Book Recommendations for Leaders

Two books I just finished that I wanted to recommend.

Particularly relevant for anyone who has to lead a group or an organization.

The first is written by the CEO/Founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman. It’s called The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age and highlights how managing people has changed since the era of lifetime employment has come to an end.

They reframe a job as a “tour of duty” in which the company makes clear to the employee what s/he will get out of the next assignment while at the same time, the employee promises s/he will stick with the job until the end of the tour. They stay because reputational risk is too great to leave it.

It’s a quick read and a solid framework for thinking about developing talent in today’s networked age.

Meanwhile, you can always look to the military for inspiring stories of courage, bravery, and leadership. In Pegasus Bridge, the acclaimed historian Stephen E. Ambrose details the first invasion effort of D-Day and the strategic imperative of a group of British airborne troops of taking a canal bridge deep behind enemy lines.

This is a book about planning, preparation, team building, leadership, strategy, execution, and more.

You’ll appreciate the “Greatest Generation” more and hopefully you’ll never be in a life/death situation like this with the fate of the free world hanging in the balance.

However you will be in a position where you need to lead a group of people on a mission. Learn from the best.

Flash Boys—Book Review

Not everyone with whom I have spoken loves Michael Lewis’ new book, Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt.

Perhaps I’m too much of a fan to think otherwise, but I really appreciate his ability to take things that are extremely difficult to comprehend and make them, well, comprehensible.

In this case, High Frequency Trading, and how the stock market is extremely challenging for the little guy (and I’m one of them).

He takes a piece of the world which is foreign to you and opens up your understanding.

I’m a fan…of this book and of his.

An Impressive Founding Father (Book Recommendation)

Of course I had heard of Alexander Hamilton, but I certainly didn’t really know, understand, or sincerely appreciate the man until I finished the 731 page biography (amazon link) of him by Ron Chernow.

It reads like a novel and you can’t help but walk away impressed at his dedication to the cause of the American Revolution, his intellect, his work ethic and the fact that he (and all the rest of the founding fathers) were, when all was said and done, people with many shortcomings.

The book (amazon link) certainly ripped the veneer off of men like Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Adams. I certainly appreciate that politics was as dirty then (if not dirtier) than it is now.

The book was epic and well worth it.  It took me about 2 months to make it happen, but well worth it.

Recommended: Alexander Hamilton by Ron Cherwnow

What books and movies have you experienced lately?

Always interested in knowing what others have enjoyed.

Here are mine.

Books

• The Time Keeperby Mitch Albom—great perspective inducing parable in classic Albom style
• Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power-a much deeper appreciation of the man…and what made him special. Any politician (and that’s all of us) will appreciate his savvy.
• Without Reservations: How a Family Root Beer Stand Grew Into a Global Hotel Company--nothing earth shattering here, but a great “back to basics” book from a guy who knows a thing or two about building a business (Bill Marriott)
• The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling - A friend of mine sold me on this hard. He claimed it changed his life. I really wanted it to change mine…but it fell flat for me.
• What Keeps Leaders Up at Night: Recognizing and Resolving Your Most Troubling Management Issues-the NFO got this for me out of the library and though I didn’t finish it, it did give me some great ideas. Managing the careers of other people is a big responsibility…and I have a lot to learn. A lot.

  Movies

• About Time-it was a late night flight back from Denver, but this one had me choked up. I need a lot of reminders about what is truly important in life. It’s an area of weakness, I am afraid.
• Flight- I’m a big Denzel fan and I found his character to be riveting. A strong movie about what it takes to look hard at ourselves…and what can happen when we don’t.

Working through…

• Thinking, Fast and Slowby Daniel Kahneman. Deep stuff. Makes you think fast, but reading is slow because there’s so much involved.

Always Eat Left-Handed-Read the Book

My friend, Rohit, has done it again.

I’m often asked about tips and suggestions for being more efficient in my personal/professional life and in engaging others in conversation.

What Rohit has done in his latest book, Always Eat Left Handed: 15 Surprisingly Simple Secrets Of Success is package up many of his tips (which are similar to mine) in a fun, easy to read book. I put the whole thing away in about 3 short sittings and found myself nodding in full agreement (with 1 or 2 exceptions).

