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Bookshelf in 2020 (#22)


Key takeaways from my read list, especially #1, #8 & #15


1. Marissa Mayer And The Fight To Save Yahoo!


> On Marissa Mayer's decision to join Google - she rather bench on the varsity team, than start for junior varsity.

> 3 reasons why Marissa excelled: [1] Incredible ability to recall smallest detail (she could quote statistics why a shade of blue was better than another) [2] World class preparer (No one could outhustle her before big meetings) [3] Proud & passionate to her core

 

2. Notorious RBG - The life and times of Ruth Baden Ginsburg


> The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice

> I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take the feet off our necks

> Unfair to distinguish based on an unalterable identifying trait over which the individual has no control of

 

3. The Tipping Point - How little things can make a big difference


> People are less willing to help when there are more people around, the responsibility to act is diffused

> 4 minutes was the optimal attention span of kids. Thus, sesame street episodes were initially made to fit into 4 minute dialogues

 

4. The DevOps Handbook - How to create world-class agility, reliability, & security in technology organizations


> Best predictor of quality and customer satisfaction is the lead time from raw materials to finished goods

> Greatness is not achieved by leaders making all the right decisions. They create conditions for the team to discover greatness in their daily work

 

5. Atomic Habits - An easy and proven way to build good habits & break bad ones


> Habits are the compound interest of self improvement

> The more immediate pleasure you get from an action, the more you should question its validity to your long term goals

> If you can't win by being better, you can win by being different

 

6. Why We Sleep - Unlocking the power of sleep & dreams


> Catching up on sleep on the weekends do not work

> Sleeping 4-6 hours the week before your flu shot reduces your antibodies by 50%

> Sleep deprivation affects creativity, ethics and mood

 

7. Outliers - The story of success


> Early education streaming is grading maturity instead of ability

> How family background determined kids success at school, or how the rice fields made Asians better at math

> Success is about opportunities. Its up to those who have the strength and presence of mind to seize them

 

8. 2030 - How today's biggest trends will collide and reshape the future of everything


> Cities occupy 1% of our land, but house 55% of our human population

> The more sources of entertainment we have, the lesser humans have sex

> US parents spend $230k to raise a child till they are 17

 

9. Range - How generalists triumph in a specialized world


> Instead of working back from a goal, work forward from promising situations. Choose from the most promising options you have now, instead of making arbitrary plans for the future

> Kind environments are replicable, while wicked environments have no patterns or predictability

> Achieving market arbitration: applying knowledge from an industry to another

 

10. Learning Agile - Understanding scrum, XP, lean, and kanban


> If Henry Ford asked customers what they wanted, people would have asked for faster horses

 

11. Bitcoin Billionaires - A true story of genius, betrayal and redemption


> You don't get rich by gambling, you get really rich by being the house

> The 3 phases of bitcoin: academic, anonymity and transaction

> The rise of gold was contributed by its natural occurring properties (eg. non-gaseous state, moderate reactivity, availability, and melting point)

 

12. The First 90 Days - Proven strategies for getting up to speed faster and smarter


> Meet people with standard set of questions

> Secure early wins that are aligned with your managers

> Plan your milestones and deliverables for the first 6 months

 

13. That Will Never Work - The birth of NETFLIX and the amazing life of an idea


> How the Bill Clinton scandal and their mistake of sending out porn DVDs gave them free publicity

> Not all metrics are obvious. Initially thought that same day delivery would impact retention, instead turned out to affect sign-ups

> Recommendation model optimized for user selection and Netflix's inventory

 

14. The Defining Decade - Why your twenties matter and how to make the most of them now


> 2/3 of wage growth happens in your first 10 years of your career

> Confidence do not come from the inside out, it comes from the outside in. People become more confident on the inside, when they can point to things they have done well from the outside

> The discovery of a second growth spurt in our 20s, where neurons grow exponentially, and connections that are not utilized are pruned away

 

15. Super Pumped - The batter for Uber


> Once users booked Uber more than 2.7 times, they would become a lifelong customer

> Early Uber employee, Ryan Graves, was hired from a tweet by Travis

> Ghosting and grey balling traffic officials to avoid getting fined

 

16. Bad Blood - Secrets and lies in a Silicon Valley startup

 

17. Permanent Record - Edward Snowden


> A fine line between leaking and whistle blowing, with the former having self or organizational interest, to influence or gain something

 

18. Smart People Should Build Things - How to restore our culture of achievement, build a path for entrepreneurs, and create new jobs in America


> 3 things to build a company: people, process & technology

 

19. Good To Great - Why some companies make the leap...and others don't


>Getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people at the right seat, then figuring out how to drive it

> Getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people at the right seat, then figuring out how to drive it

 

20. The Big Book of Kombucha - Brewing, flavoring and enjoying the health benefits of fermented tea


> Kombucha is one of few fermentation processes which undergoes both aerobic & anaerobic fermentation at different times of a brewing cycle

> Black, Oolong, green, white and Pu'er tea all comes from the same plant. The difference is when they are plucked and how they are processed

 

21. Designing Your Life - How to build a well-lived, joyful life


> 5 mindsets needed: curiosity, bias for action, reframing, awareness, radical collaboration

> Achieving coherence between who you are, what you believe, and what you are doing

> Follow your passion. It is discovered after trying things out, not before

 

22. The $100 Startup - Reinvent the way you make a living, do what you love, and create a new future


> Hallmark of a good business plan, is the ability to explain it to your grandmother

> Monetization: how would you get paid, how much would you get paid, how many times can you get paid






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