To honor the life of Daniel Kahneman, this week’s post is on his final book, Noise. Noise unpacks the variability in judgements leftover once bias is removed. Judgements take many forms, such as which projects to pursue or whom to hire. While there is a litany of research and practical techniques to reduce bias in…
All posts by Kevin
[Book 34] Your Next Five Moves by Patrick Bet-David
Your Next Five Moves is a compilation of experiential (rather than research-based) business advice. Despite being marketed as “mastering strategy”, these insights are relevant for any business role. For example, you can improve the speed of reaching professional goals by “living your future truth”, which entails clearly envisioning where you want to be (e.g., in…
[Book 33] Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher and William Ury
Getting to Yes deconstructs the key components of negotiation and provides advice on how to do it most effectively. Roger and William explain that it’s crucial to separate the people from the problem, which will allow you negotiate hard on the problem while being soft on the people. Beyond understanding the other side’s position, being…
[Book 32] First, Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman
First, Break All the Rules illustrates unconventional insights gleaned from extensive research on the best management practices. Effective managers help their employees become more of who they already are by capitalizing on their unique talents. Marcus and Curt explain that talent is a recurring pattern of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied.…
[Book 31] Algorithms to Live By by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths
Algorithms to Live By demonstrates how to use computer algorithms to enhance human decision making. Surprisingly, this often involves clever simplification strategies. For example, to store new information when memory is full, computers use the Least Recently Used (LRU) algorithm to decide which data to discard. If you accumulate an “unsorted” pile of papers on…
[Book 30] The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown
The Gifts of Imperfection provides an introspective view of our fallibility and guides us to become more accepting of others and ourselves. This lack of acceptance breeds feeling of shame, where we believe our flaws make us unworthy of love, belonging, and connection. Brene explains that overcoming shame begins by disassociating an action (“I made…
[Book 29] Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte
Building a Second Brain explains an effective way to capture, organize, distill and express information for future use. Given the limitations of our memory, building a “second brain” involves creating a personalized digital archive of what resonates with each of us. Tiago emphasizes that the benefits also extend beyond mere archiving. Writing is an effective…
[Book 28] Magic Words by Jonah Berger
Magic Words provides an insightful explanation of how seemingly minor language choices can significantly impact message receptivity. This book introduces six types of “magic words” to: (1) activate identity and agency, (2) convey confidence, (3) ask the right questions, (4) leverage concreteness, (5) employ emotion, and (6) harness similarity (and difference). For example, to encourage…
[Book 27] The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
The Lean Startup outlines an entrepreneurial methodology for transforming new ideas into successful business outcomes, and is applicable to companies of any size and in any industry. Business cases are built on two foundational assumptions: the value and growth hypotheses. The value hypothesis demonstrates how your product or service creates value for both the consumer…
[Book 26] Think Like a Monk by Jay Shetty
Think Like a Monk provides valuable insights on how to stay focused and grounded on what truly matters. We are shaped by the people who surround us, so it’s important to find communities whose values align with who we want to become. Jay explains that ambition and passion can be interpreted as arrogant behavior, so…