What I like about Rohit (as you’ll see in my reviews of his previous books Personality Not Included and Likeonomics) is his refreshing style of writing (it has a lot of personality) and the practicality of his advice.

This one is in Kindle format, is pretty cheap, and will make an immediate impact.

A Great Golf Story

I am not a particularly big fan of golf. I don’t play it and find it boring to watch.

Yet, somehow, I was drawn into reading a phenomenal book called The Match: The Day the Game of Golf Changed Forever and I couldn’t put it down.

It describes a little known event involving 4 of the game’s greatest players and how they fought it for the pure sport of it.

Written by the same author who wrote Greatest Game Ever Played, the story is riveting and raised my appreciation of the sport about 100-fold.

When I lived in Europe, I fell in love with soccer (er, football) and realized that just because I didn’t understand a sport didn’t mean there wasn’t something beautiful about it.

What this book showed me was how beautiful golf is.

And the storytelling is world-class.

Must Read Book: How to Crush Your Bad Habits

My newest “Must Read” Book is Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.

It’s been out for a while but I finally got around to reading it recently and all I can say is that I am sorry that it took me this long.

We all have habits. Habits are what make us, in many ways. Some good, some bad.

I’m not telling you anything you don’t know, but what Charles Duhigg tells us ARE things we don’t know. I love books that help you think about how you think and that’s exactly what happens in this one.

Duhigg identifies that each of us possess a “Habit Loop” consisting of

1. a Cue—something that triggers an action
2. a Routine-how we respond to that due
3. a Reward-how we feel as a result

The key to changing habits is to break it down into those three elements and then work to consciously replace one routine with another.

So, if your cue is “I get stressed out at work” and your routine is “I get a cookie or a sugary snack,” so that I get a reward of “I feel better,” and the consequence is weight gain…you need to be able to remove “sugary snack” for “go for a walk.”

The critical element, however, is recognizing the parts of the loop since for many of us, they are intertwined to the point that we don’t see the pieces.

One of the things that I’ve used is the food journal…just keeping track of caloric intake, to help identify cues, routines, and rewards.

We have these habits all over our lives and willpower isn’t enough.

The Power of Habit provides you the background and the roadmap for helping you build/establish the kind of habits you want.

BOOK Review: Imagine-How Creativity Works

(Updated: So I read and wrote this review before I found out about the author's plagiarism, see comments below. I did find the ideas inspiring, but obviously, the experience has been tarnished. Herewith, the original post.)

Ever found yourself staring at your computer screen trying to come up with an answer to a vexing question that requires some insight or fresh thinking?
Turns out, you’re probably better going off to take a shower.
Long-time readers know that along with marketing, my other passion is innovation. Heck, I bought the domain “Never Stop Innovating” as well.
But, it’s bigger than that.
The key to growth, longevity, and profits lies in innovation. And even bigger than that is that the future of American competitiveness requires it as well.
Which is why you MUST pick up Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer.
I was entranced by it from the git-go, as I learned how the two sides of the brain complement each other in creative thought, why we need to actively cultivate both of them, and how to do it.

• You should force yourself to meet new people, out of your traditional circle. In fact, growing your network may be one of the best things you can do for your own creativity.
  
  According to one study, “the highest performing employees-those with the most useful new ideas-were the ones who consistently engaged in the most interactions.”
• Take a step away from your desk and go for a walk, a run, or take a shower. You don’t work on an assembly line. You are paid for creativity and these are ways to help connect the dots in your mind.
• Foster dissent instead of group think. 
  In fact, “beginning a group session with a moment of dissent-even when the dissent is wrong, can dramatically expand creative potential.”

Bottom line: if creativity and innovation is important to you for your career and for your children’s future (that was rhetorical, my friends), then I HIGHLY recommend you read this book.
Highly recommend.
Imagine: How Creativity Works

Out of the Depths-An Inspiring Story of Survival

If you are looking for spiritual invigoration and a renewed sense in the strength of the human spirit, I may have a book for you.

Heading into the High Holidays, I said to the NFO, “I really need a few books to read-particularly one that I won’t feel guilty reading in synagogue when things get slow-or else I won’t make it.”

