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BR 95: Gandhi – An Autobiography by M K Gandhi

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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 fascinating book. I actually had no idea where to place this book. It didn’t seem to fit in any of the category. I decided to eventually place it in the ‘Shelf it’ category simply because this is a fascinating read and you won’t regret having this on your bookshelf.

However, it is of course likely to have extra significance if you are Indian as you will probably relate to the story that much better. Every time I think  of Gandhi, the word ‘fascinating’ comes to mind. I wouldn’t do a lot of what he did simply because it wouldn’t be part of my make up. He was definitely one of a kind. A real throwback to a different time, and generation.

Top 3 Learnings:

1. Every experience of Gandhi’s was equated to an ‘experiment’. He was always experimenting.. an ultimate lesson in the ‘leaner’ mentality. Again, the word fascinating comes to mind.

2. He was capable of a tremendous amount of introspection and focus on what he could control. No wonder he is considered a supreme example of someone who acted within his circle of influence.

3. Gandhi was a fascinating man. Fascinating again. There’s no other word for it. Read it and tell me otherwise.. :)

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

BR 94: Gifts Differing by Isabel Briggs Myers

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

Comments: A book that really resonated when I read it – explains the “why” behind Myers Briggs. I had a whole post dedicated to it on my long form blog.

Top 3 Learnings:

1. We are all different. We have VERY different ways of seeing the world. Not right or wrong. Just different.

2. It is very helpful to understand the different kinds of characteristics in people because it helps us understand ourselves.

3. And when we begin to understand ourselves and our preferences, we begin to be more accepting of ourselves, and the world around us.

Add on Mar 16, 2016: A few years after reading this, Myers Briggs Type Indicator is trashed by nearly every self respecting psychologist. It still doesn’t change my view on the book much – it still taught me a lot and helped me understand my own introversion at a time when I needed just that.

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BR 93: The Purple Cow by Seth Godin

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

Comments: I love Seth’s daily blogs more than I do his books – for some reason. I think the daily dose of “Seth-spiration” is something that just doesn’t come off as much in his book.

Top 3 Learnings:

1. Innovation is the only way forward. We have to create an offering that’s a ‘purple cow’ i.e. extremely special!

2. Companies often lose focus after creating a purple cow. They sacrifice uniqueness for profits. E.g.: Starbucks

3. Many memorable examples of companies that have created such incredible products. One that comes to mind is Schindler Elevators which ask you to type in the floor you’d like to get to first and then directs you to the list that would take you there fastest – thereby saving valuable lift space. (now commonplace)

1. Read ASAP! · Book Review Actions · Book Reviews · Novel Concepts and Interesting Research · Psychology

BR 92: Switch by Chip and Dan Heath

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

Comments: Another masterclass by the Heath brothers. This book is a gold mine of learnings, stories and inspiration – under the excuse of ‘Change’. Switch aims to describe how to drive change when change is hard.

Top 3 Learnings:

If I went down the learnings path, I would go on forever.  At the time of writing, I have already featured 2 book learnings here , here and here. And many more to come. Rest assured, this book is top class.

2 lines that have stuck..

1. What looks like a people problem is often a situation problem.

2. What looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity.

And of course, the learning on Elephants and Riders is a paradigm shifter!

2. BUY it! · Book Review Actions · Book Reviews · History · Novel Concepts and Interesting Research

BR 91: The Lessons of History by Will Durant

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

Comments: A truly fascinating read. I was debating whether or not to put this into Category 1. It just missed the cut.

The most fascinating thing about this book, for me, is that this is literally historian Will Durant’s thesis – a thesis of his life. Will and Ariel Durant try to put together the lessons they have learnt from all their studies and bring it all together brilliantly.

Top 3 Learnings:

1. Competition is a natural order. We only collaborate to compete better. The world is Darwinian. Character only arises once basic needs are met.

2. What was a great trait in the past is likely to be a weakness in the present. For example, a very virile brute of a man would have been THE asset in earlier times when physical survival and passing on your sperm mattered most. In today’s world however, he would just be a dumb mannerless brute.

3. Resources (like intelligence) are always scattered unfairly. As a result, a small proportion of the world will always control it. There is no such thing as equality in nature.

4. As a result, religion matters greatly because it is what ensures the masses keep faith. (Will Durant predicts a period of social unrest within decades because of falling faith in Christianity in the 1960s when this is written and my jaw dropped as I thought of the period of social unrest we are having right now)

5. Respect for tradition is something he feels he would take more seriously if he had to ‘do it all over again.’ It is the tension between youth and old age that advances our civilization after all and he acknowledges that as he’s getting older, he has increased respect for traditions.

