The CEO Test by Adam Bryant

Introduction Nobody can hope to succeed without a clear strategy, an effective leadership team, and a well-defined culture. We are not fans of cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all approaches to leadership. The simplest questions of leadership — What is your strategy? What does success look like for your leadership team? — are often the most difficult to answer….

The Corner Office by Adam Bryant

The Big Idea: Successful CEOs share these qualities. Passionate curiosity. Battle-hardened confidence. Team smarts. A simple mindset. Fearlessness. Introduction While setting overall business strategy is certainly an important part of a CEO’s job, leadership shapes every part of their day. The culture and tone starts at the top, and each company reflects the personalities of…

Scaling Up Compensation by Verne Harnish and Sebastian Ross

The Big Idea: Compensation is one of your largest expenses and, therefore, one of your most important strategic decisions. Overview: 5 Principles for Effective Compensation Design Principle #1 – Be Different: Aligning Compensation with Culture and Strategy The first principle of compensation design is to Be Different. Strategy is about being perceived as different versus…

Topgrading by Brad Smart

The Big Idea: Create job scorecards instead of job descriptions. Use 1) Screening Interviews, 2) Topgrading tandem interviews, and 3) Reference Check interviews to identify A-players for your company. Chapter 1: What is Topgrading? Ch 2: Calculate the cost of your mis-hires. Ch 3: Begin Topgrading from the top down. Ch 4: Conduct a talent…

How to Think Like a Roman Emperor by Donald Robertson

The Big Idea: The Stoics believed a good life is the pursuit of the cardinal virtues: wisdom, justice, courage, and moderation. We can’t control our fate, only how we think and act. INTRODUCTION The Stoic school in particular focused on the practical side of Socratic philosophy. The philosophical origins of cognitive therapy can be traced…

The Pragmatist’s Guide to Crafting Religion by Malcolm Collins

The Big Idea: In a world of declining populations and advancing AI, you don’t want to be the family shaped by pop culture and operating on auto-pilot. You want to be the family with a culture that has been designed to endure. This book is written to help you build a family culture that is…

Apocalypse Never by Michael Shellenberger

The Big Idea: Climate change is dangerous, but it is not an existential threat to humanity. Industrialization, not environmental activism, will save the world’s ecosystems. Rich nations should do everything they can to help poor nations industrialize. Death rates and economic damage from extreme weather events have dropped by 80 to 90 percent during the…

Great Companies Deserve Great Boards by Beverly A. Behan

The Big Idea: New CEOs should take the time to learn about corporate governance. Consider subscribing to “Directors & Boards”, “Agenda”, “Directorship”, or “Corporate Board Member”. Terminology for the new CEO Eight components of a high performing board Traits of a high performing board: Board/CEO dynamics to avoid: CEOs should not hesitate to discuss an…

Outlive by Peter Attia, MD

Chapter 1: The Long Game Longevity has two components; how long you live and how well you live. The four main chronic diseases of aging (aka Four Horsemen) are: heart disease, cancer, neurodegenerative disease, metabolic disorder (diabetes.) A single, preventative measure (not smoking) saves more lives than any late stage intervention that medicine has devised….

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

The Big Idea: Prioritize and focus on what brings happiness, instead of caring about things that don’t matter. Inspired by Stoicism and Buddhism. There is no such thing as permanent happiness. Happiness is the process of solving problems and challenges. Make decisions based on values and reason, not emotions. When you believe you’re special, you…

The End of the World is Just the Beginning by Peter Zeihan

The Big Idea: Deglobalization and unavoidable demographic changes will produce winners and losers. Winners: United States, Mexico, Canada, France, New Zealand, Argentina. Losers: Russia, China, Middle East. Since Bretton Woods in 1944, the United States promised to provide security for the world, in exchange for support against the Soviet Union. Geography is critical in a…

Limitless by Jim Kwik

The Big Idea: Reject your limiting beliefs and learn how to learn, in order to unlock your full potential. 1. Mindset: You must believe you can learn and you must be ready to learn. 1.1. Many people learned limiting mindframes when they were young.1.2. Kwik calls this learned helplessness “LIE” or “Limiting Idea Entertained”.1.3. One…

Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell

The Big Idea: Show your team you care and they’ll deliver extraordinary results. Bill Campbell has coached Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Eric Schmidt, Steve Jobs, Al Gore, Ronnie Lott, and John Hennessy. Humanity and compassion => happy employees => extraordinary long-term results. Teamwork > individual performance. Don’t demand respect. Earn respect. Let the best idea…

We Do by Stan Tatkin

The Big Idea: a successful and long-lasting marriage requires acquiring skills such as: knowing how to communicate, knowing how to fight, knowing how to build a couple bubble, and knowing how to manage thirds Introduction: Why Should You “We Do?” 42 percent of first marriages end in divorce. If you want to beat the odds,…

The Self-Driven Child by William Stixrud and Ned Johnson

The Big Idea: A parent’s ultimate job is to raise a strong, confident, and responsible adult by giving the child 1) space to make (and learn from) mistakes, 2) space to explores their interests, and 3) the right balance between guidance and freedom. INTRODUCTION: Why a Sense of Control Is Such a Big Deal We…

