My 2023 Top 10 People to Read, Follow and Learn From

1. Linda Zhang - Ford - F150 Lightning Chief Engineer. The F150 Lightning EV is a complete game-changer and the most important product the US auto industry has developed in a very long time. Note that Ford beat Tesla to market with an EV truck, and sells the F150 Lightning at half the price of a Rivian. The F150 has been the most popular car in America for decades, and now is arguably the best EV as well. Customers who never would have considered an EV before are now waiting in line for years to buy one. It is not an understatement to say that her work has made the world a better place.?I personally can not wait to get one myself, and regret not having placed a pre-order when Ford announced the product.?Linda has made the world a better place by making an amazing EV for millions who would never have even considered one otherwise.?Bravo!

2. Daniel Goldstein, MD - Montefiore Health System - Professor & Vice Chair, Cardiothoracic Surgery. One of my all-time favorite LinkedIn authors, always with fascinating insight and commentary on the pandemic and beyond. Opinionated, honest, and sometimes contrarian, I love reading his regular musings on LinkedIn and appreciate his willingness to engage with the public.?There is (at times) a very slight hint of vaccine skepticism which I find both confusing and important - I am strongly pro-vaccination, and need a sane, educated expert to help me understand the other side of the issue. ?Overall his insights and thoughts are among the very best I’ve found on all of LinkedIn. ?

3. Ray Dalio - Founder of Bridgewater Associates - His principles and insights on the changing world are incredibly valuable. If you haven’t read his book “Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order” drop everything and do it. You will never see the world quite the same way again.?Among the most important books of the last decade.?Oh, and this guy also has made a fortune by investing wisely according to the very principles he describes and espouses.?Read and follow.?He does a great job at publishing ideas and insights (principles) to LinkedIn frequently.

4. David Heinemeier Hansson - 37Signals / Basecamp / Ruby on Rails - Sometimes quite the contrarian, even going as far as to disavow public cloud and advocate for a return to on-premise computing. David has been one of the smartest people in tech - and one of the most successful entrepreneurs in SaaS - for a very long time. I?don’t always agree, but I always pay close attention. He was one of the inventors of Ruby on Rails and has advocated for building profitable tech companies without mountains of venture capital.?In all honesty, I think he is dead wrong about cloud and completely misses the point of it - but like Goldstein, I need smart, credible, informed experts to help me see the other side of the issue.?David is exactly that expert when it comes to cloud vs. not cloud.

5. Lex Fridman - Research Scientist at MIT and podcast host - Somehow Lex is able to gain interviews with the most interesting and complicated people in the world, and remains open to ideas that often are seen as?wrong?or nuts by the mainstream. If you like Joe Rogan, you will likely love Lex, as he is a deeper thinker and less of a provocateur or comedian. One of the great minds of our time.?He volunteered to run Twitter and Musk actually said he’d consider him.?If I were Elon, Lex is exactly the person I’d want in charge. ?He is the master of hearing both sides of every issue with respect and an open mind.

6. Tony Fadell - founder of Nest, father of the iPhone, author and VC - Even if you are not in tech or an entrepreneur, you should read “Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making” and learn from one of the greatest inventors and engineers of our times. Truly a fantastic and inspirational book, regardless of where you are in your career or what you aspire to become.?Through Cascadeo, I had the amazing honor of working behind the scenes on the very first Nest thermostat and was in awe of the work Tony and his team did to bring that idea to life in record time.?To say that it was a home run would be an understatement - and it was not his first.?The smartphone you use every day has its roots in the work done by Fadell and others.?Watch “General Magic” (movie) if you have not already. ?

7. JV Roig - Cascadeo - Field CTO and one of the most insightful thinkers about cloud, serverless, and related next-gen PaaS tech. JV is one of those unique voices who stands out in a sea of often too-similar content. He also is capable of performing miracles, passing five AWS specialty certification exams in three days - this has to be a world record. JV is funny, wildly intelligent, and willing to take a definitive stand on the things he believes in. He is a passionate advocate for serverless computing (e.g. AWS Lambda) and does a wonderful job at explaining complex tech in terms the rest of us can understand.?If you want to understand the future of cloud, specifically around advanced platform technologies, follow JV on Medium and LinkedIn. ?

8. Eric Schlosser - Author and Journalist - Read “Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety.” This book has never been more relevant than right now, given the unfortunate situation in Europe and the unresolved questions about the role nuclear weapons should play in our world. This book scared the living daylights out of me and remains one of my all-time favorites. He also wrote Fast Foot Nation and Reefer Madness, both important works in the early 2000s. ?Read and learn.

9. Laura Shin - journalist, podcast host, author and more - Laura does an amazing job at separating the inordinate amounts of complete nonsense from the real innovations (and innovators) in the blockchain world.?She does great interviews with nearly everyone in the space, and wrote one of the definitive books on the topic: The Cryptopians.?The “crypto nuclear winter” will pass, the strongest technologies and organizations will recover, and history will prove that bitcoin and all that followed is one of the most significant innovations of our generations.?Her healthy dose of skepticism and reality is badly needed in space filled with so many bad actors and questionable organizations.?If you follow only one person in the blockchain space, it should be Laura.

10.? Peter H. Diamandis - XPRIZE Foundation and Singularity University - One of my favorite optimists, big thinkers, dreamers, and visionaries. I wish I had the energy, passion, and drive that?Peter?exudes every day. How many moonshots can one person take on? To the best of my knowledge, he has to be in first place. So many amazing initiatives and ideas met with actual execution and progress. Does he ever sleep??The X Prize concept has changed the world and continues to do so, inspiring innovation and motivating big-picture work that might otherwise be missed or deferred.?Follow Diamandis and you will learn a lot about a lot of things. ?

May you have a fantastic, inspiring, and transformative 2023.? I hope these great thinkers will help you in your journey, just as they have helped me in mine. -- Jared