She responded in a big way and selected Out of the Depths: The Story of a Child of Buchenwald Who Returned Home at Lastby Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, who was Chief Rabbi of Israel.

If that’s all he had done, that would have been a notable achievement, but the story of the man and his struggle is one of the most remarkable I have ever read.

Israel Lau was born in pre-WWII Poland. His father was the rabbi of their town, the 29th generation of rabbis in their family.

The Nazis invade, do an Aktion (a rounding up of all the Jews) and all but Israel and his brother, Naphtali, end us surviving the war.

But surviving doesn’t even do that justice. It’s incredible moment upon incredible moment…and all of this done at the ages of 7 and 8 with indomitable will to survive and the never-ending dedication of his older brother.

Circumstances, luck, miracles, divine intervention…call it what you will, Lau is the youngest survivor of Buchenwald, makes his way to pre-state Palestine, and eventually becomes Chief Rabbi, where he is in a position to affect not just Israeli politics, but world leaders like Pope John Paul II.

Jewish or not, you’ll have a difficult time putting this book down and when you do, you’ll reflect on what makes people persevere in the face of atrocity and inhumanity and our obligation to ensure that such events never happen again to anyone, anywhere.

There are a number of powerful stories in the book and a surprise appearance by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but the quote that stuck out for me came when he talked about the trail of Adolph Eichmann and Lau confronts another survivor who had testified.

“You coined the phrase, ‘Auschwitz as another planet’-but it is not accurate.

If Auschwitz were indeed another planet, it would be easier to accept the Holocaust. But in truth, the disaster of Auschwitz is that it happened on the very same planet where we had lived before, where we live now, and where we will continue to live.

Those who carried out the cruel murders of the innocent were ordinary people, who returned home from their murderous acts to water the flowers in their manicured gardens. They tended the flowers lovingly and carefully so they would blossom, just after they had torn infants to pieces and shattered the skulls of men and women. Just after shoving thousands of people into the gas chambers to their deaths, they came home to play with dolls together with their little girls, and listen to classical music, eyes closed, engrossed n the uplifting spirituality of Bach and Beethoven.

They knew exactly what was going on in the camps, but were able to continue enjoying life as if unaffected.

Is  that another planet? Absolutely not.

Those were people just like you and me, and that’s the whole problem.

When you transfer all those horrors to another planet, you minimize the issue. You are saying that something like the Holocaust can never happen to us again. In my humble opinion, you are wrong.”

Boomerang, Debt, and Our Future

There’s really no point in reviewing a Michael Lewis book because you should just read it.

In the one that I read most recently, Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World, Lewis follows up on the ripples of The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine as he takes us around the world to talk about the boom and bust..and what it means for all of us.

We visit Iceland, Greece, Ireland, and Germany, before we end up in California, trying to understand what DEBT at the scale we are currently facing.

As with all his work, the writing is engaging and it’s near impossible to put the book down.

Though he tries to end on an upbeat note (and when I say “end,” I mean basically the last 2 sentences of the whole 212 pages), it’s a pretty bleak picture.

However, it’s better to understand it than avoid it and Lewis’ book is a step in that direction.

Super Sad True Love Story

It’s a bit depressing and almost cliché at this point to talk about the decline of America. Particularly during the week of July 4th, but we’re getting to a point of No Return as it relates to our national debt and our outlook about the lifestyle to which we believe we are entitled.

In Super Sad True Love Story: A Novel, a pretty sad portrait is painted about a future that unfolds if we don’t stop our current ways of consumption valued over production, value, and innovation.  The Love Story has many twists…a man who loves America and is sad about how it has morphed, his relationship with a woman whom he loves, but she doesn’t necessarily return the emotion 100%, and an overarching perception of an aged society trying to recapture the glamor of its youth.

There are so many levels here at such depth, that no blog post can really do it justice.

Still, it’s a worthwhile read because it’s one of those potentially prophetic warnings about what could become if we don’t ask seriously soon.

 

The Rabbit’s Foot and the Gift from a Father

Every now and then fate just intervenes.

With my (relatively) new gig, I have (I’ll admit) been struggling with the issue of work/life balance (and I know I am not alone with that).

