Stephen King says that if you want to be a writer, there are two things you must do: read a lot and write a lot. This is about the “read a lot” part. I include reading lists and book reviews that will help you do business more effectively and write better for business.
In this post, I point you to reviews of Turning the Flywheel: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great, Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World, Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment, Blitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies, and The Algorithmic Leader: How to Be Smart When Machines Are Smarter Than You.
From Michael McKinney: Finding Your Flywheel
“GREATNESS NEVER HAPPENS in one fell swoop—no single action. It is the result of a series of correct actions that build on each other. Jim Collins likens it to turning a giant, heavy flywheel. In Turning the Flywheel, he describes the process:”
From Bob Morris: Digital Minimalism
“I agree with Cal Newport that the impact of technological tools on most people’s personal lives ‘is complicated by the fact that these tools mix harm with benefits. Smartphones, ubiquitous wireless internet, digital platforms that connect billions of people — these are triumphant innovations!’ Indeed they are. That said, he wrote this book to explain how most people can thrive in our current moment of technological overload. I call it [begin italics] digital minimalism [end italics], and it applies the belief that [begin italics] less can be more [end italics] to our relationship with digital tools.”
From Wharton: Finding Fulfillment in Life: The First Step Is Redefining Success
“Success traditionally has been defined in terms of money and power. It’s reaching the top, commanding the room, buying that Rolex and moving into a big mansion on the hill. But Harvard professor Todd Rose is on a mission to get as many people as he can to stop searching for success and start looking for fulfillment. In his new book, Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment, Rose explains how happiness is found in the road less traveled. He also makes the case that true fulfillment leads to greater innovation.”
From Tim O’Reilly: The fundamental problem with Silicon Valley’s favorite growth strategy
“Most monopolies or duopolies develop over time, and have been considered dangerous to competitive markets; now they are sought after from the start and are the holy grail for investors. If LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and entrepreneur Chris Yeh’s new book Blitzscaling is to be believed, the Uber-style race to the top (or the bottom, depending on your point of view) is the secret of success for today’s technology businesses.”
From Mike Walsh: Put principles before processes
“This post is an excerpt from ‘The Algorithmic Leader: How to Be Smart When Machines Are Smarter Than You’ by Mike Walsh. He is the CEO of Tomorrow, a global consultancy on designing companies for the 21st century. He advises leaders on how to thrive in the current era of disruptive technological change. He is also a keynote speaker and the author of ‘Futuretainment,’ and ‘The Dictionary of Dangerous Ideas,'”
Reading recommendations are a regular feature of this blog. Want more recommendations about what to read? Check out my Three Star Leadership blog, Michael McKinney’s LeadingBlog, and Skip Prichard’s Leadership Insights.