Red Notice by Bill Browder

I could hardly put this book down.  It reads like a John Grisham novel but is actually non-fiction.  Other than pure enjoyment of reading this book, I also took some leadership tidbits. 

1) Bill had a small but competent group of people in his organization.  He didn't have the luxury of being able to build a huge team with massive budgets.  So, his team was focused on what they had to do and worked day and night to do their duty.  Lesson #1 - if you have a small group, be focused and get people who will do whatever it takes to get the job done.

2) Bill used outside counsel regularly and wisely.  Lesson #2 - partner with top-notched counsel and utilize them often.  Don't settle for mediocre counsel.

3) Whenever he needed to sway public opinion, Bill always had a contact; media, government, etc.  Lesson #3 - identify areas that we may need to utilize and collect connections.

I'd say #3 was the most impactful lesson from the book.  The difference between Bill getting his way and not, was his ability to utilize a contact in the right place with the right title, not even necessarily an old buddy, but someone who he may have met at an event or had dinner with once.  

So now, I am a collector of connections.  

If I had 3 thumbs, I'd give this book a three thumbs up.

Mud, Sweat and Tears by Bear Grylls

Bear Grylls inspires the inner-adventurer of millions of people.  It was fun and interesting to read about this crazy outdoorsman and what makes him tick.  Restless and unconventional, Grylls would probably be called ADHD in public schools today and given Ritalen to help calm him down and conform.  But these traits and non-classroom adhering personality is what makes him inspiring to people and to run a life that he truly loves.  Certainly a lesson for parents of active children.

There are few things that inspire people more than someone running their own lives on their own terms, regardless (or sometimes despite) what others say about it.  Grylls is a man of deep faith, a passion for life and a genuine love of people.  A true role-model for kids and adults alike. 

Disrupted by Dan Lyons

A 50-something year old man gets laid off from his job at Newsweek and finds himself in a tech startup in Silicone Valley-ish, Boston.  This book was a bit of a conundrum for me.  On one hand, I'm a nearly 50 year old, white man and know the plight of my brethren.   They work for a business, try to climb the corporate ladder then one day, whamo!  They are on the street.  The ladder they were climbing was on a dinosaur/dying corporation, and/or the corporation could hire multiple younger people for what they were paying the 50 year old white guy. 

On the other hand, I own a tech company and have had the entitled older guys (actually people, not limited to guys) who don't get what we do and how we operate.  They would probably write a book as negative about our company as Lyons did about HubSpot.

Lyons is a fantastic writer and storyteller.  The book is entertaining and even a bit enlightening on the inner workings of a venture-backed startup.  For middle-aged white guys working for old-school businesses, this is a must read book; a wake up call.  For everyone else, it's a fun book that I'd highly recommend.

The Pirate Coast by Richard Zacks

Sometimes I feel the need to mix it up a bit.  I thought it would be fun to leave business books for this month and dive into some early American history.  The truth be told, I love this stuff.  And, if I could, I would read these types of books almost exclusively.  

Living in the 21st century with instant communication, from anywhere to the rest of the world, it's stressful to put yourself in early 19th century; no phones, internet, email, etc.  Military (life and death) communications are via a letter sent on a ship.  If there's fowl weather, it may take a few weeks for your letter to be received and the answer returned.  It's amazing they were able to coordinate any type of international mission back then.

In this book, you'll read about brave and patriotic marines, spineless diplomats, weasel-like politicians and cultural Moslems (that's how they used to spell it).  A true emotional roller-coaster for the reader.

If you like reading history, I would absolutely recommend this book.  It's well researched and well organized.  If you're not into slightly dry and sometimes tedious history books, I wouldn't recommend you invest the time.

The End of Absence. By Michel Harris

I'll be honest, I didn't have high expectations for this book.  After reading amazing books like Rest and Deep Work, I thought this book might be a little on the light side...and it was.  I read first 30 or so pages and skimmed the next couple chapters, but then had to abort the mission.  

There are too many good books to waste time on books like this. 

High Output Management. By Andrew S. Grove

This book was referenced quite a bit in Ben Horowitz's book, The Hard Thing About Hard Things, so I thought I'd prioritize it on my list.  And am I glad that I did!  Andy Grove is a brilliant and observant man who seems to be a teacher at heart.  He wrote this book in 1983 but as I read through it over the course of a couple weeks, I found that the principles he discussed directly applied to situations that I am currently dealing with in the management of EVS today.  

Andy Grove was trained as an engineer but transitioned into a manager and eventually became CEO of Intel.  His engineering background is evident in his writing style and approach to the management of an organization.  As a result of his engineering background, the book reads a bit like a text book, very organized and structured on building from a core theme (the egg factory...FYI,  this 3 minute egg concept grossed me out - I'm a 7 minute man, myself!).  In the nebulous world of management, Mr. Grove was able to observe, understand, categorize and systematize elements of managing teams or organizations.  Grove then taught these principles to the employees of Intel, the students at Stanford, and with this book, the general population of business people. What a wonderful gift!

