“Learning is a lifetime thing, the moment you think you know it all, you are done!”
This surprising truth about what motivates us. The book explore the level of motivations (1.0, 2.0, 3.0) and offers a view of what science knows vs. what business practices. Even today, you will hear people talk about “carrot and stick” rather than tap into the 3.0 system. The fact is that it is hard…
A great framework to create a healthy organization. The emphasize on clarity and the meeting framework are just so useful, based on our practice! This book is tightly linked to the other book of “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”.
I have read this book many years ago but did not remember much. Recently when I joined the new team, my boss wants me to read this book and I did it again. The concept of Level 5 leader makes so much sense now when I read it (guess many years ago I did not have much leadership experience so no resonation at that time). A great book with many great leadership concepts!
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
I could not stop reading the book until the story ends, super! I thought it was a real story as so many scene are so familiar but it is not… Overall, an excellent book on what could go wrong with a team and more importantly, what can be done to avoid them and be a cohesive team!
The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter
A great book with structured approach of how you start a new job/role better. It helps me start a few critical roles in my career successfully. Strongly recommend it!
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Classic book for self development. This is one of those book you can keep it around and refer to it once a while, I have read it many times and it is always good to remind yourself and internalize, build some of those habits, that takes time…
I do not read a lot of biographies but this one is my favorite. Many people idolize Steve Jobs, I do not but I admire his drive on innovation and perfection. In tech, we need more of that, we have too many poor quality products flooding the market and it is getting harder and harder to find high quality products with taste and elegancy. I enjoyed particularly those episodes of how he uses his “reality distortion field” to get something magnificent created. I do not necessarily appreciate the way how he treats people working with him but oh well, who is perfect in this world?
Another biography, I read this a few years back. At the time, I was curious what kind of person can have such remarkable achievements in so many diverse fields. Truly impressive! It is interesting to see how he was shaped throughout his childhood till later with such accomplishment. When people are passionate about something, they are unstoppable…
I read this after reading the Elon Musk. I was wondering what kind of mother raises a kid like that 😂It is an interesting read, nothing spectacular but it portraits a strong woman’s drive and strong will to excel. It also reminds people sometimes life can be tough but it is always in your hands to turn it around into something remarkable.
Find Your Why: A Practical Guide for Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team
Everybody needs a why and everybody should find his/her why. However the path of finding why can be daunting…but got to find it! Particularly for me, it is very hard to do something if I do not know/understand why I am doing it. This book gives some insights of why and how you can find it. The stories are interesting and the structured approach is doable. Did I find my why after reading the book? 😎
This is probably one of the earliest self development books I have ever read. I like particularly the idea of focusing your energy on discover/strengthen your strengths rather than trying to fix your shortcomings. Sometimes we pay too much attention on our problems and if we ought to give that same attention and energy to our strengthens, you will get much more returns.
Sheryl Sandberg, a lady legend in Tech World. Role model of many lady tech workers, me included, no exception 😊 The point illustrated in the book sounds so simple but are really hard to do. Keep practicing it, girls!
Another book from Sheryl Sandberg. The story of losing the beloved husband is heartbreaking. “Nobody makes it through life without collecting a few scars.” but this is really a big one, and getting through that with great resilience is honorable.
Bet on You: How to Win with Risk
A lady that I look up to recommended this book on her LinkedIn post, so I took a read on it. Two marine ladies, amazing life stories. It makes me think about what are the possibilities if we bet more on and have more faith in ourselves.
80,000 Hours: Find a fulfilling career that does good
I “stumbled” on this in my quest of looking for the next chapter of my career. I got this book sent to me for free when I subscribed to their newsletter (thanks a bunch)! It brought some very interesting perspective on “dream job” and how you can do good within or outside the current system. Also the book is very structured and easy to read for engineering background people like me, who likes things are structured. 😎😎😎 I also look at their site from time to time as I am keen in the topic of effective altruism.
This is the first business book I have ever read, I think, fresh out of university. Jack Welch is a great leader and a legend. This book certainly opened my eyes and mind on many aspects of the professional world.
A great book supported by sounding data and research. The concept of level 5 leaders is refreshing (compare to the traditional characteristic of a “charming” leaders). Hope all leaders understand and do the mirror/window situation. The jump from good to great is never overnight thing, it requires consistent and hard work.
A good friend recommended this book to me. As a tech worker, this certainly interests me. The story of how a company considered “dying” gets transformed successfully by an amazing leader is inspiring. And to tie up with the book above, a man that suffers through life events certainly makes him a better person and better leader.