Some of his observations and predictions are truly amazing. And as you can see from the extra 2 learnings, this was a fantastic book!

 

PS: It’s been a while since I’ve updated this. Lots of exciting books but a lack of time. More to follow..

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

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

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..

3. SHELF it · Book Review Actions · Book Reviews · Psychology · Skills

BR 89: Yes! by Robert Cialdini

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

Comments: Robert Cialdini doesn’t disappoint with this book. Well researched and well delivered piece of work. Lots of little nuggets and learnings.

Top 3 Learnings:

1. I recently blogged about ‘Even a penny will help’. And I am sure you will see more of these nuggets pop up.

2. Another one I remember is that we negotiate better when we are happy. Staying positive is of extreme importance to serial negotiators.

3. Our desire to be ‘consistent’ with who we have been in the past is very important to us. Hence, it matters a lot to us that we keep promises we made in the past, act in accordance to the way we behaved in the past.

4. Social proof matters a lot. The wisdom of the crowd does matter.

5. The best way to get people to buy into a big decision is to have them buy into smaller bits first. Before you request people to join a campaign to add more speed breakers for example, requesting them put up a sticker on their door that says ‘we love safe drivers’ (seemingly harmless step) goes a long way in increasing their probability of saying yes.

and many more..

(I took the liberty to exceed ‘3’ thanks to the nature of the small bite sized learnings in the book. Definitely Enjoyable..)

3. SHELF it · Book Review Actions · Book Reviews · Self Improvement

BR 88: Instant Genius: Etiquette by Letitia Baldridge

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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 book might have been rated higher had I read this before starting work (of any sort). Over time, at work, you tend to learn the basics of etiquette (or at least think you do).

A good collection, nevertheless. And worth the 1 hour listen.

Top 3 Learnings:

1. Always introduce the younger/lower in hierarchy person to the older/younger in hierarchy person. I’ve reversed the order many a time.

2. When you drop a napkin in a very formal dinner, let it stay down. Request for another.

3. Understand which spoons and forks are used for which serving. If unsure, look around.. (covertly of course).

These may seem ‘minor’ but they are WELL worth learning to avoid any kind of embarrassment during an occasion of importance!

1. Read ASAP! · Book Review Actions · Book Reviews · Novel Concepts and Interesting Research · Psychology · Self Improvement

BR 87: Change Your Questions Change Your Life by Marilee Adams

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

Comments: 1 week after buying this book, I gifted 7 copies to friends and family and 2 others bought copies thanks to me raving about it.

The best thing about this book is it’s simplicity and the fact that the book’s learnings can be synthesized into 1 key concept – The Choice Map – THAT is genius!

Top 3 Learnings:

1. We are the questions we ask ourselves. And it is only by changing our questions can we change anything.

2. Questions drive results.

3. At every moment, we have a choice between being a ‘learner’ or being a ‘judger’. A learner asks questions like ‘what can I do to improve the situation? What can I learn from this?’ while a judger asks questions like ‘Why are things so bad? Why am I so bad?’ leading us down a negative path.

The single most powerful idea for me from the book is that every time we feel negative (i.e. low energy, upset, angry, jealous etc etc), it is likely because we are asking ourselves ‘judger’ questions. (See The Choice Map) And the moment we catch ourselves feeling negative, we have the power to switch, ask ourselves learner questions and get positive!

Very powerful stuff.

3. SHELF it · Book Reviews · Marketing · Novel Concepts and Interesting Research

BR 86: Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

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

Comments: Classic Gladwell – very journalistic with a few pretty powerful stories and example. I am not entirely sure if the book is entirely accurate but it does succeed in communicating a few key learnings.

Top 3 Learnings:

1. Snap judgments are innate. We make them about everything. The point of differentiation between a snap judgment we make about strawberry flavored ice cream with that of an ‘expert’ is that we will never be able to explain (correctly) as to how we arrived at that judgment. When you become an expert in a field, you hone your gut in a way that a novice cannot match. (understandably)

The application is apparent when we ask for customer feedback. Asking a customer whether they like a food item on display may work well but asking them to rationalize why would probably take us down an unwanted path.

2. The product is the packaging. I was pretty amazed by some of the examples here.

One that comes to mind is – When 7UP was sold in bottles with a yellowish shade, they had customers complaining that there was too much lime – even if there was no change in the drink!

That explains why the famous Pepsi taste challenge failed because drinking Coke out of a Coke can means something entirely different to drinking Coke out of a plastic un-labelled glass.

3. Going back to the fact that snap judgments are innate. It reminded me of a question a friend of mine posed – We are all innately discriminatory (color, race etc). How do we stop those judgments from taking control of us the moment we see a symptom? That one’s just ‘food for thought’.