Category: Bio/Autobiographies

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BR 90: The Second Coming of Steve Jobs by Alan Deutschman

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Comments: A fascinating read. I hardly ever wanted to put it down.

The book helps give a clear picture of the genius that is Steve Jobs. Jobs is portrayed as the bright icon (which he is!) but it is also interesting to understand what makes the man the icon that he is. Also, the book takes us through the years before the success of Pixar when he struggled with himself following his ousting from Apple in 1985. The only caveat here is that the book was published in 2000. So, it doesn’t take us through his period of illness, the iPhone, iPad etc. It is more of an insightful deep dive into the complexity of his personality and the roots of his genius..

Top 3 Learnings:

1. This book clearly brought to mind the quote – ‘The brighter the picture, the darker the negative’

2. Steve Jobs took a lot of the credit for Pixar when the real creative genius was John Lasseter. Where Steve Jobs was incredible was his negotiations with Disney and his decision to take Pixar public right after the release of Toy Story. The interesting thing to note here is that Steve had close to nothing to do with the success of Pixar as an animation studio. He was kept busy with NEXT (which was a failure) and every time he tried to get closer to Pixar, he was literally pushed away by the Pixar team, which were moulded in John Lasseter’s image. However, Steve’s big ticket was, of course, his initial investment of 10 million.

It reminds me of a learning I had when playing poker with friends. The first big win gives us ‘cushion’ to experiment and try new things. This ‘cushion’ and increased experimentation allows us to take some big risks which have a higher chance of reaping dividends as the number of people who take that risk are lesser (how many would have had 10 million spare change in 1985 to invest in a group of animators?).

3. As great as the man was as an innovator and a visionary, I don’t think I would have been happy working for him. At the end of the day, he was yet another insecure over achiever..

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BR 83: Surely You’re Joking Mr Feynman by Richard P Feynman

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Comments: Richard Feynman narrates the story of his very interesting life. This is an exceptionally smart, extremely curious scientist who, aside from being a Nobel Prize winning Physicist, is also a part time drummer, painter and the like.I think there are a few nice things to learn from this book – especially Feynman’s strait jacketed approach to everything in life and his knack of figuring out a way to have fun.

A fun read.

Add on Mar 16, 2016: Years after reading this book, I’ve come to appreciate it more over time. What has stuck with me is Feynman’s learning focused approach to life. He was a master at picking up skills thanks to his openness and childlike curiosity. That idea is one that has stayed with me.

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BR 72: When Fish Fly by John Yokohama

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Comments: This is a very inspiring book – in a non traditional sense. It is John Yokohama’s tale of how he transformed an ordinary pike fish market in Seattle to ‘World Famous Pike Place Fish’. If a person can transform a fish market (let’s face it, the image that comes to mind isn’t particularly pleasing) to something so amazing, it makes you wonder as to whether any complaints about work are justified.

A true story about being proactive as John Yokohama talks us through his process of growth after a conversation with to a consultant friend who promises to turn his ordinary fish shop around. He shares the various challenges, difficulties and moments of pride.. he does it very sincerely and the book is definitely a nice and often, heartwarming read.

Many takeaways. I have written about one that struck me here

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BR 59: Made in America by Sam Walton

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Comments: This book was a fun read from start to finish. Sam Walton is insightful, humorous and entertaining all at once. He takes us through the entire Wal-Mart story with great pride and passion. I could almost feel him talking me through the story despite the fact that I read the book.

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BR 44: Thomas Alva Edison – The Scientists and Inventors series by David Allen

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Comments: A story of arguably one of the greatest inventors that ever existed. What made this man formidable was his appetite for the extraordinary combined with canny business sense. A decent book – just not one I’d be in a hurry to read.

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BR 33: Great inventors and their inventions by David Angus

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Comments: I think it’s a book to read just to broaden horizons and understand how some of the things we tend to take for granted first came into being. It has lots of short bios of many great inventors like Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Alva Edison, The Wright brothers etc and takes us through their struggles as inventors and their eventual success.

Interesting read. There are better biographies out there though.

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BR 16: Iacocca – An autobiography by Lee Iacocca

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Comments: Nice book without being great. Iacocca tells us his life story and keeps us engaged.

What to expect: Iacocca did very well at Ford, rising up the ranks till he had an ego battle with the owner Henry Ford II and that obviously ended only 1 way. Iacocca then joined Chrysler and CEO and turned the company around in remarkable circumstances. Story of a very popular Italian American CEO.

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BR 5: Straight from the Gut by Jack Welch

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Comments: This was, in many ways, my first business book and I enjoyed reading it. Jack Welch as an energetic, all action approach to story telling and it does describe his way up the corporate ladder all the way to becoming one of the greatest CEO’s ever during 20 years at General Electric.

What to expect: An insight into Jack Welch’s personality. As a reader, you can feel the strength of his persona all through the book, especially when he talks about pet topics like differentiation, implementing six sigma, training GE leaders, empowering people etc.  The book is very interesting for the most part though it does tend to drag in some parts when he begins describing some mergers and acquisitions in unnecessary detail.

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BR1: The Virtues of War – A Novel of Alexander the Great by Steven Pressfield

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Comments: There’s only 1 word for this audio book – ‘Riveting’! While the narrator definitely plays a huge part in making this book such a fascinating read, let’s give due credit to Steven Pressfield for an inspirational take on Alexander’s life.

What to expect: A detailed story of the life of the all-conquering Macedonian monarch, Alexander the Great, with lots of excerpts and stories which you are sure to remember for a long time. The book gives us an in-depth understanding of the personality of the great conqueror and is a definite lesson in leadership!

Add on Mar 16, 2016: 9 years after reading the audio book, I’d still recommend the audio book thanks to fantastic narration. I remember the experience of listening to this book well and it still gives me goosebumps.