All posts in Book Notes

Digital Minimalism offers a thoughtful philosophy for navigating addictive technology. With smartphones leading the way, we have countless tech tools at our fingertips. While most can be very useful, many are designed to exploit psychological forces to capture your attention for as long as possible. This book is about reclaiming your attention. Cal defines Digital…

Change by Design reveals how to incorporate design thinking in any business role. Designers lead with a human-centered approach, which means thoroughly designing with respect to the end-to-end user experience. At the heart of this ethos is empathy. To design well, you must acquire an intimate understanding the users’ pain points so that you can…

The Perfect Story focuses on cultivating storytelling skills to foster connections, optimize how analysis is received, and influence decisions. This post will highlight how to use effective storytelling to gain buy-in on work projects. When sharing our work and ideas, expecting the audience to automatically grasp the depth and meaning we’ve uncovered is shortsighted. Effective…

Good to Great explores the leadership and management qualities that transform good companies into exceptional ones. Jim begins by explaining that great companies are led by humble “Level 5” leaders, who credit others (or luck) for their success, yet shoulder responsibility when things go poorly. These leaders also have a relentless resolve to do great…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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.…

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…