Maximise Potential

September and October have been great months where I have found some of the best books of the year. Check out any of the below mentioned ones and you will get excellent value to end this year on a high note and start next year brilliantly. Here are the recent books I truly enjoyed. Atomic Habits by James Clear  – The premise of the book is your habits determine your success. If you have read The Power of Habit you know about the cue, routine and reward. A similar thing is said here where he talks about cue, craving, response, reward. The basic advice is if you want to become a writer write one page daily and if you want to be an athlete exercise 10 minutes daily. Instead of focusing on outcome you focus on changing your identity. By writing one page a day you establish the identity of a writer. If you want to exercise first thing in morning sleep with your exercise clothes. Make the habits obvious, satisfying, easy and rewarding. There are also ways to ditch unhealthy ha...

We all at some point of time have confronted our mortality and realized that living forever is a pipe dream. However, the best part about life is whatever we have done till now we can move past that and even do more in our lives. I love the line which says, “Don’t die with your music still in you.” All of us have been born with enormous potential and we must identify our unique talents to bring it out. Here are some of the ways we can get that music out. I have expanded the word Die and Music to explain this. Desire – Everything starts with desire and whatever you want in life is a desire. Whatever you don’t want is also a desire. So, the key is everyone has a desire but getting clear on what it is the key. Once you clearly identify your talents and match your desire to that you can feel greater happiness and fulfillment. Desire is the starting point of all passion, achievement and significance. Inspiration – You cannot get your music out unless you get inspired. When you are i...

Abraham Maslow turned the field of psychology on its head. He studied healthy people instead of studying the opposite. His pyramid which is famous put the hierarchy of human needs and at the top of the pyramid was something called self-actualization. This is all about actualizing your highest potential and leads to lasting fulfillment. He also mentioned that all these people appreciate truth and beauty. He identified several characteristics that make up a self-actualized person that can help all of us on our journey of life. Here are my favorite ones with my take on each. They accept themselves as they are  – All of us should accept ourselves just as we are. This is the key to happiness. Each of us is unique and we all have unique talents. Once you accept yourself the way you are the entire world opens and you feel great about yourself. They resist enculturation –  This ties into your uniqueness. They resist all attempts of society to define what they should be or what t...

Connecting the dots is a wonderful book by the legendary former CEO of Cisco John Chambers. I really enjoyed this book and found it inspiring. The four main things which helped turn around Cisco were an ability to anticipate and deal with market transitions, innovations processes that could be replicated at scale, a strong culture that was focused on customers and a network architecture that gave incredible flexibility. Here are the major lessons I gleaned. Disrupt or be disrupted - This is the key for any 21st century leader or organization. Be nimble and flexible in the midst of chaos and uncertainty. Having the ability to anticipate change is one of the keys. Keep learning – With the amount of change that is literally mind boggling leaders have an averse to learning. Keep reading, listening to podcasts, connect with experts in your field, read their blogs, books and document what you learn. Think weeks for Bill Gates was a famous example of learning at the highest level. Ta...

Imagine it forward by Beth Comstock is a semi autobiography of one of the most successful leaders of our time. She has also given some great suggestions to be a change maker in your organization. While most of these are not completely new I still enjoyed all of the concepts in one place. Here are the lessons I gleaned. Don’t wait for permission – Are you waiting for someone to give you permission to take action. The main takeaway is don’t wait for someone to give you the green signal. Start with yourself and take action. Don’t let fear stop you and as you take action you will get confidence to do more. Job crafting - The main point is to take the job no one else is willing to take. You can craft your job into anything you want. Also keep adding value to everything you do and go the extra mile. Trends – Always be on the lookout for trends. We overestimate what can be done in 1 year but underestimate what can be done in 10 years. Think of the best case scenario if this change ha...

Blitzscaling is a wonderful concept for startups that want to scale. It is basically prioritizing speed over efficiency. I really liked the book Blitzscaling by Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh. The basic thesis which Alvin Toffler predicted in Future Shock is that change is the only constant. If you can be nimble and steady in the face of chaos you have a better chance of survival. It is all about scaling fast, moving fast and breaking things. There are 3 suggestions to thrive one is to be a first responder, second is to be a model of stability in a sea of change and finally be a consistent learner. The three techniques of Blitzscaling which are the heart of the process are business model innovation, strategy innovation and management innovation. There are 9 counter intuitive rules of Blitzscaling which I liked. Here they are with a brief commentary on each. Embrace Chaos : The only certainty is uncertainty. Be ready to thrive in chaos. Especially when you are starting anything...

Jim Collins is my favorite business author. I have reviewed his other 3 books and I thought I should complete the reviews with How the Mighty Fall. This came out around the time when Fannie Mae was in trouble and at the heart of the Lehman collapse which put the global stock markets in peril. Jim Collins does have a knack of releasing books at the right time. Of course, there have always been arguments that some of the companies which were once successful in his study have fallen by the wayside. This book addresses why companies or even empires do fall. Here are the 5 stages of decline identified with my commentary on it. Even as individuals we can pay attention to this. Hubris born of success : This is when companies fall in love with their own success and become arrogant. Example sighted here is Motorola which didn't pivot to digital when there was a movement from analog to digital. The unwillingness to move when things are changing must be a key factor in the downfall of...

Ambition has got a bad reputation in some circles. Of course, greed is always a problem. However legitimate ambition for each individual or organization is very much needed. One person’s ambition might just be to go to the next level while another individual may want to change the world. So, I think only that individual can decide what ambition means to them. Here are the 8 elements of ambition that I have come up with. Action : Ambition without any action will not work. So, decide what you want and then take daily action towards your ultimate ambition. By the yard its hard but by the inch anything is a cinch. Every day if we can move forward our ambition even one small step it will make us feel better. Progress is the key to happiness and the only way to progress is through action. Peter Drucker said a beautiful thing “Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From that quiet reflection will come even more effective action.” Action is everything. Meaning : Ambition must ti...