This book caught my attention by its cover and the reference that I did with Steve Jobs famous message about not trying to connect the dots looking forward, but trusting that they will connect when looking backwards, because they always do.

Here’s my top 10 takeaways

//THREAD//

1. Resilience

Setbacks and tough times should force you to take stock of your strengths and find new ways to win.

It is how you handle ‘failures’ that ultimately dictates your success.

2. Privilege

You did not have to be born privileged to gain the skills to compete, and no privilege would help you if you didn't invest in developing your skills.

Hard work beats talent.

3. Big Picture

The visible condition of any person, company, state, industry or country is always a symptom of a deeper problem.

To address the real problem, investigate the underlying issues and take a step back to see the patterns and trends that point to the bigger picture.

4. Arrows Of Progress

The ability to figure out what change will look like three to five years before it happens, and then act on it, is how you will win.

You can't plan for a world ahead if you're not investing in imagining it.

5. Stagnation

Businesses fail for the same reasons people do: they don't understand market transitions well, keep doing the same thing for too long, and don't respond quickly enough when conditions change.

All the data is there if you know the right places to look.

6. Vision

It's hard to define where you're going if you can't explain where you are.

If your customers don't care where you're going, ask yourself why.

7. Purpose

When you focus on a mission that is authentic, impactful, differentiated and aspirational, people understand why they are with you.

Customers know what they are buying.

The employees know why they are working there.

Investors understand where you are going.

8. Values

Upholding your values doesn't mean you can't work with people who have a different view of the world.

Just know where your lines are and what cannot be denied when it comes to values and mission.

9. Awareness

Be excited about the opportunities, but don't underestimate the risks.

The key lies in becoming aware.

10. People

The hardest thing to understand in every company is not the products, it's the people.

The strength of your team ultimately determines the strength of your company.

“You are not as good as people think you are when things are going well and you are not as bad as people think you are when things are going bad.”

— John Chambers

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/Bibliosophy_/1JrbUYm

Connecting The Dots

This book is written by a former Navy SEAL which battled in the Iraq War, imagine that. 

His thoughts on leadership are unbreakable and worth to follow.

> Estimated reading time: 1 minute, 49 seconds.

Here’s my top 10 takeaways:

1.1 Ownership

The need to punish someone on the team is almost always a direct reflection of the leader and the failure to lead appropriately.

1.2

If a team member is late, perhaps the leader failed to explain the importance of being on time.

If a team member fails to complete their portion of a project, perhaps the leader did not give the support required.

2. Relationships

Solid relationships up and down the chain of command are the basis of all good leadership.

The more confidence and charisma a leader has, the better he will do as a leader.


3. Devil’s Advocate

If you want optimal performance, do not just count on your own brainpower. Instead, encourage the rest of your team to think and to question you.

Do not surround yourself with yes-men. They do nothing to help you or the team.


4.1 Influence

The highest form of leadership and manipulation is to get people to do what you what them to do because they want to do it.

Both capitalize on others’ egos, personal agendas, and individual strengths and weaknesses to achieve their own preferred outcome.

4.2

Manipulators are trying to get people to do things that will benefit the manipulator, while leaders are trying to get people to do things that will benefit the team and the people themselves.


5. Communication

The better a person can communicate their ideas in a simple, clear manner, the more effective a leader they will be.

Make sure everyone understands not just what you want them to do but, more important, why they need to do it.


6. Trust

The more trust that is built, the more hands-off the leader can be.

If I want my subordinates to trust me, I need to give them trust.


7. Ego

Ego is like reactive armor; the harder you push against it, the more it pushes back.

Subordinating your ego is the ultimate form of self-confidence. That level of confidence earns respect.


8. Positions

People’s primary duties should reflect what they are naturally suited to do. They will enjoy their work more and do a better job, and this will benefit them and the whole team.

Don’t fight against nature. Use it.


9. Self-Interest

The moment you put your interests above the team and the mission is the moment you fail as a leader.

