Category: Entrepreneurship

2. BUY it! · Book Review Actions · Book Reviews · Entrepreneurship · Philosophy

BR 126: Anything you want by Derek Sivers

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Category: 2 – BUY it! (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)

Comments: Really simple, quick and breezy read. Again, my rating is likely biased by the fact that I am fully aligned with Derek’s way of looking at the world. He’s another one of those who walks his talk and I find him very inspirational.

Top 3 learnings:

1. REALLY understand what you want. It’s very easy to get caught up in a rat race where you end up chasing things you don’t really want. In Derek’s case, he made many decisions – to give up a large portion of what he made to charity, to not own a house or car.. He realized he’s very happy where is and doesn’t “need” too much more. And, he wanted to stay that way..

My sense here is that we often lose touch with our soul as we grow/progress. Keep checking in with very simple questions – is this what I want? Am I really happy?

2. Small can be brilliant. Derek made CDBaby class by attempting to always keep it small, but world class. The funny paradox – the less you need or aim for money, the more of it comes. (true of many things in life)

3. The best way to delegate is to share your thought process with your team. They need to always know the answer to “What will ___ do?” – not by just cataloguing answers to every possible question but by understanding the principles behind a decision.

Derek did this at CDBaby by getting all his employees together every time they had a question and then answering it by describing the principles and thought process to all. He then made sure they documented the answer.. Over time, the number of questions reduced and new employees had a “hand book” to understand the CDBaby.

A note of caution – delegate but do not abdicate/ delegate but keep control. Derek’s abdication resulted in his employees instituting a profit sharing scheme that went against his principles. A chain of events followed leading to Derek selling CDBaby.

2. BUY it! · Book Review Actions · Book Reviews · Entrepreneurship · Novel Concepts and Interesting Research · Self Improvement

BR 124: The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin

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Priority: 2 – BUY it!  (All Categories are 1) Read ASAP! 2) BUY it! 3) SHELF it 4) SOMEDAY it)

Comments: I really enjoyed “The Icarus Deception.” I am sure this rating comes with a few biases – I am a huge fan of Seth’s work. I love Seth’s blog and I am very appreciative of the fact that he’s taken the time to respond to many of my questions to him and even read and comment on my blog every once a while. He walks his talk.

The Icarus Deception meant a coming together of many interesting concepts for me. His explanation of work we do as “art” resonated as well as many really inspirational learnings on “the infinite game.”

This is not a step-by-step sort of book. Very high level and conceptual. And, very inspiring if you are aligned with Seth’s world view.

Top 3 learnings:

1. “Art is an attitude, culturally driven and available to everyone who chooses to adopt it. Art isn’t something sold in a gallery or performed on a stage. Art is the unique work of a human being, work that touches another. Most painters, it turns out, aren’t artists after all – they are safety seeking copycats.

Art isn’t something that’s made by artists. Artists are people who make art. ”

2. While the differences between work and play are widely documented, the differences between the  “finite” game and the “infinite” game are not.

The finite game theory assumes that life is a series of finite games with winners and losers. There is pressure to be the “one.”

The infinite game theory has a different purpose – the purpose is to help other players play better! It isn’t about winning and losing but about the joy of playing. The wonderful thing about the infinite game is that you avoid the manic highs or lows.. The privilege is in playing.

3. Seth’s advice to his younger self.

“But the one thing I wish I had known then was that whatever happens, things are going to fine in the end, that the pain is part of the journey, and that without the pain there really isn’t a journey worth going on.

No, it doesn’t all work, but you always get to dance. Win or lose, you get to play. I would tell myself not to put so much emotional baggage on every project and every interaction. The goal is to keep playing, not to win.

At the end of a project, the end of the day, and the end of the game, you can look yourself in the mirror and remind yourself that at least you go to dance.”

More on http://www.alearningaday.com/2013/02/on-infinite-game

(The only trouble with sharing Seth’s learnings is that I am forced to quote them. That’s because they are so well written that any paraphrasing makes it less crisp and meaningful. A great example of where I’d like to be as a writer.)

Add on Mar 16, 2016: Seth’s advise to his younger self about  getting rid of what he termed the “manic high” and focusing on playing the infinite game is an idea that has stayed with me.

4. SOMEDAY it · Book Review Actions · Book Reviews · Career · Entrepreneurship

BR 123: The Millionaire Upgrade by Richard Parkes Cordock

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Category: 4 – SOMEDAY it (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)

Comments: This book was a real disappointment. I hardly ever put in books in the someday category but exceptions had to be made. I decided to listen to it as I was eager to get through a short book on a flight. I did.. And I was disappointed by the insight.

Perhaps this is a consequence of having read many great books on  career and entrepreneurship (So Good They Can’t Ignore You comes to mind), I found the book’s advice rhetorical – “follow your passion”, etc.

