8 Books from 2022 on Business, Life, Stoicism and Leadership

I wanted to take the opportunity to share the books I liked reading this year across various topics like technology, business, success, and leadership among others (This is my 8th year of sharing my favorite books of the year). Most of them are business books which is my preferred genre. Here are the eight books I liked reading in 2022 and also at the bottom you have my favorite books from 2015 till 2021.

CEO Excellence by Scott Keller, Carolyn Dewar, Vikram Malhotra?–?This is an insider peek into what CEO's do as leaders. There are six mindsets here with the first being to set the direction. All CEO's have a game-changing vision to change the future and this motivates the team to perform. Satya Nadella turned around Microsoft by doing some game-changing moves. including acquisitions. One of the key takeaways is CEO's are not the best at something but they know many things and hire the best to complement them. Another key is productivity for example when they are on vacation they switch off completely to renew. They compartmentalize and focus only on key priorities. They are also excellent at resource allocation. A flat-out great read for all leaders.

The Power of Regret by Daniel Pink–?I have read all of Daniel Pink's books and he is a great author. This book is well researched and makes the case for embracing negative emotions by learning from them and not ruminating in them. Regret improves decision-making as it enables us to slow down, improves performance, and increases meaning. There are four key regret types with the first being foundation regrets may be thinking about not studying well, boldness regrets not taking chances, moral regrets, and finally connection regrets. You can self-disclose the regret. and also give the same advice you would give to your best. friend. It is a good read and in my view is we shouldn't spend too much time in the past it doesn't hurt to lean into the past to learn from it.

The Earned Life by Marshall Goldsmith–?The number one leadership thinker is back with his most personal work yet. The bottom line is to forego the if-then mentality where we are always hungry for more but never satisfied. We get a title we struggled for and then suddenly we devalue that to aim for the next one. I think this is solid advice in understanding that we are all impermanent and we need to be in the present moment to enjoy life. He also advises folks to specialize in a particular area so that you get full rewards for your effort.

Build by Tony Fadell–?The creator of the iPod, iPhone, and one of the most recognized faces. of Silicon Valley comes up with the process of how things work. Fadell articulates that it took him a couple of iterations to create the iPhone. Find out what you are good at and passionate therein you will find your vocation. Look for pressing customer needs to solve. He also says you don't have to be a manager to be successful. If you are passionate about the cause anymore that's the time to quit. He finally says not every founder should be a CEO. An interesting read.

Bittersweet by Susan Cain–?This is all about embracing negative emotions and sorrow is also important to the human psyche. I am seeing more and more authors leaning towards vulnerability, regret, embracing negative emotions, and touchy topics which in an earlier era were taboo. It is a somber read but very well written.

Hearts Touched with Fire by David R. Gergen–?I loved this book on leadership. He starts with the premise that young leaders are needed now and we are no longer dependent on great colleges giving great leaders. He also says social media can be used wisely to build a following and make an impact. Leadership starts with being the author of your own life. This means instead of trying to change what you are mediocre at into average understand what you are good at and become the best. There are also ideas on how to embrace resilience through adaptability. Franklin Roosevelts fight with polio and how he overcame it is also well detailed. Finally I like the call for leaders to embrace humility. This is a flat out great read.

Quit by Annie Duke - She wrote Thinking in Bets which I liked. The main premise of that was even if you make a good decision doesn't mean the outcome will be always favorable and that doesn't mean the decision was wrong. Our lives are driven by our decisions and luck. The premise of this book is simple if something is not working there is no point in persisting just for the sake of grit. I totally agree with that. If you don't like playing piano don't stick with it just because you started it. if you are never going to be the best at it or even close quit immediately. I think this is solid advice considering how many goals many folks have. The best way is to quit the things that are not working and apply grit to the areas you can be best at.

Discipline is Destiny by Ryan Holiday - The Stoicism guru is at it again. His first book in this series was courage is calling. Once you have the courage then you need discipline to carry out the decisions. It has interesting stories and anecdotes and lot of them are from sports. Bottom line is embrace your waking hours and do things that are uncormfortable like getting up early, exercising, reading etc. We have only a short time in life so appreciate your waking time in spite of whatever is happening in your life. It is inspiring and might make us a little more disciplined.

I think you might find some of these interesting to put on your reading list.

Here are the other books I liked right from 2015 to 2021.

My favorite books of 2015

My favorite books of 2016

My Favorite books of 2017

Top Books I liked Reading in 2018

25 Books of 2019

35 Books from 2020

13 Books from 2021 below