The Best Business And Leadership
Books Of 2017
From rebuilding Microsoft to fighting for change in Silicon Valley, here
are some noteworthy reads from 2017.
Barking Up the Wrong Tree–the Surprising Science Behind Why Everything
You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong by
Eric Barker
There are a number of commonly held beliefs
about success that many of us don’t question. Don’t give up. Believe in
yourself. Hard work will pay off. In this book, writer Eric Barker turns all
those assumptions on their head and provides compelling evidence as to why so
much of what we’ve been told about success is misleading. For example,
believing in yourself is good advice to follow . . . sometimes. But other
times, understanding your weaknesses and being your harshest critic can
actually make you perform better. As Barker writes, “We need optimism and
confidence to keep going and convince others to join our cause, but negativity
and pessimism help us see problems so we can make them better. Yes, the former
feel much better, but both are necessary.”
The Four
Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your
Life Better (and
Other People’s Lives Better Too) by
Gretchen Rubin
Ever wondered why some people are so much
more disciplined than others, or why some people just would never do
anything they’re told? As Gretchen Rubin writes in this book, it’s because we
all have different ways to respond to expectations (which she classifies into
“tendencies”). Some of us have no problems meeting deadlines set for us by
others, yet struggle when we set our own deadlines. Some of us struggle with
meeting deadlines, period.
As Rubin stressed in her book, no one
tendency is better than the other. But understanding other people’s tendencies
will help us to be better communicators. She writes, “The fact is, if we want
to communicate, we must speak the right language–not the message that would
work effectively with us, but the message that will persuade
the listener.”
Hit Refresh–the
Quest to Rediscover Microsoft’s Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone by Satya Nadella
When Satya Nadella was appointed as the CEO
of Microsoft, he inherited an extremely rigid culture. As a result, spontaneity
suffered, hindering innovation. He made transforming Microsoft’s company
culture his priority, “so we could get back to what we all joined the company
to do–to make a difference in the world.”
This book presents his journey in doing so
and also explained his own transformation from a young boy in India with a Karl
Marx poster in his bedroom to the CEO of an iconic tech company in Redmond,
Washington.
Perennial
Seller–the Art of Making and Marketing Work That Lastsby Ryan Holiday
The business world is filled with products
that over-promise yet under-deliver. And when we’re the creator of those
products, it’s easy to fall into that trap, even when we don’t intend to. As
writer and marketer Ryan Holiday writes, so many people dedicate so much time
and resources to promoting their products, and not enough time creating the
product. What’s more, many of the creators don’t think about giving their work
great long-term value. Drawing on examples from various companies, recording
artists, authors, and restaurants, Holiday also gives the reader some practical
tips and suggestions on what they need to do to create (and promote) a product
or piece of work that will sell for many years to come.
For a long time, discrimination in Silicon
Valley was something that many women and minorities were forced to silently put
up with. And while there were always those who fought for change, it wasn’t
until former Kleiner Perkins partner Ellen Pao brought this fight to court that
others outside of Silicon Valley began to notice. Pao’s lawsuit for sexual
harassment and gender discrimination didn’t succeed, but actions highlighted
the seriousness (and urgency) of this issue, and paved a way forward for many
other women in tech to speak up and conduct their own fight for change.
The Four: The
Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Googleby Scott Galloway
If there are four companies that have changed
every aspect of our lives for the last decade, it’s Amazon, Apple, Facebook,
and Google. And when it comes to their approach to business, customer
acquisition, and attitudes toward laws and regulations, there are a lot more
commonalities than there are differences. Serial entrepreneur and NYU professor
Scott Galloway outlines those patterns in this book, challenging the reader to
see the four tech companies from a whole new perspective.
Technically
Wrong–Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech by Sara Wachter-Boettcher
While many tech companies might see diversity
as a PR issue, web consultant and author Sara Wachter-Boettcher points out the
shortcomings that a largely homogenous workforce can bring to the products they
create, particularly when they are designed for a demographic that’s largely
different from the company’s workforce. Some of the examples she looks at
include Snapchat’s controversial and culturally inappropriate filters, to Facebook’s
policy for “approving” the name of its users. She writes, “Biased algorithms.
Alienating online forms. Harassment-friendly platforms. All kinds of problems
plague digital products, from tiny design details to massively flawed features.
But they share a common foundation: A tech culture that’s built on white, male
values–while insisting it’s brilliant enough to serve all of us.”
Option B: Facing
Adversity, Building Resilience and Finding Joy, by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant
When it comes to grieving, the unspoken rule
in many workplaces is to leave your emotions at home. But Facebook COO Sheryl
Sandberg challenged that mind-set in this book, which she cowrote with Wharton
professor Adam Grant in the wake of her husband’s sudden death. While the book
largely chronicles Sandberg’s own road to recovery, it also contains some
helpful tips on what employers can do to help employees who are grieving. For
example, don’t tell them it’s okay to make mistakes because of all that they’re
going through. Instead, focus on what they’ve done well that day so that they
don’t lose their self-confidence in the midst of their grief.
The Power of
Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact by Chip Heath & Dan Heath
Life consists of a series of moments, some of
which are more significant than others. Some of these moments are easy to
identify: graduating from college, getting married, starting your first job,
buying your first home. Others might not seem important at the time, but when
you look back, you realize that it led to a chain of events that then led
to significant progress in your life. In this book, Chip Heath and Dan Heath
discuss how we can intentionally create more of those moments in order to
manifest better results and create more meaning in our lives. As they wrote,
“Remarkable moments don’t create themselves. What if we didn’t just remember
the standout moments of our lives and work but made them? We can be the
designers of moments that deliver elevation and insight and pride and
connection.”
Weird in a World
That’s Not: A Career Guide for Misfits, F*ckups, and Failures by Jennifer Romolini
For some of us, the conventional working
world seems to be an impossible place to operate in. That’s how Jennifer
Romolini felt until she realized that her differences can be an asset rather
than a liability. In a refreshingly honest account, Romolini recounts how her
career stumbles and mishaps have shaped her into the successful professional
that she became, and shares some practical lessons for the young professional
based on what she learned from those mistakes. She also illustrates that
no matter how big your screw-up, there is always a way to
bounce back.
BY ANISA PURBASARI HORTON
https://www.fastcompany.com/40507459/the-best-business-and-leadership-books-of-2017
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