Favorite Reads in 2023

If you know me, you know I like books. I read for pleasure. But I also read a lot for work. Whether you're a generalist, specialist, solo, or member of a big legal department, in-house lawyers must know a whole lot about a variety of things. A steady stream of blogs, articles, and podcasts helps to stay broadly informed. But sometimes, you need to go deep, and a book is the best way to develop a healthy understanding of a new topic.

Below (in no particular order) are my five favorite "professional" books from 2023. None are brand new. Some have been around for a while, I just didn't discover them until recently. An impactful book is an impactful book, though, regardless of it's age. And speaking of age, I'm old fashioned. I need a physical book - A tablet won't do. Most people aren't going to bother your "business" book left out on the counter. A tablet, though. . . the kids will take it, lose it, or run the battery out. Then what do you do?

The library's still good for finding many books. And if it's a great read, I buy a copy to reference again.

1. The Trusted Advisor, David H. Maister, Charles H. Green & Robert M. Galford: I recommend this book to every lawyer, and anyone else whose work involves giving advice. We've all known a trusted advisor or two. They're impressive in action, but we often have trouble describing how they do what they do. The Trusted Advisor well articulates that hard to describe knack exceptional counselors have navigating relationships with the counseled, or any relationship for that matter. The introduction sells the book: our formal education didn't prepare us for the real world of serving clients constructively. Technical mastery of one's discipline won't get you there - you have to know how to earn trust. And this book wonderfully explains how trust is won, dispensing functional wisdom on the lost art of great listening, ensuring the client, and not yourself, remains the center of attention, and the difficult but essential task of artfully framing issues. This book will make you a better advisor, which starts with knowing that earning trust is about better understanding your client's point of view.
2. Smart Brevity, Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen & Roy Schwartz: Most of what we write is clutter - too long, poorly organized, without clear meaning or instruction. This compact, powerful book aims to change that. Written by the founders of AXIOS, the media company, Smart Brevity explains what makes soft, noisy writing so bad, and provides many easy to follow tips for making your writing punchy. This is crucial in our age of fractured attention, where the reader's first temptation is to skim. Never again write a tl;dr email or a florid report without a clear subject. Instead, stand out by writing with clarity, impact, and brevity.
3. Open Source for Business: A Practical Guide to Open Source Software Licensing, Heather Meeker: Last April, Heather Meeker was the keynote speaker at our Association of Corporate Counsel Mountain West Chapter Tech Law Symposium in Salt Lake City. She was incredible in her knowledge and delivery, and afterwards I got a copy of this book as soon as I could. As the lawyer for a software company, I needed to beef up my understanding of open source, which can make up 70 to 90 percent of the code in modern programs. This is a must read for any software lawyer, even if only an occasional one. Heather is great at making a tough topic accessible and keeping the reader's interest with stories and analogies. After finishing Open Source for Business, I'm sure I annoyed a few people back at the office with my newfound enthusiasm for OSS compliance. But I'm proud of the efforts we've taken since to reinforce our open source license and vulnerability management.
4. Relationships to Infinity, Jason Levin: Most of us don't prioritize staying in touch with our professional network. We say it's too difficult, awkward, or there isn't time. Jason Levin debunks all your excuses for not nurturing your network, and offers insightful strategies for staying in touch. He also drills home the value of maintaining a robust network - it's essential for both personal well-being and professional growth. I had the pleasure of speaking with Jason last year through the Association of Corporate Counsel. His advice to me - "It's time to start your own 'keep in touch' party."
5. Learning to Think Strategically, Julia Sloan: This is a fascinating book. But it also takes patience and curiosity to wade through. It's upfront, however, that strategic thinking is not easily defined or taught, and you can't learn it by simply reading about it. Instead, strategic thinking must be cultivated over time in an often "messy" process. The book describes strategic thinking as suspending your search for solutions, and instead deeply exploring the nature of a problem, spending effort to correctly frame issues and explore and debunk assumptions. It's also about becoming at ease with complexity, ambiguity, and paradoxes. Strategic thinking additionally involves loads of creative thinking, and the book is full of good advice on nurturing your creative side. On my "messy" journey forward learning to think more strategically, I'll no doubt come back to this book often.

Nothing makes me happier than a good book recommendation, so let me know where your reading is taking you. And if any of these are among your favorites, well, let's chat!