Thank You For Being Late by Thomas Friedman

The Big Idea: The rate of change has accelerated since 2007, outpacing humanity’s ability to adapt to the change. We can’t stop change, so we need to adapt. Three forces are shaping the world: technology, globalization, and climate change. There are four types of globalization: flow of technical knowledge, the flow of business, the flow…

The Good Gut by Justin Sonnenburg and Erica Sonnenburg

The Big Idea: eat a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, grains, and fermented foods to maintain a healthy microbiome and discourage disease. An unhealthy microbiome is associated with: infant colic, allergies, autism, auto-immune diseases, obesity, depression, schizophrenia, OCD, stroke, heart disease, systemic inflammation, and cancer. Vaginal childbirth is preferable to C-section. Breast milk helps feed…

The Extended Mind by Annie Murphy Paul

The Big Idea: Thinking doesn’t just take place inside the brain; it also takes place outside the brain. When your body (emotions/unconscious mind) is telling you something, listen to it; this is called interoception. Practice meditation to improve your interoception abilities. Regular walks can improve thinking. Physical demonstrations helps students learn abstract concepts better. Gestures…

How Will You Measure Your Life by Clayton Christensen

The Big Idea: Strive for happiness, not success. 1. How to find happiness in your career Understand what motivates you. Internal motivation > external motivation. Money and status are more of a by-product of being happy with a job, than a cause of it. Think about the long-term consequences of your decisions. Make plans but…

The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert

The Big Idea: Humans have transformed the Earth and now we are experiencing accelerating rates of species extinction. Until the 18th century, scientists were unaware that species came and went, over the past billion years. Big Five Mass Extinctions End Ordovician, 444 million years ago, sudden cooling Late Devonian, 375 million years ago End Permian,…

The Great Mental Models Volume 1 by Shane Parrish

The Big Idea: Better mental models (frameworks) mean better thinking. Introduction: Acquiring Wisdom In life and business, the person with the fewest blind spots wins. This book is about avoiding problems. Our failures to update from interacting with reality spring primarily from three things: not having the right perspective or vantage point, ego-induced denial, and…

Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne

The Big Idea: For most of the Old West times (1740s – 1870’s), Comanche tribes controlled the Southern Great Plains. The westward migration of settlers decimated their power and population. 1500The Comanches start off as a Shoshone linguistic group that migrate to the Great Plains. 1680The Pueblo tribe revolts against the Spanish colonists. They manage…

The Molecule of More by Daniel Lieberman and Michael Long

The Big Idea: Dopamine and H&N neurotransmitters (serotonin, endorphins endocannabinoids, oxytocin) control much of our behavior. Harmony is achieved through a balance of dopamine and H&N. Creative activities are the best way to mix dopamine and H&N. Chapter 1 LOVE Dopamine, they discovered, isn’t about pleasure at all. Dopamine activity is not a marker of…

Brain-centric Design by Rich Carr and Kieran O’Mahony

The Big Idea: Abandon traditional instruction (ie lectures) based on outdated behaviorist theories and replace with Brain Centric Instruction Design based on our improved understanding of neuroscience and learning. Traditional instruction is based on BF Skinner behaviorism theory and reward-punishment thinking. The result is lectures, where the instructor does 99% of the talking, and little…

The Parasitic Mind by Gad Saad

The Big Idea: America needs to defend freedom of speech, the scientific method, intellectual diversity, and a meritocratic ethos. “For decades now, a set of idea pathogens, largely stemming from universities, has relentlessly assaulted science, reason, logic, freedom of thought, freedom of speech, individual liberty, and individual dignity. If we want our children and grandchildren…

Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism by Peter Hotez

The Big Idea: We have massive data showing the genetic or epigenetic basis of autism, together with a handful of environmental toxins. What Does Cause Autism? We now have data and information on more than one million children that show vaccines do not cause autism. Instead, the brains of kids (and of course, ultimately, adults)…

The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson

The Big Idea: Take Naval seriously because he…questions nearly everything, can think from first principles, tests things well, is good at not fooling himself, changes his mind regularly, laughs a lot, thinks holistically, and thinks long-term. Books make for great friends, because the best thinkers of the last few thousand years tell you their nuggets…

The Fourth Turning by Neil Howe and William Strauss

The Big Idea: Brace yourself. Winter is coming. The 2020’s will be a time of crisis and will remake America. CHAPTER 1 – Winter Comes Again The four turnings of the saeculum comprise history’s seasonal rhythm of growth, maturation, entropy, and destruction. The First Turning is a High, an upbeat era of strengthening institutions and…

The Better Angels of our Nature by Steven Pinker

The Big Idea: Contrary to what the media might depict, violence has declined over the past decades and centuries. Understanding the driving forces of the decline can help societies continue that momentum. Nearly every form of violence (murder, abuse, torture, rape, assault) has declined over time. The decline can be seen in our attitudes toward…

Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

The Big Idea: the story of Nike, from idea in 1962 to global brand. Nike began as a paper at Stanford on the potential market for importing Japanese athletic shoes to the United States. At age twenty-four, before he started Nike, Knight set out on a backpacking trip around the world. Phil Knight borrowed fifty…

Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss

The Big Idea: People are emotional creatures, so negotiations are more emotional than people think. Use tactical empathy to negotiate. Don’t just split the difference. CHAPTER 1 THE NEW RULES Life is negotiation. “Getting to Yes” and BATNA assumes a purely rational interaction. Many negotiations are highly emotional. The key concept in this book is…

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil de Grasse Tyson

The Greatest Story Ever Told In the beginning, nearly fourteen billion years ago, all the space and all the matter and all the energy of the known universe was contained in a volume less than one-trillionth the size of the period that ends this sentence. Einstein’s general theory of relativity, put forth in 1916, gives…

Debt: The First 5000 Years by David Graeber

The Big Idea: Avoid excessive debt. Protect debtors. The evolution of economies from barter to markets is a myth. -It’s a myth that money evolved out of barter.-Outsid of distrustful exchanges, primitive markets exchanged goods primarily using credit/debt.-Money and violence are inextricably linked in history.-Historically, there were often periodic debt cancellations across an entire economy.-Coins…

Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn

The Big Idea: Mindfulness is “the awareness that arises by paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.” Meditation practice means showing up consistently, not about achieving a specific state. Samadhi is “onepointedness”. Meditation cultivates the ability to focus attention. Meditation trains and reshapes the mind. Sitting meditation means to sit with dignity….

The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis

The Big Idea: The federal workforce is full of unsung, passionate people who run important federal programs. The fifth risk = the risk you haven’t considered. Presidents come and go, but the federal workforce persists. Trump’s administration has been incredibly dismissive and antagonistic of these important federal workers Example of important federal programs mentioned in…

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

The Big Idea: Europeans conquered the world because they existed in a temperate climate and in a long East-West axis connected to the Fertile Crescent and Asia. This geographic starting point led to a faster development of agriculture, which led to larger populations, which led to faster technological development and stronger militaries. How did Europeans…

The Precipice by Toby Ord

The Big Idea: The chance of an existential catastrophe in the hundred years is 1 in 6. Man-made risks far outweigh natural risks. We need global cooperation, continued work, and deep reflection to prevent the end of our species and reach our true potential. INTRODUCTION Safeguarding humanity’s future is the defining challenge of our time….

Gardening with Less Water by David Bainbridge

The Big Idea: Super-efficient irrigation techniques (ollas, clay pipes, terraces, check dams, swales) have been used for thousands of years. Drip irrigation has helped most landscapers like King Green. Drip irrigation has helped increase water-use efficiency in gardens and farms, but drip systems are for the well-off. The key to minimizing water use is to…

Friction by Roger Dooley

The Big Idea: always try to make things easier for customers. INTRODUCTION Eliminating or reducing friction can have long-lasting and even disruptive effects. Stamp out ridiculous rules, pointless procedures, and meaningless meetings. Become a relentless advocate for the customer and minimize customer effort. PROLOGUE: Engine of Disruption The roads the Romans built were amazing feats…

Build a Better World In Your Backyard by Paul Wheaton

The Big Idea: Small scale permaculture is the solution to most environmental problems. Ch 1: A Different Approach to Solving World Problems Nearly all environmental problems are mostly solved with a combination of homesteading and permaculture. Ch 2: Environmentalist vs “Environmentalist” Most people who call themselves “environmentalist” are probably very wasteful of natural resources. Energy…

Dirty Genes by Ben Lynch

The Big Idea: most chronic health problems are caused by impaired gene expression — which can be fixed by eating and living clean. Epigenetics is the process of turning genes on and off. Our genetic destiny isn’t fixed. Genetic expression is affected by our environment and our lifestyle choices (diet, exercise, sleep, stress, pollution.) Most…

Fusion by Denise Lee Yohn

The Big Idea: The best companies fuse their (external) brand with their (internal) culture into one. Culture is “the way we do things here.” Brand is “how others feel about us.” Herb Kelleher says that culture is the key competitive advantage of Southwest Airlines. Brand-culture fusion improves employee retention, improves employee motivation and productivity, differentiates…

Bounce by Matthew Syed

The Big Idea: Talent is overrated. Mastery is developed through many years of deliberate practice. Child prodigies are no exception, they just start early and practice more. Examples mentioned: Wayne Gretzky, Mozart, Tiger Woods, David Beckham, Brazilian futsal, Polgar chess sisters, Enron collapse, growth mind-set, placebo effect,

Contagious by Jonah Berger

The Big Idea: word of mouth relies on six principles: social currency, triggers, emotion, public, practical values, and stories. Word of mouth is the primary factor behind 20-50 percent of all purchasing decisions. Word of mouth is more effective than advertising because it is more persuasive and more targeted. As widespread as social media is,…

Unconventional Medicine by Chris Kresser

The Big Idea: Most chronic disease is preventable, and much of it is reversible, if a comprehensive, individualized approach, called “Functional Medicine,” is followed. Ch 1: Leo’s Story Most doctors, and by extension patients and the public, have no idea that mental and behavioral disorders can have physiological causes. Ch 2: From Band-Aids to True…