All posts by Kevin

The Infinite Game argues that leaders of companies should manage to an existence in perpetuity rather than chasing short-term wins. Companies adopting this mindset attract talent with a just cause – an inspiring vision of the future they are constantly striving towards. When anchored to a just cause rather than a product or service, companies…

Writing for Busy Readers is a guide to crafting effective written communication for daily needs, such as emails, presentations and short memos. Above all, this book teaches you to be empathetic towards your recipients by writing in a way that makes it easy for them to understand and act on your message. We all face…

The Organized Mind applies brain science to improve how we manage information. Given that our brain’s evolution has not caught up with the recent exponential growth in the data we encounter, we need techniques to adapt. One way make optimal decisions and sustain happiness is to practice satisficing (a combination of satisfying and sufficient). People…

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…

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…

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…

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.…

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…

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…

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…