Inspiration in the New Year: CIOs Share Top Reads of 2019

As we race into a new year, I find myself reflecting on inspiration, motivation, and the importance of staying curious. How do we keep growing our knowledge as leaders? How do we keep stretching the boundaries of our abilities? In today’s hyper-speed world, it’s vital that we honor our instincts; however, fresh ideas and diversity of input are the seeds of innovation. When the goal is to make new connections, seeking out new perspectives can be the best place to start.

Sounds like a good time to start drafting a 2020 reading list, eh?

In honor of the new decade and my search for fresh inspiration, I posed the question to accomplished IT leaders in Pacific Northwest on LinkedIn, “What was your favorite read of 2019?”

Unsurprisingly, leaders responded with enthusiasm, and I was impressed by both the flood of responses and diversity of topics. With suggestions ranging from meditations on Artificial Intelligence’s unprecedented advances to the importance of a gender-balanced work culture, the below reads represent some of 2019’s most impact releases (as well as tried-and-true, thought-provoking classics).

From the LinkedIn community, here are some suggestions on worthwhile reading to help inspire your own evolution and jump start innovation in 2020:

Travis Luckey Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Oregon DEQ

“Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World” by David Epstein (2019)

FROM TRAVIS:  “For [Malcolm] Gladwell fans, Range presents fascinating data about generalization that challenges Gladwell’s emphasis on specialization in his classic book Outliers. The two authors had an insightful live discussion on the topic…recorded for the 92Y Talks podcast in May – also highly recommended.”

FROM THE PUBLISHER: “Provocative, rigorous, and engrossing, Range makes a compelling case for actively cultivating inefficiency. Failing a test is the best way to learn. Frequent quitters end up with the most fulfilling careers. The most impactful inventors cross domains rather than deepening their knowledge in a single area. As experts silo themselves further while computers master more of the skills once reserved for highly focused humans, people who think broadly and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives will increasingly thrive.”

Greg Sanker CIO at Oregon Department of Administrative Services

“Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (2012)

FROM GREG:  “Not an easy read (and requires a lot of pondering), but [presents] massive implications for understanding and managing complex systems.”

FROM THE PUBLISHER: “Just as human bones get stronger when subjected to stress and tension, and rumors or riots intensify when someone tries to repress them, many things in life benefit from stress, disorder, volatility, and turmoil. What Taleb has identified and calls ‘antifragile’ is that category of things that not only gain from chaos but need it in order to survive and flourish.”

Alicia Anderson, CISM Vice President/CIO at AAA Oregon/Idaho

“Measure What Matters” by John Doerr (2018)

FROM ALICIA:  “[This book] created good discussions around if we were measuring the correct things and what…we want to change for 2020.”

FROM THE PUBLISHER: “Legendary venture capitalist John Doerr reveals how the goal-setting system of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) has helped tech giants from Intel to Google achieve explosive growth—and how it can help any organization thrive. In Measure What Matters, Doerr shares a broad range of first-person, behind-the-scenes case studies, with narrators including Bono and Bill Gates, to demonstrate the focus, agility, and explosive growth that OKRs have spurred at so many great organizations. This book will help a new generation of leaders capture the same magic.”

Bob Leek CIO & Director of County Assets, Multnomah County, OR

“Better Together: 8 Ways Working with Women Leads to Extraordinary Products & Profits” by Jonathan Sposato (2017)

FROM THE PUBLISHER: “Author Jonathan Sposato knows the challenges facing women in startup tech and venture capital today because he specifically builds his companies without those obstacles. He credits the unprecedented success of his businesses on his brand of gender-balanced culture, and in this fully practical guidebook to his celebrated style of team building, he puts his eight secrets to profiting through diversity in your hands. These secrets are not just for tech companies, but for teams and companies in ANY industry.”

