I've read a lot of books over the past three years and written about many of them. When I'm reading books, I'm present in the moment, the book sitting in my hands is my all-time favorite, so one can see how my "favorites" can change overtime. But three years later, there are 10 books that are still tops on the list.
In no particular order, here they are:
This book is a forever classic and heard great things from many about it, but I never read it so in summer of 2018 I knew it was important to pick up and read. Although Dale Carnegie published the book 85 years ago, many of the the principles are still applicable today. Of the 10 principles Carnegie mentions, there are two that really stick out and I try to incorporate everyday.
The first one is "making people feel important and doing it sincerely." Anytime you're talking to someone, it is your job to make that person feel as they are the only person in the world at the time. No checking your phone. No looking at your watch. Your attention should be directed at that person in the moment. We can all think of one person in our lives who exemplified that and we remember how they made us feel when they did that. This principle piggy-backs on another Carnegie principle is remembering people's names. A person's name is a the sweetest thing to them and when you remember their name it shows that person you care.
And the second principle that sticks out is, about becoming the type of leader who can get people to change their behavior without causing resentment. There comes a time when others will do things that will upset you, but a great leader will be able to express their frustrations in positive way to get the change they want. Similar to when it is a beautiful day for golf and there are many people on the course, which leads to slow play. If you want the group to speed up, approaching them in a hostile way is only going to piss them off and in defiance they will play slower. Engaging in friendly conversation will be much more effective.
In September, 2018, I had the privilege of listening to the form U.S. Secretary of Education, under Barack Obama, Arne Duncan speak at the Harvard University Institute of Politics. Duncan spoke of why he was so passionate about education and bettering the lives of all of our youth - not just the privileged few - growing up as the child of a teacher and spending years working directly with underprivileged youth in his younger years. It is definitely a book, I would encourage others to pick up and read.
"Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell
I never did a "book of the week" post on this book, but "Outliers" is the first book that drew me to the mind of Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell opened the eyes of many as to how people obtained their success. What separated good Canadian youth hockey players from the elite players who joined the Junior teams to Bill Gates' rise to his success and his path to starting Microsoft. It all came down to the 10,000 hours of practice concept. Those people who were afforded the opportunity to practice their skills over and over again were eventually the ones who received the coaching and ultimately achieved success.
It's eye opening because pairing it with Duncan's book, we see the importance of investing in those youngsters, who through no fault of their own, may be a step behind their peers, who may be of a higher socioeconomic standing.
The former U.S. First Lady may be a polarizing figure, but she is far from political unlike her husband, the former President. Michelle's autobiography (which yes I am ranking it higher than her husband's) is so real. She came from very humbling beginnings as a the daughter of father with multiple sclerosis and a young African American woman at an Ivy League institutions. She writes about her constant struggle with "imposter syndrome" as well as being judged by others about how she raised her daughters Malia and Sasha. No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, this is another must read from a pretty successful woman.
This book definitely has to be on the list. It was one of the few books that I wrote back-to-back posts on - mainly because I wanted to cover two different topics and one post would be too wordy. Much like Malcolm Gladwell, Simon Sinek is an excellent mind and makes people think about things they never would have dreamed of thinking about and is not different with his book "The Infinite Game."
There are two types of games - a finite game or an infinite game. Players in a finite game are playing with a fixed outcome. In the sporting world, basketball is a finite game there is a clear objective, set duration and a clear winner and loser at the end. Finite games work well for sports, but not so much in the world of business.
Businesses who try to play a finite game and want to be the best by beating out their competition are going going to lose in the end. But those companies, like Apple, don't believe they are playing to be number one, they play to keep the game going. They don't focus on being the best, but trying to keep the game moving.
What can I say I really enjoy Malcolm Gladwell's work. Similar to "Outliers," Gladwell's 2019 book "Talking to Strangers" takes readers through many different historical scenarios as he attempts to show us that people are not as transparent as we may think. Gladwell opens and closes the book with the Sandra Bland case and how she tragically took her own life after a police officer arrested her in what should've been a routine traffic stop. He mentions Bernie Madoff and how Madoff was able to swindle so much cash from hardworking people because of his charm or how Joe Paterno and Graham Spanier were able to cover up for Jerry Sandusky all those years.
It's not a coincidence that "Surrounded By Idiots" is directly following "Talking To Strangers" amongst my all-time top 10 list. The two books have a lot in common. Erikson explains to his audience in "Surrounded By Idiots" there are four distinct types of human behavior and figuring out how to communicate effectively with each one leads to success of the business. Not everyone is the same and just as Malcolm Gladwell taught us in "Talking to Strangers," people aren't as transparent as others may believe. (Also if you didn't read my blog post on this book the first time around, I suggest you do so now because each of the DudePerfect team members fit into one of the four categories perfectly. Link is in the title.
Anyone who grew up in the 80s or 90s definitely remembers watching Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. Those carefree days as a young toddler, before you were even enrolled in school, well this book takes you back to those days and let's you re-live a time where you legit did not have a care in the world. Sometimes it's a good thing to re-visit those days and you can with this book.
Adam Grant's latest book teaches us how if we constantly want to be learning and be life-long learners, we have to be open to re-thinking our thinking. That some of the things we once believed in may not very well be the case at all. Using Red Sox and Yankee fans as an example, he attempts to make a Sox fan like the Yankees and vice versa getting them to realize that they have more in common than they really think. We have to admit when we are wrong, or don't know as much as we perceive. That's when we know we are truly learning.
"The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch
Seriously, how can I have an all-time top 10 book list and not include the man who inspired the name of this blog? It's inconceivable! I never did a post on the late Carnegie Mellon professor's book, but the fact his brick wall concept was the inspiration for the blog name automatically makes it an all-time top 10 and probably will not be leaving the category any time soon (or maybe at all). While many of these other nine books may change over time, not sure "The Last Lecture" is going anywhere. With "The Last Lecture" Professor Pausch really teaches us how to live our lives so all of our dreams can come true.
Honorable Mentions:
"Hitting Made Simple" by Kraig Kupiec
"American Crisis" by Andrew Cuomo
