What I read in 2017
Each year I look back at this time of year to reflect and think about the upcoming year. As part of that reflection I recap and share the books I've enjoyed throughout the year. I love doing this, it's just a great reminder of the year and of what I've learned from these authors. Most you know that I listen to books as audio books far more than I actually read them.
One question I get every year I share this is "how do you find the time". It's actually really easy, I listed to audiobooks when I drive, sometimes in the gym, and when I run. I have an Audible subscription that gives me 1 book per month and the credits roll forward if I don't use them one month.
Here's my short notes on these books, pretty much all were great books this year. I've included Amazon links and audible links. I'm always looking for recommendations.
The Art of Learning; An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance by Josh Waitzkin.
Josh Waitzkin is a chess prodigy (the inspiration for the movie Searching for Bobby Fisher) and a rapid learner, who has also mastered the martial art of Tai Chi Chuan becoming a world champ. In this book he helps codify how to learn things rapidly.
Ask More; The Power of Questions to Open Doors, Uncover Solutions, and Spark Change by Frank Senso
Frank is an award winning journalist who asks difficult questions. I read this book to learn how to ask better questions that derive much better answers.
Switch; How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath
This book is all about making organizational change and the psychology of why people do the things they do and how to motivate them to do the things that are needed. A great mentor recommended this to me, I've used the approaches a few times since.
The Rise of Superman; Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance by Steven Kotler
If extreme human performance interests you then this is an interesting book.
Start with Why; How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
This book really explains why everyone is looking for a WHY and why great products, companies and individuals have a WHY. It's a fabulous expansion of ideas in marketing and product management and is basically a classic at this point. It reminded me that when we work with customers we should always try to explain our WHY to them and then explain HOW to get them there.
Amazon | Audible
Crossing the Chasm; Marketing and Selling Technology Projects to Mainstream Customers by Geoffrey A. Moore
If you read one book on this list, make it this one. If you've already read it once, read it again. This book is the very foundation of product engineering for our world. It’s incredibly timely to where we are with iOS and Android management and to where we are starting the journey for Windows modern management. This book is old, and the examples are laughably out of date, but the content is highly applicable.
Leaders Eat Last; Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't
Hands down the best leadership book of the year. It's 100% on par with my personal philosophy and I see Brad's leadership style reflected throughout this book.
All Joy and No Fun; The Paradox of Modern Parenthood by Jennifer Senior
Being a parent is pretty tough some times and I felt like I needed some help to get things into perspective. Angela Robertson in the docs team recommended this on twitter at the same time and I dived in. It's a great book about how being apparent is full of joyful moments but is really a hard slog - unless you take the time to just have some fun with being a parent.
The Future of Work; Attract New Talent, Build Better Leaders, and Create a Competitive Organization by Jacob Morgan
Brad did a fantastic Lunch Break episode (actually two) with the author and it peaked my interest. One of the things that I've always found fascinating is how the workplace is changing, the customer conversations we have with are partly about what the modern workplace is, and because of this I wanted to understand more. This book is actually a few years old now and many of the suggestions have become remarkably common place inside Microsoft and other companies that have transformed.
Find Your Why; A Practical Guide for Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team by David Mead, Peter Docker, Simon Sinek
The "follow up" to the previously mentioned Start with Why is about practical ways to find Why. It helped me find my why, which is remarkably similar to Simon Sinek. My why is: "Help people achieve more".
Hit Refresh; The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone
I love how Satya has made this a deeply personal book and the personal reading of his early chapter brought a tear to my eye. It's amazing to see the inside track on our companies transformation.
The Power of Moments; Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact by Chip and Dan Heath
I read this book because I enjoyed Switch so much. I think this is a better read (listen). It's about how moments of interaction, such as when a customer interacts with your product for the first time or meets us at a conference, or when an employee joins the company really matter.
Win Bigly; Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter by Scott Adams (the creator of Dilbert)
Scott Adams is a trained hypnotist who correctly predicted, very early on, that Trump would win. He is able to explain why Trump was so persuasive (hint it's all technique and very well calculated that's very well documented). It's eye opening on many levels and great fun to listen to. You'll have to shutoff your political filter and outrage to get the most from this, but it is fun.
Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual by Jocko Willink
Do you think that maybe the leader of the most highly decorated Seal team in Iraq and of a management consulting firm, who can tap out 6 other highly trained Ju Jitsu fighters in a training session and has his own line of pomegranate tea can teach you a thing or two? How about if he's a NYT best selling author for the books Extreme Ownership and a kids book - Way of the Warrior Kid? I did so, I read this. A few times. Also Jocko has the BEST voice for radio ever.
Amazon | For audio it's in the music stores
Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers by Tim Ferris
This massive book is all the things that author and "life style designer" (made up term) has learned from people he's interviewed on his highly rated pod cast. It's great to dive into for some advice on this and that from the best performers in the world in almost every field.
The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever by? Michael Bungay Stanier
I really like this book on coaching, there are lots of practical tips for coaching people at all stages of their development as well as coaching yourself. I've also used many of the techniques this past year for coaching customers through their Intune deployments. I plan to reread this over the holidays, it's a short read.
Sr. Security Technology Specialist Microsoft | CCSP | CISSP | ex-MVP
7 å¹´Thanks for sharing, some food for thought!
Principal Technical Keynote Lead at Amazon Web Services (AWS)
7 å¹´Really great list simon
Making Microsoft licensing, FinOps, and Cloud make sense
7 å¹´A few of those look really good Simon, I've added them to my Amazon basket - nice one!