Ken Collins CIO, SAIF Corporation

“Infinite Game” by Simon Sinek (2019)

FROM THE PUBLISHER: “In finite games, like football or chess, the players are known, the rules are fixed, and the endpoint is clear. In infinite games, like business or politics or life itself, the players come and go, the rules are changeable, and there is no defined endpoint. There are no winners or losers in an infinite game; there is only ahead and behind. The leaders who embrace an infinite mindset… build stronger, more innovative, more inspiring organizations. Ultimately, they are the ones who lead the rest of us into the future.”

Jagjit Dhaliwal (JD) Deputy CIO at County of Los Angeles, Office of CIO

“The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York” by Robert A. Caro (1975)

FROM THE PUBLISHER: “Everywhere acknowledged as a modern American classic, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, and chosen by the Modern Library as one of the hundred greatest books of the twentieth century, The Power Broker is a huge and galvanizing biography revealing not only the saga of one man's incredible accumulation of power, but the story of the shaping (and mis-shaping) of New York in the twentieth century.”

Tamara Anderson, PMP, CSM Senior Program Coordinator at Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA)

“Captivate” by Vanessa Van Edwards (2018)

FROM THE PUBLISHER: “As a human behavior hacker, Vanessa Van Edwards created a research lab to study the hidden forces that drive us. And she’s cracked the code. In Captivate, she shares shortcuts, systems, and secrets for taking charge of your interactions at work, at home, and in any social situation. These aren’t the people skills you learned in school. This is the first comprehensive, science backed, real life manual on how to captivate anyone—and a completely new approach to building connections.”

Bob Hestand, ITIL CIO at Neil Kelly Company

“Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” by Carol Dweck (2007)

FROM THE PUBLISHER: “After decades of research, world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., discovered a simple but groundbreaking idea: the power of mindset. In this brilliant book, she shows how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavor can be dramatically influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities.”

Jeff Baer Chief Technology Officer, City of Portland, OR

“A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster” by Rebecca Solnit (2010)

FROM THE PUBLISHER: “The most startling thing about disasters, according to award-winning author Rebecca Solnit, is not merely that so many people rise to the occasion, but that they do so with joy… A Paradise Built in Hell is an investigation of the moments of altruism, resourcefulness, and generosity that arise amid disaster's grief and disruption and considers their implications for everyday life. It points to a new vision of what society could become-one that is less authoritarian and fearful, more collaborative and local.”

Fred Pond Regional Leadership Forum (RLF) Facilitator at Society for Information Management

“Principles for Success” by Ray Dalio (2019)

FROM THE PUBLISHER: “Principles for Success distills Ray Dalio’s 600-page bestseller, Principles: Life & Work, down to an easy-to-read and entertaining format that’s accessible to readers of all ages. It contains the key elements of the unconventional principles that helped Dalio become one of the world’s most successful people—and that have now been read and shared by millions worldwide—including how to set goals, learn from mistakes, and collaborate with others to produce exceptional results.”

Pradeep Kumar, MBA, PMP

IT Infrastructure Strategy/President Emeritus SIM Portland

“AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order” by Kai-Fu Lee (2018)

FROM THE PUBLISHER: “Dr. Kai-Fu Lee—one of the world’s most respected experts on AI and China—reveals that China has suddenly caught up to the US at an astonishingly rapid and unexpected pace. In AI Superpowers, Kai-Fu Lee argues powerfully that because of these unprecedented developments in AI, dramatic changes will be happening much sooner than many of us expected. Indeed, as… AI competition begins to heat up, Lee urges the US and China to both accept and to embrace the great responsibilities that come with significant technological power.”

Ananthan Thandri VP & CIO at Mentor Graphics

“Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are” by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz (2018)

FROM THE PUBLISHER: “Everybody Lies offers fascinating, surprising, and sometimes laugh-out-loud insights into everything from economics to ethics to sports to race to sex, gender and more, all drawn from the world of big data. Drawing on studies and experiments on how we really live and think, he demonstrates in fascinating and often funny ways the extent to which all the world is indeed a lab. Everybody Lies challenges us to think differently about how we see  [big data] and the world.”