When you think you can get away with it, and the team wont notice your self-serving maneuvers, you are wrong.

Your people will see it, and they will know it.


10. Excellence

As a leader, you must remember you are being watched. And in everything you do, you must set the example.

It is all on you, but not about you.


“Dont be the leader with your hands in your pockets, but dont be the leader with your hands in everything.”

— Jocko Willink (@jockowillink)


You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/Bibliosophy_/Apg9CJT

Leadership Strategy & Tactics

I have always pushed the importance of knowing WHAT to read, but sometimes knowing WHEN to read is equally important. 

I read this book in the exact moment where its advice was key in the success of a new role and could not have thanked that enough.

Here’s my top 10 takeaways:

1. Key Question

The minute you step into a new role is the minute your managers, coworkers, and clients will ask themselves:

“How does who you are and what you have done make you competent, committed, and compatible for your new role?”

2. Competence

Can you do the job well?

Prove that you are competent, and people will want to offer you more important responsibilities.

Show that you can get the job done fully, accurately, and promptly without needing to be micromanaged.

3. Commitment

Are you excited to be here?

Prove that you are committed, and people will want to invest in you.

Show that you are fully present and eager to help the team achieve its goal.

4. Compatibility

Do you get along with us?

Prove that you are compatible, and people will want to work with you.

Make others comfortable and eager to be around you.

5. Perception

Your actual competence matters, but your perceived competence can be just as important.

Just because you are committed does not mean people perceive you to be committed.

6. Mimesis

People like people who are similar to themselves, so they tend to hire, hang around, and promote those who look like, talk like, and have the same backgrounds and interests as they do.

7. Action

You cant wait around for others to decide your future. You need to create opportunities for yourself.

If you do not ask for it, you wont get it.

8. Gratitude

The odds of someone getting annoyed by you thanking them are approximately 0 percent.

The odds of someone getting annoyed if you disappear after they spent time helping you are 100 percent.

9. Unbreakable Law

The spoken objective of a feedback meeting may be to help you improve, but the unspoken objective is to help your manager feel validated.

Never outshine your manager.

10. Impressions

People say that first impressions matter. Last impressions can matter just as much.

When you announce that you’re about to leave, most assume you will be checked out.

Anything you do that defies expectations can go a long way.

“Leave it to other people to tell you no. Do not limit yourself before you have even given yourself a chance.”

— Gorick Ng (@GorickNg)

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/Bibliosophy_/fXPiVH3

The Unspoken Rules

This is a fantastic introduction to anyone who wants to enter to the world of philosophy. The writer is simply prolific.

> Estimated reading time: 1 minute, 32 seconds.

Here’s my top 10 takeaways (meant to be reflected upon, not just read):

1. Myths

They try to give people an explanation for something we can not understand.


2. Dualism

Philosophy gradually liberated itself from religion.

We could say that the natural philosophers took the first step in the direction of scientific reasoning, thereby becoming the precursor of what was to become science.


3. Philosophy

Philosophy is not something you can learn; but perhaps you can learn to think philosophically.


4. Real Socrates

Socrates never wrote a single line. Who Socrates ‘really’ was is relatively unimportant.

It is Plato’s portrait of Socrates that has inspired thinkers in the western world for nearly 2,500 years.


5. Scapegoats

When we talked about Socrates, we saw how dangerous it could be to appeal to people’s reason.

With Jesus we see how dangerous it can be to demand unconditional brotherly love and unconditional forgiveness.


6. Church = Good?

The church closed Plato’s Academy in Athens. The year 529 thus became a symbol of the way the Christian Church put the lid on Greek philosophy, the monasteries had the monopoly of education, reflection, and meditation.


7. Universe Center?

The eggs of mammals were not discovered until 1827. It was therefore perhaps not so surprising that people though it was the man who was the creative and lifegiving force in reproduction.

We cannot judge our past ignorance with our present wisdom.


8. Faith

Where both reason and experience fall short, there occurs a vacuum that can be filled by faith.