My buddy, Aaron Stopak sent me a note, introducing me to Allan Horlick, author of Rabbit's Foot, A Gift From My Father, who was looking for some help promoting his book.

Now, Aaron had missed my note announcing my move to Sprinklr (I guess I’m not as good a marketer as I think), so it wasn’t a good fit, but I did say to Allan…”send me the book, I’ll read it, and happy to offer some suggestions.”

And he did….and, it was like a whack upside the head.

The book is about a man (roughly my age) who is totally focused on his career…to the detriment of his family life.

Over the course of an engrossing story (which had some highly relevant angles-e.g. the protagonist is a big Redskins fan), you can’t help but come to terms with what is really important in life.

While the prose is not Hemingway quality, I think the imagery is just first-rate and the fact that most of us can find a bit of ourselves in the story makes this one worth picking up.

In fact, in the hours and days after reading the book (which I should say, I finished over the course of 2 days), I found myself thinking more and more about it and asking myself if I was living my life consistent with my values.

If that’s not the purpose of a book, I don’t know what is.

It did change my life. Enough said.

Particularly point as we head into Father’s Day…for all the dads out there trying to figure out how to do it all.

Deep Survival…Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why?

I am in the middle of a FANTASTIC book about the human spirit and psychology. It’s called Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why and the title doesn’t even do it justice.

It is one of those books that, as my brother Asher says, “makes you think about how you think” and it will really push you.

What I love about it is that the examples it gives (while focused on man vs. nature) apply very much to how we deal with extreme challenges in any part of our lives…job change, marriage, globalization, and more.

If you can become more aware of the way you think, you might be able to help adapt and thrive to new situations as they arise and avoid being blind to them because of previous paradigms.

Certainly the US Congress and American taxpayer could use this.

I highly recommend it. (Note: it is NOT a light read and will require some effort…but, like survival, it’s worth it.)

No More Cautious Kindle Purchases…

Cover via Amazon

I wrote about how I was afraid of making bad purchases on my Kindle.

No more.

They have a super smart and GREAT return policy. Full refund w/in 7 days.

If you like a book, you annotate it…then you want to keep it for reference.

Sure, it probably opens the door to abuse, but not enough that it’s worth it to irritate the honest customers.

Man, I love Amazon.

Battle Hymn of Tiger Mother….

Image via Wikipedia

My mother-in-law gave the NFO a copy of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, but the NFO never got to read it.

I picked it up and read it first.

Then, as it turned out, I was invited to be the discussion leader for my synagogue’s roving book club about the book.

If you’ve read the book, chime in. If you haven’t, chime in, but at least say “I haven’t read the book, so I don’t have all the facts and am relying on the interpretation and lenses of others to make these comments.”

So, yes, Amy Chua is intense. She’s Type A and unapologetic about it.

I also felt bad for her husband, Jed. It just seems like with all of the focus that Amy had on raising her perfect Chinese daughters, combined with being an author and a Yale Law professor…I just wondered if, you know, he ever had sex with his wife?

(Sorry, but I did actually have that thought.)

Ok, now let’s move on to the meat of it.

Here’s what I admire about Amy and her approach.

• She instills a reverence for persistence, determination, and a work ethic. I love her for this.
• I am in awe of her never-ending source of energy. After a long day at work, I have had more than one occasion where I say, “I just need to get the kids to bed.” For her, the day just started and, as they say about some great football players, she “gets stronger in the 4th quarter.” I really admire that.
• I agree with her focus on discipline and accountability. Sooner or later, we all realize that life isn’t fair, that you have to deal with the fact that you screwed up, and that you are responsible for your actions. I’d rather have my kids learn that when they are in my house than on their own. It’s the difference between rock climbing with ropes and…without them.
• I also admire her as a marketer…She tells some great stories that get people riled up…and gets them to talk about her (and her book)…which leads to sales.

I think the biggest issue, for me, is how she determines what “success” is.

I get the fact that she wants the girls to have good grades and be the concertmaster, but to what end?

Is it to have a sense of accomplishment?

I doubt it, since you can get that in many ways.

I think (and I don’t know) that she thinks that this is the path to job security and wealth.

And that’s where I don’t agree with her…at least anymore.

