7 Books to end 2018 on a Great Note

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 habits. Good solid read.
Blitzscaling by Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh – 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 is my article on it.9 Counter Intuitive Rules of Blitzscaling.
Connecting the dots by John Chambers – This is one of the best books on leadership from a leader who has turned around an organization. Disrupt or be disrupted and be ready to dream big to win big. There are also good suggestions on building a talented team and great culture. Check out my review here. 9 Lessons from John Chambers
AI Superpowers by Kai-Fu Lee – I have read quite a few books on AI and this one is good. This also speaks about how far China has gone to be a leader in the race of AI. There are four types of AI Internet AI, Business AI, Perception AI and Autonomous AI. There is also a section on what jobs will be impacted by AI.
The Messy Middle by Scott Belsky – I am not running a startup but still I found this to be interesting. The main point is the start is always great, but it is the middle portion of doing anything that is toughest. There are some innovative ideas on enduring and optimizing. Also, this has good suggestions on recruiting and maintaining high customer satisfaction.
It doesn’t have to be crazy at work by Jason Fried and David Heinemeir Hansson – Their earlier book Rework was good as well. This one is simple, and it is all about the fact that you don’t have to work 80 hours to win big. They give a lot of examples of superstars who are not slogging hours but producing more. There was not anything ground breaking here except that you are more productive working lesser than more. However good practical ideas here.
Dare to lead by Brene Brown – I have read all of Brene Brown books and they are excellent. The main theme of this book is to be vulnerable and if you have read Daring Greatly or Rising Strong there is some repetition here. One of the other takeaways is to define clearly two values you want your life to stand for and then monitor how closely you stay true to those values. Let go of perfectionism and shame. Create a culture of openness and candor.
Check out these books and they are pretty good for you to have a great 2018 and start 2019 on a high note.
The views expressed here are my own and do not represent my organization.

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