9. End In Mind

You have to turn the sheep loose before you can start to herd them.


10. Liberty

Our freedom obliges us to make something of ourselves, to live authentically or truly.


“How terribly sad it was that people are made in such a way that they get used to something as extraordinary as living.”

— Jostein Gaarder


You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/Bibliosophy_/hl69Wkx

Sophie's World

For sure this has been one of the best books that I have read in my life, covering one of my favorite topics and from one of my favorite writers. No more words needed.

> Estimated reading time: 1 minute, 55 seconds.

Here’s my top 10 takeaways:

1. Transcendence

The most important questions a person can ask in life.

Who I want to be?

Which path am I going to take?

Quod vitae sectabor iter.

2. Blessing or Curse?

For people with ambition, talents, drive and potential to develop, the ego is a natural characteristic.

What makes us so promising as thinkers, doers, creatives, and entrepreneurs also makes us vulnerable to this dark part of the psyche.

3. Meaning

The need to be better than, more than, recognized by, beyond any reasonable utility. That is ego.

The sense of superiority and certainty that exceeds the limits of self-confidence and talent.

Some successful people all they can see is what they've already done.

4. Action

A man is forged by what he works on.

The only relationship between work and talk is that one kills the other.


5. Learning

Have someone better from whom you can learn, someone inferior to whom you can teach and someone equal with whom you can measure yourself, not compare.


6. Student Always

Pretending that we know is our most dangerous vice, because it prevents us from improving.

It is impossible to learn what one thinks one knows.


7. Talk < Walk

You are the least important person in the room, until you change that situation at the point of results.

Talk little, do a lot. Be less, do more.


8. Humility

Pride, even when there are real achievements, is a distraction that creates illusions.

The question to ask when experiencing a burst of pride is: What am I missing right now? What would I see if I were a humble person?


9. Purpose

When we achieve our purpose, we must resist the desire to pretend that everything went exactly as planned.

> Note: If you would like to know about a deeply personal experience regarding this, do not hesitate to reply to this email and I will share it with you.


10. Ego Breeds Insecurity

The fight to be number one is a mask of weakness, insecurity and instability.

The ego needs honors to feel validated. Self-confidence, on the other hand, is able to wait and focus on the task at hand, without thinking about external recognition.


“Each of us has a unique potential and purpose, which means that we are the only ones who can evaluate and define the terms of our life.”

— Ryan Holiday (@ryanholiday)


You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/Bibliosophy_/LPxhc4U

Ego Is The Enemy

An important person in my life gave me this book as a gift and I could not thank him enough for it. The amount of reflection I did was tremendous.

Here’s my top 10 takeaways:

> Estimated reading time: 1 minute, 52 seconds.

1. Excellence

Do not expect anything from others, but believe in yourself. Take responsibility for your actions and give your best.

Lower your expectations, but not your dreams.

2. Perspective

The way you see your life shapes your life.

Success is achieved by turning each step into a goal and each goal into a step.

3. Action

True success is not having been, but continuing to be.

The man who succeeds is the man who tries.


4. Mistake = Learning

Only one thing is more painful than learning from experience, and that is, not learning from experience.

There is beauty in mistaking.


5. True Wealth

You will find yourself at the top when you help someone else up a mountain.

Don't measure your wealth by the money you have, measure your wealth by those things you wouldn't trade for money.


6. Grit

The exaltation to obtain a reward is the engine to test any resource that leads to achieving gratification.

Only those who are willing to go far, and do, will know how far they can go.


7. Expectations

Well-being does not come from many riches, but from few needs. To be content with what we have is to be rich.

Knowing how to get by without what we want is to be powerful.


8. Fulfillment

The emptier a man's head is, the fuller his pockets need to be.

Wealth consists much more in enjoyment than in possession.


9. Commitment

Those who hesitate to make plans do so because they doubt their ability to deliver and do not want to commit.

Do not fear commitment.

10. Ownership

Every right implies a responsibility.

