Best reads of the year: 2019

I confess that I’m more of a fiction reader than anything else, but four books I read this year had a big impact on my professional thinking, and on the way I think about integrating my work and home lives.

• ‘Hired’, by James Bloodworth. An eye-opening account of a journalist having been ‘embedded’ for six months as a zero-hours worker in Britain. Probably the best context-setting I read to what happened in this month’s General Election.
• ‘The Culture Code’, by Daniel Coyle. Tons of engaging anecdotes, and much valuable insight at a time when we’re actively developing our own culture at SoftBank.

“[Building purpose is...] not as simple as carving a mission statement in granite or encouraging everyone to recite a hymnal of catchphrases. It's a never-ending process of trying, failing, reflecting and above all learning. High-purpose environments don't descend on groups from on high; they are dug out of the ground, over and over, as a group navigates its problems together and evolves to meet the challenges of a fast-changing world.” 

• ‘Difficult Conversations: how to discuss what matters most’, by the team behind the Harvard Negotiation Project. Truly transformative in terms of how I think about communicating with the people closest to me at home and at work

“The single most important thing [you can do] is to shift [your] internal stance from "I understand" to "Help me understand." Everything else follows from that. Remind yourself that if you think you already understand how someone feels or what they are trying to say, it is a delusion.”

• And finally, probably the single most important thing I’ve read this year: ‘Couples That Work: How Dual-Career Couples Can Find Fulfillment in Love and Work’. I keep meaning to write a longer post on the many lessons I learned from this brilliant book - probably the first to name the lifestyle that Jonathan and I unwittingly chose seven or so years ago and which we try every day to make a success of. My top recommendation for anyone starting a family and wanting to progress two careers in tandem.

2020 promises to be a year of more reading - but of a different sort. A taster from my brother-in-law here, and I hope to write more in the next year about that particular new challenge. Here’s to a fulfilling next year.