What I read in 2021.

In a year of change, I was able to take solace in, learn from, and laugh at these stories that helped make 2021 one for the books (no pun intended). Last year I shared my favorites from a year in quarantine . This year’s list is a little different, but hopefully there’s something helpful or interesting for you, or maybe you can share some of your favorites in the comments. I’m always looking for new things to read!?

The Emotionally Intelligent Office, by The School of Life (Bookshop | Direct )

One of my favorite Mailchimp customers, The School Of Life, published this book that introduces 20 core emotional skills that can help businesses flourish. It’s a good read for anyone in a collaborative organization and I highly recommend it, especially for leaders. I liked it so much that we included it in our starter kits for all Mailchimp employees at the beginning of the year.??

High Conflict, by Amanda Ripley (Bookshop | Libro )

This is a super easy read — there's no psychological babble, and no political commentary. It's from the point of view of a journalist who specializes in covering global conflicts. Our world is becoming more connected with increasing velocity, but it’s also more divided than ever. Instead of finding something (or someone) to blame, this book describes the process behind “high conflict” that traps people in “us vs. them” thinking, and shows the way out of it.

Mastering Kafka Streams and ksqlDB, by Mitch Seymore (Bookshop | Direct )

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Grits and Gospel: Vol 1: Soul Fuel, by Troy Harris and Sam Floyd (Bookshop | Amazon )

One of my favorite things to collect over the years are books from Mailchimp employees and alumni. These 2 are written by Staff Engineer, Mitch Seymour, and Project Manager, Troy Harris. They’re very different books, but both show off the author’s passions and expertise—Mastering Kafka Streams is a deep dive into building up a technical skill-set, and Grits & Gospel bears a more spiritual and introspective journey. That’s really the key to our success at Mailchimp: the talented and interesting people.?

Masters of Scale, by Reid Hoffman (Bookshop | Libro )

I’ve been a longtime fan of Reid Hoffman’s Master’s of Scale podcast, and I was lucky enough to appear on an episode back in May 2019 . When he told me he was writing a new book and that I’d be quoted in it alongside some really smart folks, I was genuinely honored. It’s a great read for anyone, but especially founders, entrepreneurs, and business owners. Yours truly is under the chapter called, "Lead, Lead Again."

Warriors and Citizens: American Views of Our Military (Bookshop | Amazon )

Growing up in a military family is an amazing and unique experience — one that's growing less and less common . My father and brother were both proud to serve our country. For those curious to learn more about military families and their stories, I really liked Warriors and Citizens: American Views of Our Military. It explores how Americans are losing their connection to the military and asks what that “gap” means for our country and military in the future.?

Springer Mountain: Meditations on Killing and Eating, by Wyatt Williams (Bookshop | Libro )

“Nature offered the answer that nature always does.” This was a great weekend read by investigative journalist Wyatt Williams. It’s a powerful look at why we kill and eat animals. He shared his experience of diving into the history of meat eating and vegetarianism, and it left me with a lot of thoughts after I finished reading it. I was introduced to Wyatt when he interviewed me on the day of Snowmageddon , back in 2014. Because I hung around so long talking to him, I got stuck in bad traffic, had to abandon my car, and later came back to find it demolished! So, when I found out about his book, I was like "Oh, I remember that guy!". I still want to get an autograph from him, and put it in my collection. I'm still eating chicken, but I no longer believe that any chicken at any restaurant is particularly special.

Invention: A Life, by James Dyson (Bookshop | Libro )

These next 2 books are extremely inspiring, behind-the-scenes stories of amazing entrepreneurs. I love stories of scrappy misfits who worked in these entrepreneurs’ labs and thought outside of the box to get around constraints, but the part that fascinated me the most were stories about the leaders of the misfits. It’s the type of environment and leadership I try to emulate at Mailchimp. I want it to be a place for “misfits” to do their best work and feel empowered to try almost anything, no matter how crazy it might sound.?

When I was young, I wanted to be an inventor. I made a robot arm out of Lego's to help my mother grab things from the pantry that were out of reach (the Lego's always broke because I didn’t have “The Kragle ”). Tinkering with tools to help my mom got me fascinated with design and engineering. It was my nerdy way of being useful to society, I guess. Over the years, I channeled that passion into solving small business problems with software. And I always thought of Mailchimp as a lab of inventions, except instead of just my mom, it was for entrepreneurs around the world. To this day, I still think Mailchimp’s secret mission is to help entrepreneurs scale out of the kitchen.

Play Nice but Win, by Michael Dell (Bookshop | Libro )

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Michael Dell’s story. The early days of Dell sound a lot like the early days of Mailchimp. So did the growing pains, the culture changes, and some of his stories of leaders that he got to work with throughout the years reminded me of some of the great people I had the pleasure of working with. He’s someone I wish I knew as I built Mailchimp up. There’s probably not much I’d change about the way we did it, but it would’ve been great to know someone who’d ‘been there done that’ and was humble and down to earth to boot.??

The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves, by Matt Ridley (Bookshop | Libro )

If you’re glued to social media, or even just reading news from mainstream media, it can be easy to come to the conclusion that the world is ending tomorrow, and there’s no reason to live. This book restored my faith in human innovation, creativity and ingenuity.??

No Ego: How Leaders Can Cut the Cost of Workplace Drama, End Entitlement, and Drive Big Results, by Cy Wakeman (Bookshop | Libro )

I noticed this on the bookshelf behind our own Cris Gaskin during one of our zoom meetings, so I picked it up out of curiosity. I really wish I had it when I became a manager over 20 years ago. It’s a wonderful guide for getting around a lot of the workplace drama that interferes with peeps getting their best work of their lives done - and it also is a pretty darn good book for navigating a lot of drama in our personal lives. Should be required reading for anybody who aspires to leadership in the workplace.?

San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities, by Michael Shellenberger (Bookshop | Libro )

If you can get past the click-baity title, you’ll find that this is a decent book for understanding all the things that can go wrong when you’re trying—with the absolute best intentions—to do right. This book is extremely informative for anybody thinking about helping their community, but wants to be mindful of unintended consequences.