Every opportunity, an obligation.

Every position, a duty.


“The greatest happiness is the well-being that is experienced by being actively engaged in what we like to do.”

— Mario Rizo (@mariorizofiscal)


You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/Bibliosophy_/PmeLilD

Everyone Wins

This book is full of reflections and timeless principles to live up to. 

@viziandrei is fascinating and I would definitely recommend giving him a follow. His thoughts on lifestyle design are simply amazing.

Reading time: 1 minute, 47 seconds.

Here’s my top 10 takeaways:

1. Interpretation

The expression of ideas, and not the ideas in themselves, is what we seek when reading books.

We consider many ideas to be evident once we read them.

2. Confirmation Bias

We tend to like only the books that reinforce our convictions.

We rarely like the books filled with arguments that contradict them, no matter how adequate o well-documented they are.


3. Simplicity

The denser the argument, the easier the job to dismantle it.

Way too many sentences translate into a declaration of insecure reasoning.


4. Focus

Happy people cultivate stable, positive feelings; they don’t crave euphoric moments.

Happiness is about frequency, not impact or intensity.


5. Curation

Productivity is about eliminating bad habits, then adding good ones.

Knowledge is about filtering, rather than gathering, information.


6. Agency

The more we think and talk about the issues which we cant control, the more we neglect the ones which are in our control.

There is gold to be found in Stoicism.


7. Personal Monopoly

You cannot bring out the flavor of your intellect if you do not try to establish relations with disciplines that are not at all related to your specialization.

You do not need unique skills, but a unique combination of your skills.


8. Creativity

Creativity is not something we can acquire systematically. The most we can do is foster a state of mind that creativity may come to us.

The harder you try to be creative, the less you shall succeed.


9. True Learning

To thrive, read all the practical books that have survived more than 300 years.

The longer a book has survived, the higher its quality and timeless its learnings.


10. Ownership

In an abundant world, knowledge grows by elimination, rather than by addition.

It’s more about recycling rather than consuming or producing.


“Happiness consists in being able to understand yourself and the reality around you.”

— Vizi Andrei (@viziandrei)


You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/Bibliosophy_/bJVWxz4

Economy Of Truth

This book redefines what it means to be a leader. It was recommended by someone special to me and it was worth its weight.

> Estimated reading time: 1 minute, 52 seconds.

Here’s my top 10 takeaways:

1. Influence

When you identify meeting the legitimate needs of others you can influence them.

The leader is someone who identifies and satisfies those needs and removes all obstacles so that they can serve the customer.

To be the first, you have to serve.

2. Connection

The key to leadership is to carry out assigned tasks by fostering human relationships.

Truly great leaders possess the art of building relationships that work.

3. Service

Leadership has little to do with style (personality) and everything to do with substance (character).

Authority is founded on service and sacrifice.

4. Progress

Every few months you should be able to say, "I'm not where I want to be, but I'm better than I was."

Either you are green and growing, or you are ripe and rotting.

5. What Matters

Things are managed, people are led.

Money is fourth or fifth on the list of what people expect from your company.

Being treated with dignity and respect, being able to contribute to the success of the company, feeling part of it, always appear above money.

6. Agency

I can't always control my feelings towards others, but what I can control is my behavior towards others.

Love is not what one feels for others, it is rather how one behaves with others.

7. Know Thyself

Humility is nothing more than the true knowledge of yourself and your limitations.

Those who see themselves as they really are in truth can only be humble.

8. Character

Our true character as a leader is revealed when we have to give our best for those we don't like, having to love people we don't exactly like.

That's when we discover to what extent we are committed and what kind of leader we really are.

9. Action

What we believe or what we think, in the end is not important.

The only thing that really matters is what we do.

10. Ownership

When things go well, give others the credit.

When things go wrong, own that mistake.

“When you were born you cried and the world was filled with joy. Live your life so that when you die the world cries and you are filled with joy.”

