To Giving more, Sleeping more and Asking the big questions more: Readings from July to December 2022.
“The three largest forces on the planet—technology, globalization, and climate change—are all accelerating at once.” - Thomas L. Friedman
That is the central theme of Friedman's book Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations. The ambitious book, published in 2016, became instantly popular as it put a framework to the frenetic pace of societal changes that have typified the last four decades. After three years of covid, I wonder whether the Pulitzer Prize-winning author would now reconsider the variables in the equation or would consider the pandemic as an outcome of the three variables. I suggest he looks at a new constant/control variable (K) called nature. A force that has finally taken centre stage in the corporate world as we enter 2023 with a renewed focus on sustainability.
A very happy 2023 to you, my fellow readers. I wish you and your loved ones many hours of peaceful readings and happiness in the new year.
Looking back on my past six months of readings, the time was spent with familiar characters (the Tillmans and Aaron Falk), moments of inspiration and deep thought, new ideas and derivatives of old ones, and shock and sadness. Hopefully, all towards a better me, and through my sharing, value to you.
My annual book challenge continues with an aim to read two books a month. Below are my readings from the last six months in reverse reading order - Most recent to earliest. If you are curious, you can find the 12 books I read in the first six months of 2022.
- The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Goldratt, Eliyahu M.
- Exiles (Aaron Falk, #3) by Harper, Jane
- The Courage to be Disliked by Kishimi, Ichiro
- Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Duckworth, Angela
- The Complete Maus by Spiegelman, Art
- Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations by Friedman, Thomas L.
- A Business and Its Beliefs: The Ideas That Helped Build IBM by Jr., Thomas J. Watson
- Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success by Grant, Adam M.
- The Promises of Giants by Amaechi, John
- The Rosie Result (Don Tillman, #3) by Simsion, Graeme
- Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams by Walker, Matthew
- When We Cease to Understand the World by Labatut, Benjamín
As previously done, below are five books I enjoyed the most. While it is restrictive, I limit each of the six months to five top books, allowing me to create a list of the top ten reads for the year!
A little caveat, dear reader, on this approach of mine. These are the books I enjoyed the most at the time - not a judgement on which book is better or worse, or even which books you will enjoy more. Please read them all to make up your mind. :)
The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Goldratt, Eliyahu M.
“Jonah said there was only one goal. Well, I don’t see how that can be. We do a lot of things in the course of daily operations, and they’re all important. Most of them anyway . . . or we wouldn’t do them. What the hell, they all could be goals.”
I introduced you to Erik Reid from The Phoenix Project in my post in 2021. Meet Jonah - the OG Erik Reid. "The Goal" by Eliyahu Goldratt was first published in 1984 and tells the story through an easy read of Alex Rogo, a manufacturing plant manager who has ninety days to save his failing plant. Working with his mentor, Jonah, he breaks from conventional wisdom to change how the plant works. The book is an excellent explanation of the theory of constraints and operations management.
If that story sounds familiar to you, it is because "The Phoenix Project" (see 2021 post) was based on it. I found Goldratt's original version broader in application, more thorough, and the framework they devised more replicable in general management.
I recommend anyone in business today to read it. (I wish the cover didn't look like a high school textbook!)
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Duckworth, Angela
“Without effort, your talent is nothing more than your unmet potential. Without effort, your skill is nothing more than what you could have done but didn’t. With effort, talent becomes skill and, at the very same time, effort makes skill productive.”
I watched Angela Duckworth's excellent TED talk a few years ago and had her book on my reading list for at least two years before I got to it. I wish I had read it earlier.
I wish I had read it 20 years earlier! but.. :)
My learning of high performance continued with Duckworth's thesis and research on human grit. Using stories from her research and her personal life, in the book Duckworth delves into the single-most key identifier of future success - Grit.
If you have learnt from the publications of Carol Dweck, Charles Duhigg, Anders Ericsson, Adam Grant, James Clear, Cal Newport, etc., grab "Grit" and soak it in. At the very least - watch the TED talk.
Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success by Grant, Adam M.
“So if givers are most likely to land at the bottom of the success ladder, who’s at the top—takers or matchers? Neither. When I took another look at the data, I discovered a surprising pattern: It’s the givers again.”
Adam Grant's "Give and Take" was a fascinating read for me personally. The book differentiates people as either takers, matchers, or givers. Takers strive to get as much as possible from others, matchers aim to trade evenly, and givers contribute to others without expecting anything in return.
Grant's research shows that while some givers get exploited and burnt out, the rest achieve extraordinary results across a wide range of industries. The book talks about the givers who are not "chumps" - the ones who can protect their own interests, are ambitious and yet are givers by definition. The research shows that these people have a majority representation at the top of the ladders of the business world.
The Rosie Result (Don Tillman, #3) by Simsion, Graeme
“I was a scientist. I was autistic. These were my key strengths.”
Whenever I read a sequel to a story I have enjoyed, I worry a bit about how the characters will evolve. Particularly when the characters are like Don and Rosie Tillman. My listing of Graeme Simsion's The Rosie Result in my top five is not just for this book but rather for the series itself. Simsion masterfully completes the heart-warming and entertaining storyline with some of the much-loved characters and some new ones.
If you haven't read the series yet, it's a feel-good Australian story narrated by the main protagonist - Don Tillman and professor of genetics. Don has a high-functioning form of autism spectrum disorder and struggles with social rituals. In the third book of the series, Don and Rosie are back in Melbourne after a decade in New York (Book 2), grappling with their son's issues in school while opening a cocktail bar - and much more!
Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams by Walker, Matthew
“The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night’s sleep.”
I learnt so much from this book and have recommended it already to quite a few of my friends and acquaintances. First published in 2017, neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker brings together 50 years of research and provides a revolutionary exploration of sleep, examining how it affects every aspect of our physical and mental well-being.
If you are one of the many modern workers who take pride in a lack of sleep or sleep less than seven to eight hours a night, please read this book and share it with everyone you know.
That's it for the 2022 readings from me. I hope you will get your hands on some of the books I shared above.
Before I sign off, I would like to mention one more book: A Business and Its Beliefs: The Ideas That Helped Build IBM by Thomas J. Watson Jr., the son of the founder of IBM. Published in 1963, the book provides an inside look at IBM's executive offices at the time. Even though the book was written over six decades ago, the stories in it and the management philosophies it shares feel amazingly current today. Many of the same beliefs have kept the organisation together and allowed it to reinvent itself repeatedly as a technology company and remain essential to its customers for over more than a century.
Happy readings.
Previous book reviews: 2018, 2019, Jan-Jun 2020, Jul-Dec 2020, Jan-Jun 2021, Jul-Dec 2021, Jan-Jun 2022.
So do I