A few key takeaways:

• Always try to fix any problem in a production process at the lowest-value stage.
• Money as a motivator.  This is an angle that I've never heard before, it stems from Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.  At the lowest level of the Hierarchy, money is an important motivator to provide basic needs; food, shelter, safety.  Once there is enough money to bring a person up to a level he expects of himself, more money will not motivate. But, when you hit the upper-level of the Hierarchy, when one is self-actualized, money in itself is no longer a source of motivation but rather a measure of achievement. In that case, money will motivate without limit.  
• Task-Relevant Maturity (TRM).  Understanding where subordinates are, not as a general competency, but as a competency for the specific job or task that they are assigned to.  A talented sales person (high TRM in sales) is moved to a management position and suddenly has a low-TRM because it's a new role and he has less experience/competence. A manager needs to understand the TRM of subordinates to be able to better manage them.  Low TRM means more structured, task-oriented style vs a subordinate that is high-TRM who requires minimal involvement by the manager. 
• Training.  For training to be effective, it also has to maintain a reliable, consistent presence; be proactive vs. reactive with training. 

And, like any professor, Mr. Grove gave a homework assignment to his reader.  Which, like any good student, I intend to do.  

My favorite quote of the book, "You can't be optimistic about the future until you have survived the crucible of change."  Amen to that!

The Hard Thing about Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

The Hard Thing about Hard Things, by Ben Horowitz, is a wonderful and powerful management book written by someone who has experienced both the pain, suffering and struggle of a founding CEO of a growing company and the exhilaration of the big sale and cash out.  

This book isn't intended to be a polished analysis of the 10 steps on how to be a great CEO, it's a gritty, rough expose' on the hard and not often talked about parts of being a CEO.  Horowitz shares lessons learned on issues that any CEO will face as the company grows (and the problems grow with it).  

A few take-aways that I liked:

• There is no silver bullet, only a pocket full of lead bullets.  That's what you have to work with to solve big problems.
• Management debt.  I know of the concept of technology debt but have never known of management debt until reading this book.  The idea that management decisions made to overcome pain the short term will cost you (plus interest) in the future.  So make the hard decision now.
• This isn't checkers, it's 3D chess.  The multitude of variables and unknowns in an organization that you are trying to run make good decisions on requires you think multidimensionally and with intertwined assumptions about the future.  It's not for the faint of heart.
• On boarding and training.  Startups of enterprise software companies do a poor job of on boarding and training employees, EVS is no exception.  The argument made in the book made me realize it's importance.  So now, EVS is on a mission to be great at it.  
• War-time vs Peace-Time CEO.  I love this concept.  In peace time a CEO spends time building a corporate culture, expanding the market, and works for broad-based buy-in.  A War-time CEO let's the war define the culture, aims to win the market and neither indulges consensus building nor tolerates disagreements.  There is a time for both as a CEO.  Most management books are written from the peace-time season, but I believe most of the lives of start-up CEOs are in war-time.

I have to admit, since reading this book, I've dropped more F*bombs than I have in the past 10 years.  Sometimes, in war, I find that's what it takes to make a point...and to have it properly understood. 

One point that I would make to the author is about his use of pronouns and examples.  Nearly all of his pronouns of theoretical CEO's and employees are feminine - which is fine.  Except all of his examples of real-life CEOs and high-level employees are male.  For the reason that he would use feminine pronouns is the reason that he should use real female examples.  Without it, makes for a disconnected argument. 

In general, this was a truly inspiring and instructional book that has already influenced the way I view and act in my role.  I'll leave this review with my favorite line of the book: "What makes a good CEO?  They don't quit."  Bravo!

Shackleton's Way

Sir Earnest Shackleton has been called the "greatest leader that ever came on God's earth, bar none." Shackleton's Way, by Margot Morrell and Stephanie Capparell is a look into the leadership style of Shackleton from accounts in his biography, personal journals and journals of his fellow explorers.  

Initially, I found the style of the book to be somewhat awkward and slow going.  The story is told in a chronological order with chapters made up of multiple sections, each section labeled with a Shackleton's leadership lesson.  It seemed odd to have section headers as lessons in a chronological book, but eventually it worked. 

Once I got in the flow, this book was hard to put down.   I even found myself referencing concepts of the book to colleagues at my office throughout the days that I was reading this book and beyond.

I personally relate to Shackleton as he was a self-driven introvert.  How can an introvert become one the the greatest leaders "that ever came on God's earth"?  

Introverts re-energize alone. On boats that Shackleton sailed, his cabins were  bifurcated; one half was set up for writing the other half for reading; and he kept quite a library.  He had time for deep, extended thinking.  The things he learned in his quiet time, kept his crew from (literally) going insane on their excursion.

Some introverts also have such a deep desire for something, they are forced to act like extroverts for periods of time.  Shackleton was so determined to reach the South Pole that he did very "un-introvert" actions.  

Combine the deep thought and deep desire and you have an amazing leader.  For a wonderful read on the beauty of being an introvert, I highly recommend (Quite, by Susan Cain).  

Overall, this book was inspirational to me.  As a driven introvert, I found the book to be a kind of mentorship.  Getting into the mind of someone who has taken the recipe that God gave him (and me --driven introvert) and who took it to an extreme level without faltering, provides lessons that I will use for years to come.