Drive explores the forces that motivate people. Traditionally, we’ve viewed extrinsic rewards (money, status, etc.) and the avoidance of punishment as the primary sources of motivation. Daniel, however, reveals that intrinsic motivation, such as enjoyment of the work itself, the sense of achievement by helping others, and personal growth can be far more powerful and…
All posts by Kevin
[Book 47] Contagious by Jonah Berger
Contagious reveals the forces that make things go viral and guides us towards achieving organic growth. We share great ideas, products and experiences that are useful, funny and cool because sharing primes our audience to associate these desirable attributes with us. We also deeply connect with services that make us feel like insiders. Special, limited…
[Book 46] Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek
Leaders Eat Last delves into the core behaviors and dynamics that define effective leadership. Simon explains that leadership is a choice to serve others, not a position tied to a formal rank. While serving clients and customers is vital, true leadership focuses primarily on the well-being of a team and colleagues. In fact, a well-led…
[Book 45] Outlive by Peter Attia
Outlive is about optimizing your health to minimize risks from longer term diseases. There are four primary disease categories that represent the major causes of old age mortality: 1) cardiovascular, 2) cancer, 3) neurodegenerative (e.g. Alzheimer’s), and 4) metabolic (e.g., diabetes). These conditions often develop slowly over decades, so preventative medicine is a far better…
[Book 44] Slow Productivity by Cal Newport
Slow Productivity is a guide to producing high-quality work in an era of increased busyness. This philosophy is broken down into three components: 1) do fewer things, 2) work at a natural pace, and 3) obsess over quality. Do Fewer ThingsLimiting the number of tasks helps reduce the administrative burden of managing an extensive list.…
[Book 43] Getting Things Done by David Allen
Getting Things Done describes an effective system for organizing your daily tasks. Start by capturing every to-do item in a single place outside of your head. This can be in physical folders and notebooks, although my own system is almost exclusively digital. Once everything has been captured, go through each item to identify the single…
[Book 42] The Pyramid Principle by Barbara Minto
The Pyramid Principle clarifies business writing by providing a framework to logically and succinctly organize research and analysis. Research is a deductive process where insights lead to further research, iterating until the desired solution is found. In contrast, an inductive process should be used when sharing results. This involves stating conclusions up front and supporting…
[Book 41] Hidden Potential by Adam Grant
Hidden Potential reveals several science-backed ways to grow, improve and succeed. To begin, focus on enhancing your character, which is the capacity to prioritize your values over instincts. Unlike personality, character is a learned skill and to improve it, we need to embrace discomfort. Akin to working out, accepting temporary discomfort while pushing the limits…
[Book 40] The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
The Psychology of Money explains how behavioral forces in personal finance play a larger role than the underlying math and logic of investing. Morgan explains that the optimal approach to investing is having a barbelled personality, where you’re optimistic about the future but paranoid about what will prevent you from getting there. This mindset allows…
[Book 39] Right Kind of Wrong by Amy Edmondson
Right Kind of Wrong deconstructs failure into three types (intelligent, basic, and complex), with a focus on explaining how to fail well. Intelligent failures result from taking carefully selected and survivable risks in new domains where the ability to succeed cannot be known in advance. This is the learning that propels us forward. In contrast,…