult times, if you attempt to downplay your clients’ genuine fear and panic and try to outsmart them, they will come to hate you”.

Lessons from a Warzone is a compelling guide on resilient leadership in turbulent times, all the more relevant in today’s global business landscape that is grappling with the pandemic. His uniquely captivating and counterintuitive methods, ranging from hacking his own IT department to offering free bus rides competitor’s staff, steering the bank through a war, inspired me to embrace seemingly insurmountable challenges.

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The One World School House – Education Reimagined by Sal Khan

Almost a year ago, I had a mini-paradigm-shift moment in my life when I came in touch with Asad bhai (that’s how I like to call him respectfully) who is the driving force behind a ‘sort-of revolution’ in the field of education for the underprivileged kids in far-flung areas within small towns in India. I got associated with this group known as ALIG (‘A Literary Initiative Group’) that has been doing an incredible work in expanding its outreach (https://www.aligsociety.org/). I was fortunate to find myself into the elite group of ALIG advisory board and as I tried to expand my knowledge into the new paradigm of education (from reimagined curriculum to redefined teaching methodologies), I was deeply influenced by Sal Khan’s book The One World School House- Education Reimagined.

(The proud members from the ALIG group)

An ex-Investment banker, Sal believed in a free, world-class education for everyone, anywhere; At the heart of his radical concepts of innovative education is – ‘liberating teachers from lecturing and state-mandated calendars and opening class time for truly human interaction’. Sal professes on some important factors that are worth considering – the current Prussian style of education is almost two centuries old and whilst everything else around it has changed, it’s time for the education to be revolutionized top-down, critical to rethink and infuse creativity, collaborative idea generation and true-human interactivity for a rich-learning experience.

For his brand fresh, compelling and unfettered ideas, Sal was named as one of Time’s 100 most influential people in the world and his work is a must-read and un-put-downable for those providing real education to our children, especially in this new age of technology.

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Few other notable mentions from my overpopulated bookshelves, that I plan to read in the coming few weeks as we wind up what has been a year of glorious uncertainties are as follows:

• Sarah Frier’s seminal work “No Filter” traces the journey of an app that has revolutionized the way we eat, dress and live, offering insights into the “influencer industry”.
• "No Rules Rules" by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer breaks a number of clichés that one usually associates with corporate culture. The book reveals the secret recipe behind the much talked about Netflix’s work culture, accredited by many to be solely responsible for its meteoric rise
• "Samsung Rising", by Geoffrey Cain, is one of the best accounts on Korean behemoth’s ascent to power and how a relentless pursuit of excellence, military discipline and unwavering commitment to quality helped turn Samsung from a vegetable seller to a Global Tech titan

Thank you.