Top 3 learnings:

I’m going to pass on this for this book.

1. Read ASAP! · Book Review Actions · Career · Entrepreneurship · Self Improvement

BR 117: So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport

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Category: 1 – Read ASAP! (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)

Comments: Top draw. Probably the best career book out there. Busts some really common myths and is really SO good you shouldn’t ignore it.

Top 3 learnings:

1. Follow your passion is bad advice. Working right trumps finding the right work. It is  all about “the approach” to work.

2. Adopt the “craftsman mindset” i.e. the mindset of someone who is willing to put in the hours of deliberate practice to hone their craft. Adopting this mindset means you focus your energies on being the best you can be. This, in turn, gives you career capital.

3. Once you get damn good, the chances are that you will love what you do thanks to being the craftsman. You can now also trade career capital in for more control and autonomy in your life.

Once again, top draw career book.

3. SHELF it · Book Review Actions · Book Reviews · Entrepreneurship

BR 113: The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau

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Category: 3 – SHELF it (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)

Comments: Interesting book with a take on “lifestyle” entrepreneurs i.e. entrepreneurs who do things they like and fund a very good lifestyle for themselves.

If you are in touch with tech/entrepreneurship on the internet at large, it’s unlikely most of the ideas in the book are new. It still makes for a good read. (The other side of the story is – if you are interested in or are contemplating entrepreneurship, it’s a nice  book to read)

Top 3 learnings:

1. Launch fast and iterate. This has become common wisdom in a way but this books shows many examples of those who launched, iterated and got much better.

2. Keep working on side projects. Most of the lifestyle entrepreneurs’ ventures began as side projects.

3. Resourcefulness and initiatives go a long way. Lots of great examples again of people who generated significant value out of practically nothing (hence, the $100 start up)

Book Review Actions · Book Reviews · Entrepreneurship · Technology

BR 112: Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

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Category: 3 – SHELF it (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)

Comments: Good book. Lots of good ideas packaged together by a team that clearly walk the talk. A nice breezy read.

Top 3 learnings:

1. Scale is optional. Everyone talks about having a big business. You don’t need to chase scale if you want to have a high quality business + a great life. (Resonates personally with my beliefs)

2. Quality is not optional. There’s a lovely story about a sandwich maker who are generally open only till early afternoon after which their sandwiches sell out. The reason for that is they are unwilling to compromise on having anything less than the first round of bread baked by their baker of choice.

3. Question a lot of the basic norms in work today. 37 Signals seem to be the anti thesis of a normal company today – they don’t work long hours, don’t do long meetings and do almost everything contrary to the norm. And it works. (Resonates fully again with my belief that we must always ask ‘why’ and understand why things are the way they are. If the reasoning doesn’t make sense, make sure we ask ‘why not’.)

3. SHELF it · Book Review Actions · Book Reviews · Entrepreneurship · Novel Concepts and Interesting Research · Technology

BR 97: Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen

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Category: 3 – SHELF it (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)

Comments: This is a very important book. If you have any interest in the internet/ innovation/entrepreneurship, this one is a must read.

Top 3 Learnings:

I’m going to be lazy here and link to Mark Suster’s top learnings.

This book is probably among the best books out there to understand how the internet is changing our lives.

3. SHELF it · Book Review Actions · Book Reviews · Entrepreneurship · Leadership · Technology

BR 77: Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh

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Category: 3 – SHELF it (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)

Comments: The book revolves around the life of Tony Hsieh and Zappos.com. Tony Hsieh is a co-founder and CEO of Zappos.com – which grew from a tiny Silicon Valley start-up to an online shoe retailing behemoth with 1 billion dollars of sales. Zappos.com was eventually acquired by Amazon and Tony talks us through the building of the company and it’s distinctive culture.

Everybody with some experience working in a traditional start-up can relate to the story and difficulties that Tony Hsieh describes. What I personally liked most about the book is that it felt very personal – touched a chord, this one.

Post script in 2023: Sadly, Tony’s principles didn’t age well.

3. SHELF it · Book Review Actions · Book Reviews · Business · Entrepreneurship · Leadership

BR 73: The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive by Patrick Lencioni

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Category: 3 – SHELF it (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)

Comments: This was a story of 2  entrepreneurial CEOs who started up post B School and it deals with how and why one of them is more successful than the other. Many good ideas with the concept wrapped in a  good story. I don’t think much of it stuck with me sadly.

3. SHELF it · Bio/Autobiographies · Book Review Actions · Book Reviews · Entrepreneurship · Leadership

BR 72: When Fish Fly by John Yokohama

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Category: 3 – SHELF it (All Categories are 1 – Read ASAP!, 2 – BUY it!, 3 – SHELF it, 4 – SOMEDAY it)

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