My 3 Favorite Books In 2022.
I read and listened to 16 (audio)books this year about system design, management, start-ups, open-source software, the metaverse, and crypto. If I compare this number with the past years those are far fewer books. But this is ok because the quality and insights matter more. There are cycles where it is beneficial to read a lot, and there are cycles where a few books, can have an outsized impact. This year was one of the latter.
I also acknowledged over the year that I had some kind of content exhaustiveness. For example, I couldn’t focus on the content as much as I would have liked and also was not that “eager” to find new books. My assumption is this comes from reading over and over about the same topics with few new facts or stories around them. I enjoyed books that broadened my horizon much more. Therefore I’ll try for next year to read much more on:
- Classic books that existed previous to the 21st century but get recommend still a lot.
- Books from totally different categories e.g. esoteric, art, …
If you are interested in my picks in 2021 have a look here: Last year’s recap. For this year just keep reading, you can find it here.
Amp It Up: Leading for Hypergrowth by Raising Expectations, Increasing Urgency, and Elevating Intensity
What is it about: The book is written by Frank Slotemann. The former CEO of ServiceNow and current Snowflake CEO. He is one of the few CEOs who lead multiple high-growth start-ups and companies. The book is of the same caliber as “The hard thing about hard things” by Ben Horowitz. In summary, it is a great book about how to grow start-ups and companies at a maximum pace.
When you should read it: You joined a company that is either a high-growth start-up, you joined a large corporation that is at a turn-around and now does want to grow.
My key learnings:
- Customer Success is not a function or unit. It is the responsibility of everybody in the corporation. Frank’s argument is that an extra CS unit, gives development, sales or support the excuse to not act when the customer is in trouble. Without such a unit, everybody becomes accountable for customer success.
- Put execution ahead of strategy. It’s easy to hire “strategists” or consultants to help your company to come up with a strategy. But this is not the tough part. The tough part is to focus the organization and everybody inside to execute against it relentlessly.
- Go direct and with mutual trust and respect. Approaching executives and the c-suite direct and also cross-unit speeds up alignment and resolution of problems. It takes such a long time to get every line manager approached before approaching the key stakeholder for your matter or challenge. Go direct.
The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking
What is it about: In case you follow me for some time, it’s clear I’m enticed by the idea of crypto. And I’m already deep down the rabbit hole. Hence, it was great to read this beginner's book of what Bitcoin is about. In general, the book explains greatly the history of money, different types of money, and how Bitcoin does fit into this. It’s easy to understand and a book I recommended even to my Mum!
When you should read it: You heard of Bitcoin and have no clue what it is and what it does. You are super deep down in the rabbit hole and need some broader perspective.
My key learnings:
- The difference between Fiat Money and “Hard-Money” makes a lot of difference in terms of keeping and storing wealth. Not in decades but in centuries.
- Bitcoin could be the separation of state and money. Similar to what was needed with the separation of state and religion. Let’s just hope it will not be that brutal…
The Metaverse: And How it Will Revolutionize Everything
What is it about: Obviously the metaverse. But what is the Metaverse? I had the exact same question. I couldn't grasp it and I was trapped to think it was the new “UI layer” for crypto. But it’s not. In general, Matthew Bell describes the history, core components, and potential future of the metaverse easy to understand.
When you should read it: You are interested about the Metaverse but don’t understand what it is.
My learnings:
- As Matthew describes: The Metaverse is “A massively scaled and interoperable network of real-time rendered 3D virtual worlds that can be experienced synchronously and persistently by an effectively unlimited number of users with an individual sense of presence and with continuity of data, such as identity, history, entitlements, objects, communications, and payments.”
- A lot of technology development is needed to take place to facilitate the above definition. We already have a lot of computing and network power. But it is not as much as facilitating an open world with players of millions in one synchronous state. Just to speak about latency and network challenges.
- The “Apple Tax” is even playing a role in the metaverse. In case there are interoperable networks that connect and can trade objects like character equipment, large corporations do want to take their cut. The commercialization of such an environment can be challenging, and crypto could be just a solution of many.
Thanks for reading!
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