— James C. Hunter

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/Bibliosophy_/71hLBSA

The Servant

This books gives you the tools, knowledge, and actionable resources you need to reach your potential. 

> Estimated reading time: 1 minutes, 32 seconds.

Here’s my top 10 takeaways:

1.  Greatness

Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities.

The difference lies in their desires to reach their potential.

2. A Bit More

Having a goal that feels attainable but slightly out of reach provides focus and direction.

Always strive for something higher, bigger, and/or better. You can.

3. Envision

No path to greatness has ever involved settling for less than what you really want.

You become what you envision yourself being.

4. Pillars

You will never achieve what you really want if you let your ego stand in the way of your principles.

Every successful person I know has their non-negotiable set of principles.

5. You Decide :):

We are our greatest ally in terms of our capability to get past adversity.

It all lies in how we perceive and engage the adversity we face.

6. Fulfillment

What makes achieving your dreams and fulfilling your vision that much more special is the hard work it takes to get there.

Glory is best served with true sacrifice.

7. Adversity

Those who learn how to use adversity to their advantage, possess the power to turn that into greatness.

If you avoid or resist it, it will only persist.

8. Life’s Goal

Greatness is not about working a lot or making a lot of money. It’s about having purpose and being the best that you can possibly be.

Reaching our true potential is the true flex.

9. Grateful > Scarcity

If you concentrate on what you have, you’ll always have more.

If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you’ll never have enough.

10. Past

Discuss the past and you will learn from it.

Bottle it up and it will have you in chains.

“We are only as good and as strong as our adversity makes us.”

— Lewis Howes

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/Bibliosophy_/cSBWrM8

The School Of Greatness

I found this book on my grandfather’s bookshelf and just by the first page was captivated. Throughout the whole book I was just saying wow at our shared history.

> Estimated reading time: 1 minutes, 32 seconds.

Here’s my top 10 takeaways:

1.1  Progress

Unlike Egyptians, the Babylonians and the Assyrians, were not interested in preserving the ways of their ancestors.

Their many raids and battles with foreign people had opened their eyes to new ideas and taught them to relish variety and change.

1.2

At this point, and in this part of the world, history began to progress at a much greater speed, because people no longer believed that the old ways were the best.

From now on, things were constantly changing and ever improving.

2. Purpose Beginnings

The Athenians were not looking for an easy, comfortable life, but one which had meaning.

A life of which something remained after one’s death, something of benefit to those who came after.

This is the bedrock of human purpose.

3. Ages

The Middle Ages is given its name for no other reason than that it falls between antiquity and modern times.

Dark Ages is the period which followed the collapse of the Roman empire when few people could read or write and hardly anyone knew what was going on in the world

4. Indulgences

Two Medici popes planned to build a new church that would cost greatly.

Where this money came from mattered less than getting hold of it and completing their wonderful church.

They offered forgiveness of sins to the faithful and called them 'indulgences'.

5. Old vs New

In the Enlightenment, the people who held ideas wanted to combat the darkness of superstition with the pure light of reason.

Tolerance, reason, and humanity were the three fundamental principles of the Enlightenment.

6. Nature

Mastering the mathematics of nature enabled people not only to understand the forces of nature, but to use them.

They were now harnessed and put to work for mankind. Think about fire.

7. Rome

Rome’s founder and first king was called Romulus.

The first roman emperor was Augustus.

The last emperor was Romulus Augustus.

Curious coincidence.

8. China’s Example

China is the only country in the world to be ruled for hundreds of years, not by the nobility, nor by soldiers, nor even by priesthood, but by scholars.

9. Novelty

If you want to do anything new, you must first make sure you know what people have tried before.

If we are able to see farther is because we stood on the shoulders of giants.

10. Perspective

The great questions of history are decided not by speeches but by blood and iron.

History is written by the winners.

“What I have always loved best about the history of the world is that it is true. That all the extraordinary things we read were no less real than you and I are today.”

— E.H. Gombrich

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/Bibliosophy_/nO2EteH