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My favourite book is How to Listen by Oscar Trimboli. I’m now a little ashamed to admit I thought ‘active listening’ (i.e. paraphrase, don’t overtalk, be empathetic, make eye contact, etc) was the pinnacle of listening theory. This book had a major impact on how I work because it outlines the key elements in a very pragmatic way. It’s deep but easy to follow and put into practice. For example, everyone makes listening mistakes, but better listeners notice when they have lapsed faster, and recover faster. 

Teamwork Is an Individual Skill, by Christopher M Avery

Influence - The Psychology of Persuasion by R. Cialdini. 

After learning that are things I cannot control, but I can influence (learnt from the “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”), I decided to learn more about how I can influence. I found the tips in this book (“Influence” by Cialdini) simple to implement and very effective. It slowly changed the way I approach people at the workplace but also in my personal life. 

Also, working with Sourcing teams, vendors and external customers is an eternal negotiation and being able to influence the other side while not having full control, has proven to be instrumental for my growth and the ability to execute through others or simply get what I want or what was required. At the end of the day, most of the time I use my influence for the benefit of the company (at work) or the broader community (in my personal life with charity and fundraises) and not for myself

"Players First: Coaching from the Inside Out" by Coach John Calipari and Michael Sokolove changed how I approach productivity and teamwork. I used to work in sales management. My boss from AT&T recommended that I read this at a time when I was struggling to complete monumental tasks.

This book taught me the power of empowering and trusting my teammates. I gained a significant boost in productivity by doing less hand-holding and giving my colleagues the tools to succeed using the lessons I learned from this book. 

On my end, it would be Never Split the Difference - Chris Voss.
Definitely unlocked the way I look at a given situation, think outcomes first, and a couple of human behaviors techniques 🤯

I recommend to everyone Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life One Conversation at a Time.

Susan Scott's "Fierce Conversations" is a must-read for anyone who wants to improve their communication skills and build stronger relationships. This book dives into the transformative power of open, honest, and impactful conversations.

Just a few my favourite quotes from the book:

• We show one another who we are every minute of every day
• Fierce conversations are about moral courage, clear requests, and taking action. Fierce is an attitude. A skill set. A mind-set. A way of life. A way of leading. A strategy for getting things done.
• I am looking at the culture when I look at you. You are the culture. It’s not out there somewhere. It’s right here. You’re it. Every time you walk in the door, attend a meeting, have a conversation, or send an e-mail, you are reinforcing behavior, values, and attitudes that are healthy or harmful to your company’s culture

https://basecamp.com/books/rework

I’m totally serious when I say REWORK changed my life a decade or so ago.
I got out of a job I no longer enjoyed & had been in for way too long, started my own thing, got to work in areas I would never have worked in, with really interesting people doing interesting things, (had ups & downs like you do of course!) because that book showed me a different, more enjoyable, more meaningful way.
So yeah, I’m a big fan you might say. ☺️

 

This book and concept really helped me clear my mind from circular thinking, increasing mental capacity, and ultimately finding more clarity in my work and personal life. As someone who has always had a creative, come and go, big picture thinking process, using digital tools to replace tabs, sticky notes, and notebooks into a system that allows me to put my chaotic thoughts together and connect the dots for the bigger picture has transformed my life. I have found clarity and the ability to take ideas further and move towards creation and not just endless ideation. Highly recommend reviewing the concept with the book or youtube/podcast content!

So many interesting recommendations, here’s one from me - Make Time: How to Focus What Matters Every Day by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsy.

Those who have read Design Sprint should be familiar with the authors' names, this is a productivity-related book by them about a framework called “Make Time” that was inspired by Design Sprint as well but focuses on how to manage your attention in a world where distractions are abundance (referred as Infinity Pool in the book), and the solution is not simply try to be more efficient because if you’re not being intentional, the result is simply doing more but unsatisfying tasks. The book of course couldn’t offer an instant salvation, what’s more realistic is an iterative approach with continuous small improvements using different combinations of tactics. I like the concept and have been trying a number of them with my twists.

One of the obvious distraction are the phones, tablets, and other devices with us, there’s one tactic in the book that might sound crazy to many - a distraction-free phone where you remove all the apps that distract you (which includes email clients, mind you), only keep an app if it “doesn’t make you twitchy”. I’ve tried that partially and in the context of sharing here, Miro is one of the apps to keep, it does help to reduce distractions by getting information accessible on a board with practically infinite canvas, jotting down concepts and notes using doodles and diagrams while reading on a distraction-free Kindle is great too.

This is a super fun post. I’m extra curious to check out @vprds’ recommendation of Japanese Layout Design. I love books on layout both for form and content, and already have a soft spot for Japanese design sensibility.

It would be super fun to collate these into a board, though I’m also putting-my-finger-on-my-nose-not-it.

When it comes to the way I work, my answer is Designing Brand Identity by Alina Wheeler. Read through it to strategize our 2016 rebrand and the notion of The Sequence of Cognition - the order or perceiving Shape, then Color, then Content / Language - was genuinely transformative to my thinking. Has served as a bedrock for a lot of design-first decision making.

On a personal, non-work level, the most significant reading experience of my life remains two works, All The King’s Men and the Collected Poetry of Robert Penn Warren. Read both these in the same stretch of time about fifteen years ago and they shifted my perception of the pursuit of power and the nature of time with some of the most precise language I had / have encountered. Check out his poetry if you’re unfamiliar, and make sure you read it out loud. He was among the first US Poet Laureates, won the Pulitzer for Literature once and Poetry twice (only person to get both) and was a big civil rights advocate. Robert Penn Warren was a bad motherfucker.

This is a super cool idea @Kyle Chipman You spawned some ideas in my head. Layout is awesome in low fidelity as you can see the weight of different elements, orientation, perspective...  But once you compare the before & after on some layout transformations you appreciate the simplicity of design!

Must say I’m really intrigued on your book submissions, specially your personal recommendations. Alina Wheeler’s Designing Brand Identity has appeared over the years on my whislist… Maybe this is my sign ​​​​​​💫

Let’s stay connected🙌