20, 30, 40, 50 years ago? Sure.

You got a good degree and you were assured of, at least, a middle class lifestyle.

I don’t believe that’s true anymore as we move into the truly globalized economy.

What’s more, the piano and the violin seem to be (and getting good grades), succeeding within a system of rules and I think that innovation, being the driver, of the future economy/wealth is sometimes about creating your own rules (or at least, vision).

And, of course, there’s the question of “what’s the purpose/meaning of it all anyway?”

Am I a worse-off person because I had a friend sleepover (or vice versa) in 6th grade? Was that an unacceptable trade-off?

I was talking to the Rabbi of my synagogue about the book and one thing he mentioned that seemed ridiculous to him was the notion that there was no “day or rest” in her kids’ repertoire. The human body needs rest/recovery time.

In some respects, I felt bad for her.

She seemed to want to “be Chinese” so badly and felt guilty about being in America that she had to “out Chinese” the Chinese.

Call it China-envy?

Best part of it all is that when my kids are crossing the line now, I say, “you know, I can be the Tiger Mom, if you want.”

That scares them straight

America: That Used To Be Us

Image via Wikipedia

It would be easy to dismiss Tom Friedman’s new book, That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back, as a rehashing of his previous themes.

To some extent, that’s fair, but where this book differs is in its objective.

Whereas, for many years, Friedman has been a keen and astute observer of the way the world is changing because of globalization, this book is meant to be a really loud wake-up call, to give America and Americans the awareness and the sense of urgency of what will happen if we don’t act, decisively, to change our current trajectory.

In this respect, my thinking and his thinking align perfectly.

He cites the 4 major trends affecting us

• globalization
• IT revolution
• our large and growing deficits
• our pattern of energy consumption

as the forces at the core of the threat to the American Dream and the promise of the middle-class lifestyle.

He (and to be fair, this book is co-authored with Michael Mandelbaum), also addresses what 5 areas need to be our focus if we are to overcome the challenges.

• education
• infrastructure
• immigration
• research and development
• regulation

Now, while I don’t agree with everything they suggest, given my recent travels, I certainly agree with most of them.

They are optimistic…when all is said and done, America has historically risen to the challenges, but the road won’t be easy.

We MUST cultivate an environment of radical innovation and entrepreneurship in this new environment, make it easier for the right people to come into the country, make it easier for people to start businesses here, and provide the right type of education for our citizens.

These are easy things to say…not easy to do, particularly given the somewhat paralyzed nature of our government, which the authors address at length.

But, the book is a reframing of the discussion. Instead of saying, “oh, we have the best school in the county or the state,” ask, “how does our school compare to Shanghai, Sinagpore, or Helsinki?”

In my mind, that’s exactly what we should be doing. And it’s something we need to start doing NOW.

94% of the book is an assessment of the challenges and on those, I agree.

Where I walked away a bit disappointed was the solutions:

• more and better math/science education (easier said than done)
• a 3rd party presidential candidate
• belief in the American ideals

While both could make a difference, it left me feeling a bit lacking in terms of specifics.

Still, I fundamentally believe that most Americans do not yet fully appreciate the challenges of the new world order and on that score, I’d read the book.

If the resulting anxiety can help increase our odds of solving the problem, then I’m all for it.

Ship of Gold…and more

Image via Wikipedia

If you’re looking for an exciting page turner of a book, one that is nearly impossible to put down, check out Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea: The History and Discovery of the World's Richest Shipwreck

It’s all about what happened to the SS Central America in 1857, which went down with $2 million worth of gold (leading to the Panic of 1857) and the amazing technological achievement associated with its recovery in over 8000 feet of deep ocean.

The story (on both sides) is phenomenal, opening up a part of American history that is doubly significant and enriching your understanding of the world in which we live…plus, it has the added bonus of connecting the dots from different centuries, so you see the cause and effect over long periods of time.

Throw in some great technology, innovation, entrepreneurship, a validation of free markets/incentives, and some just first-rate storytelling and you’ve got a glorious book.

You just don’t find too many like these and the empathy you feel for the heroes/characters puts you on all of the ships.

What would prison be like?

On very rare occasions, I wonder that.

