My reading list from 2020

Here are my readings from 2020, with my personal and suggestive ranking. Not always easy to rank across different kinds of books... my main criteria was based on the vividness of memories they still generate a few weeks/months after having read them.

1.      Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, by Jared Diamond

The book details the history of humanity... without having humans as the center piece, but more how the influence of geography, biology, climate, plants, animals... impacted the evolution of human societies.

An original and insightful point of view.

2.      The invincible company, by Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Alan Smith & Frederic Etiemble

An other must-read from Strategyzer. This time, it is more about company and portfolio management with as usual, nice frameworks. A very nice complement to the other Strategyzer books.

Lots of take-aways for me.

3.      Me, by Elton John

After watching the fascinating movie "Rocketman", I had my "Elton John period" for a few weeks, so I wanted to learn more... With this autobiography, reality is sometimes beyond and fiction... he has really had an incredible life. A day in the life of Elton John? (extract from his diary)

Woke up, watched Grandstand. Wrote Candle in the Wind. Went to London, bought Rolls-Royce. Ringo Starr came for dinner.

4.      China's New Normal: How China sets the standard for innovation, by Pascal Coppens

I already wrote an article on this one, but again, a must-read to have a better glimpse on China's speed. It got more and more relevant through 2020, where China was a centerpiece of the news.

5a & 5b.      Il suggeritore & L’ipotesi del male, by Donato Carrisi

The whisperer is one of the best thrillers I read in the past few years. The kind of books you can't stop reading when you started it... the best proof: the first thing I did when closing the book is ordering the follow-up one, The vanished ones, which I enjoyed equally.

6.      The Rollout: A Novel about Leadership and Building a Lean-Agile Enterprise with SAFe, by Alex Yakyma

I wanted to learn more about Agile methodologies, and this book was recommended by a colleague.

The interesting point of this one is that it is written as a business novel. Meaning, that you have a main character, a plot, a beginning and an end... but it is in the same time explaining some concepts about Agile and SAFe framework. First time I read such a format, but very original.

7.      Orchestrating Transformation: How to Deliver Winning Performance with a Connected Approach to Change, by Michael Wade, James Macaulay & Andy Noronha

I already wrote an article on this one. I would have put it higher in the ranking, but, as I did the Leading Digital Business Transformation training at IMD earlier this year, I already heard about most of the concepts.

Anyway, it reminded me the importance word of Transformation in Digital Transformation, that it is a lot about people and less about digital... and that the notion of platform is definitely getting more and more importance.

8.      L'approche Lean pour la transformation digitale, by Yves Caseau

(I think an English version is coming).

This is one of the rare books talking about both lean and digital transformation... even if it was still a little bit too "IT" for me. A very interesting point of this book is the numerous references (and related take-aways) made to other books recommended by Yves Caseau.

9.      Lean Product and Process Development, by Allen Ward & Durward Sobek

I already wrote an article on this one.

This one is about how to apply Lean principles to Product development and R&D. There were some good insights (Set-Based Concurrent Enigneering & "Start late" principles, "A3 learning sheets"), but I would have liked to have more practical tools.

10.  The Mathematical Corporation: Where Machine Intelligence and Human Ingenuity Achieve the Impossible, by Josh Sullivan & Angela Zutavern

What I take away from this book is mostly examples of business use cases where AI redefined what was thought as (im)possible, and how data can empower humans to take better decision.

11.  Simone, éternelle rebelle, by Sarah Briand

This one is quite low in my ranking... not because of the destiny of Simone Veil, who is truly extraordinary and for whom I have deep respect.

But because the book is probably too short... with such a destiny, you want to know more and I left this book with the feeling of having just scratched the surface.

Probably I should read her autobiography.

12.  Les enfants d'aujourd'hui font les parents de demain, by Armelle Six

I was looking for a good parenting book and this one was recommended by my mother.

As I always listen to my mother :-), I read it... but I could not "connect with the book". Sometimes, there is just not a match with the style, content, author... So if anyone has a good recommendation for a Parenting book, feel free to share!