An arguable book probably, as it probably hurts many people’s feelings 😎 because it seems that many are doing BS jobs every day… It triggers me to think deeper about what’s really meaningful job look like, as part of my quest of looking for my next gig. Providing financial safety is the basic, but then what? There are so many possibilities and what choices you are going to make decide how fulfilling your days will go…
Financial Intelligence: A Manager’s Guide to Knowing What the Numbers Really Mean
This is a very good book of “finance for dummies” like me. It gives a very good overview of the key concepts of finance, and more importantly what they are for. It is always easier to understand numbers when you know what they are for.
This book surfaced to be the “must-read” as part of our company’s digital transformation journey, so we obeyed and read it 😋😋The rationalization of the success of all those new tech companies are eye-opening and makes so much sense.
Uncertainty is a new norm. Nowadays, everything changes, and fast. Having ways to navigate through that is essential to be successful. This book illustrated very well why things should be done in certain way in the face of uncertainty with a clear point of view, supported by implementable tactics. More importantly, how to do that sustainably, which is the hard part of any new adventure.
For somebody like me, financially naïve, this book certainly opened my mind. I have heard this book (since it is so classic) for so long but never get around to read it until recently. The perspective the author painted by telling the two dads’ story was quite enlightening.
A simple to understand and practical guide for building/eliminating habits, also emphasize the impact of small steps towards bigger achievement. One thing worth noting is also the perspective of working on system rather than aiming goals. Make it obvious, attractive, easy and satisfying.
It is quite an arguable book since it released. I listened it just to see what a Prince has to say about his life. A boy lost his mother at early age, a man struggled to grow up, finding love. It can not be more normal like a normal person’s life, except all those part about paparazzi invading the privacy of their lives. A little long book but listening to himself reading it, you get a sense of his emotional ups and downs. Nothing in particular touchy.
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
Overcoming one’s psychology is never an easy task and this book offers many great stories and practical thought process and tactics do help with that. Honest, after a while, I do not remember much what I have heard in the book (I guess I am naturally not really a worrying person 😋) but when I was listening to it, it makes so much sense. Try it!
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
As the introduction of the book says, it provides a very interesting point of view of “how to stop trying to be positive all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people”. In a society of huge emphasis on positivity, this brings a different voice. I personally do not think these conflict each other, the key is not try to avoid pain/suffer when it makes you a better person, and that requires a positive believe of yourself who can go through those pain/suffer successfully. Lots of fascinating stories in the book and certainly an interesting read (listen).
This book was recommended by a friend Caroline when I left my previous company. I haven’t gotten around to read it until recently. It is interesting to apply the design thinking (which we learnt as part of the digital transformation) to life. I am not sure yet how effective it is but will definitely give a try.
I have heard about this book for long time but never get around to read it, but recently I finally did. I must say it is one of the best book that I have ever read. Of course, the topic of globalization is still arguable but this is one of those book comes with a lot of content backed up with solid studies, the author definitely did his homework well (compare to some other book so light in nature). I would strongly recommend to have a read at it. I might want to read it again.
Blogs, Podcasts and Other Readings
| Name | Comments | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Tim Ferriss | I am intrigued by Tim’s vast spectrum of interests and his fearless of trying things. He is a classic example of intelligence reflected through curiosity. His blog helps a lot on learning many new things in different areas. | Here |
| Impact Theory | I stumbled on this while searching for some educational material to learn crypto currency. Then I realized that Tom has an impressive suites of interviews with many celebrities. | Here |
| Sam Altman | When OpenAI becomes more and more successful, you can not help wonder who the leader of the organization and how did him/her create such a success (the AI products they put out there are just amzing (DALL-E, ChatGPT, …)). Here you go, Sam Altman. One of his blog was dug up recently, “How to Be Successful“, extremely enlightening. | Here |
| After Hours | This is a podcast a good friend Yan recommended, and it is very interesting. As its headline indicates, a podcast at the intersection of business & culture from three Harvard professors. Love to hear their point of view on the current “hot topics”, and their recommendations are just awesome (ranged from food, movie, fashion, readings, …) | Here |
| Peter Diamandis | Was recommended many years ago by coach Randall, and have been following him since then. Very interesting thought leader, sometimes way-out-there topics. | Here |
| MBS.works | An entrepreneur friend and ex-colleague Nancy recommended this to me, while I just started my career break. Currently it is producing a product called “The Year of Living Brilliantly”, and I love the format of short videos illustrating a single point by a diverse sets of people. | Here |
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