Category: Book Notes
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The Business of Expertise (David C. Baker)
Entrepreneurial expertise is successful if you move the needle on behalf of respectful clients who align with your mission, who willingly pay a price premium for your non-interchangeable expertise, let you direct the process as experts, while keeping you significantly engaged to keep learning and growing. Client controls if they push back on your advice…
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Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want (Michael Hyatt, Daniel Harkavy)
story of my life is good at this point, but aware of limited time and want to ensure I live an even better story also invest in physical and spiritual well being typically have plan for career, but not one for life make the most significant contribution in this world that you can and add…
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Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell (Eric Schmidt)
Team success requires acting like a community, putting aside individual diffs and obsessing with what’s best for the team and company. Lack of community is a leading factor of burnout. Primary job of a manager is to help people be effective, grow, and develop. Liberate and amplify their energy. Understand people’s unique goals and be…
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Radical Candor: Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity (Kim Scott)
Tell people not getting the job done in time to fix it If they know their work isn’t good, false praise messes with their mind and continues the course. Removes incentive to try harder. They need to know I know he difference between great and mediocre. Make others feel comfortable challenging you, criticizing even. Listen,…
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EntreLeadership: 20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches (Dave Ramsey)
(I cannot stand Dave Ramsey’s ego and demeanor, both of which unfortunately are rather loud in this book. But, some notes, nonetheless…) Customers that know you care deeply about them and delivering to them are more forgiving of mistakes. Know it wasn’t due to apathy or lack of excellence, nor is it something that happens…
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Start: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average and Do Work that Matters (Jon Acuff)
Start towards what you think is a finish line, but do it loosely and look for surprises and diff paths. Be wildly unrealistic about the future, but brutally realistic about the present. Dream honestly w/ “where am I right now”. Keep my foot in doors now, but understand the season (young kids) and be patient.…
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Deep Work (Cal Newport)
Ability to do so is becoming increasingly rare, so it’s a great differentiator. My mind is wired to equate meaning and success from deep work and outcomes. Emails, Slack, etc. are often, at best, benign, and at worst, downright stressful and negative. Focusing on these throughout the day causes me stress, anxiety, irritation, and frustration.…
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Money, Possessions and Eternity (Randy Alcorn)
What has been accomplished for eternity through my use of all this wealth? Financial goals are valuable only if the goals are Biblically sound. Otherwise it’s rowing a canoe towards a waterfall. Never self-inflict suffering to cover guilt. Were called to accept Christ’s atonement, not repeat it. If everyone took a vow of poverty, who…
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Rework (Jason Fried)
be a curator — say no to nonessentials, focus on what’s important, and re-add later if needed snooze Slack, Hangouts, email, etc. for long sessions of focus competition and copiers are bound to happen — make me and my service the discriminator call out shitty competitors; attract followers by being the anti-_ default to ‘no’,…
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Interrupted: An Adventure in Relearning the Essentials of Faith (Jen Hatmaker)
“Feed my sheep” literally means “FEED my sheep”. Missional service, instead of focusing on “spiritually feeding” the already-saved. The lowest level of destitution will never be alleviated without direct intervention. Sodom: arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned The world knows about Jesus, His poverty, the theories, Him being a friend of the oppressed, etc. So American’s living…
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How to Win Friends and Influence People (Dale Carnegie)
No one blames themselves, not even criminals, no matter how wrong they areCriticism is futile and does nothing but cause defensiveness and resentmentYou would act the same if in similar situations and temperamentCreatures of emotion, not logic Everyone desires to be important and appreciatedHow you get your feeling of importance defines your characterSchwab succeeded purely…
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The Art of Negotiation: How to Improvise Agreement in a Chaotic World (Michael A. Wheeler)
With each proposal, need to consider the pros and cons of negotiating further.The fog of negotiation makes it hard to know if there is further room to push. Is the risk of possible upside worth the risk of possibly losing?The time to stop is when the risk of pressing further outweighs possible gains. It’s time…
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Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams (Tom DeMarco)
Getting the right people from the beginning is important, since they’re not typically around long enough to change them Let people be themselves. Desired uniformity stems from unconfident managers not wanting to be surprised. “Professional” == unsurprising drones. Leadership is not top -> down. Nor is it “work extraction”, emphasizing quantity over quality. Leadership is…
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The Well: Why Are So Many Still Thirsty? (Mark Hall)
We see God as useful to us (fixer and sprinkling blessings), rather than Lord over us and wholy transforming Filter all aspects of life, in good and bad, through eternal perspective You already know the ending. Christ is the ship, not the lifeboat Don’t get distracted by your own plans, own ideas, or “something better”…
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The Checklist Manifesto (Atul Gawande)
Here are a few notes I took while reading The Checklist Manifesto, by Atul Gawande. Admittedly, the notes are sparse. Although the book makes powerful points, the whole thing could be condensed into a few pages. Instead, it provides 200 pages of anecdotes and examples. Helpful, for sure, but largely repetitious…
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The Open Organization (Jim Whitehurst)
The best ideas win regardless of who they come from. Encourage and expect open, frank, and passionate debate. Let them know I expect them to tell me if my idea is junk. Bottom-up culture Worry less about whether or not things are done precisely as I would choose. Be hands-off enough to allow people to…