See a documentary on TV or read a story about it, but never before have I really FELT a bit nervous about that question.

No, I’m not going to prison and, fortunately, I don’t know too many people who have, but finished a FANTASTIC book called The Hot House: Life Inside Leavenworth Prison.

Now, the book is almost 20 years old, but the tension is real.

You wonder how you would react to the intimidation, the extortion, the sexual predators and it’s daunting, a whole other side of society that you almost never think about.

There are the larger issues that we face:

• can criminals be rehabilitated?
• are some people just inherently evil?
• is someone’s life still worth equal to that of others even after that person has taken another’s?

The book doesn’t pass these types of judgments, but the author who had “brass balls” (they say you need “brass balls to work at Leavenworth”) raises them in a very fair way.

Reading books about people on the edge definitely takes you out of the comfort zone.

Prison, they say, helps a man (or woman) get down to the core of who he is.

Reading this book helps you think about the question of how you might react…and what kind of person you are.

I love books that blow your perspective on the world wide open and this one did.

Too Big To Fail…

Cover via Amazon

Although this 500+ page book could be called “Too Big To Read,” Andrew Ross Sorkin’s book, Too Big To Fail actually quite the page-turner and I completed it in a 3 day marathon session.

There’s obviously a HUGE amount of information here and, though you know my political leanings, I am by no means giving Wall St. a pass at all for their contribution to the mess, there’s one line, buried on page 184 which, it seems to me, is the pebble that kicked off the avalanche.

“In 1999, under pressure from the Clinton administration, Fannie and Freddie began underwriting subprime mortgages.”

A worthwhile goal…increasing home ownership in and of itself, but policy goals that confront sound business judgment have a cost.

And, either way, we as taxpayers, pay.

Look, Wall St. will take ANY opportunity to make money, so handing them the subprime business was just a disaster waiting to happen.

What’s also interesting in this book is how the vicitmization of American continues..on both sides.

On the one hand, you have people who had these subprime mortgages “foisted” on them (my gut says…sure, it happened, but that most of the time people knew what they were doing) and then, my personal favorites, the CEOs of Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley complaining about “short-sellers” who were destroying their stock value.

Uh, so it’s ok to short stocks when it’s other people’s stocks, but not your own?

Gimme a break.

Lastly, I’m not sure on my read on Hank Paulson after all this.

Michael Moore portrayed him as a villain, but I kind of feel like after reading the accounts of his vomiting and dry heaving from staying up all night that he genuinely believed that the welfare of the country was at stake and it wasn’t about helping his friends.

Maybe I’m wrong and Sorkin has his rep and sources to protect, but that’s my take.

Anyway, while I still don’t fully understand what a credit default swap is, I do feel like I have a better idea of what happened.

What isn’t comforting, however, is that I feel like we haven’t addressed the systemic issues and we may have band-aids on a big wound.

Related articles

• Farewell, Sheila Bair (dealbook.nytimes.com)

The Never Stop Marketing Recommended Reading List

I’m asked at least 2-3 times per week, “can you recommend some books for me to read to get started in understanding marketing and social media?” so…

Here’s is the “Intro to Never Stop Marketing” Reading List for Marketing 101.

First, of course, you need to read my stuff

• Dandelion Marketing 
• 10 Ways to Cultivate Your Fans

Then, MUCH more importantly

Book Title (Amazon link)	Review	Why?
The Cluetrain Manifesto	Review	Foundational to understanding the implication of networks
Here Comes Everybody	Review	How social software changes everything
The Anatomy of Buzz	Review	How to trigger word-of-mouth
Different	Review	Competitive strategy (on steroids)…one of the best I’ve ever read
Purple Cow		A classic on creative thinking
All Marketers are Liars		Redefining the role of marketers
Permission Marketing		Understanding relationships
Made to Stick	Review	How to create memorable stories
Switch	Review	How to create and sustain meaningful organization change
Influence	Review	Understanding mass social psychology
Drive	Review	What really motivates people?
Citizen Marketers	Review	The Power of evangelists/Raving Fans

There were more than a few that were really close calls, but at some point, you say “the list is long enough.”

For reviews to pretty much every book I’ve read in the past few years, see here.