The Morgan Library in Manhattan (Photo taken by the author) I loved reading as a kid, but I felt like the love of reading was bashed out of me in junior high and high school from required reading, comprehension checks, and a flawed perspective that the goal of reading was to get a good grade on a quiz rather than to learn something new. Then, in my senior year of college, I picked up Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink, which was not only one of the first "non-required" books I had read in years but also the first nonfiction book I had read as an adult. My world opened up while reading that bo ..read more

Image Credit: krakenimages on Unsplash Eight years ago, I was tasked with converting some of our company’s oldest, stubbornest clients to upgrade from our old “1.0” software-as-a-service (SaaS) product to what my friends and I jokingly called the “new hotness” — our “2.0” product. There was no question—the 2.0 product was WAY better than 1.0. The user interface was better. The software was faster. And it could do countless things the old product couldn’t do. But as I began talking to my customers about the new hotness, they didn’t seem as stoked about it as I was. I heard many demoraliz ..read more

Book: Magic Words by Jonah Berger Reviewer: Bobby Powers My Thoughts: 9 of 10Magic Words is practical and actionable. Berger, a marketing professor at Wharton, conducted years of research to see which words are most persuasive, and he packed all of his best insights into this slim 200-page book. I learned a lot from this book and appreciated Berger's knowledge, stories, and depth of research. If you want to become a better customer service rep, salesperson, public speaker, or storyteller, this book is right up your alley. What I Learned from the Book We now have automated text ana ..read more

AI image generated using DeepAI.org At one of my past companies, we ran into problems with our sales process, so we decided to toss the old sales playbook and create a new one. All of the sales leaders got together for a bunch of meetings, then divided the tasks and gradually built new PowerPoint presentations, sales pitch templates, email campaigns, and oodles of other collateral. They excitedly began to roll it out to the sales team but ran into one small problem… It didn’t work. The PowerPoint slides were missing key information, the sales pitches sounded stilted and robotic, and th ..read more

Image Credit: Eric Ward on Unsplash I work in HR, so I sometimes have to do company dirty work. For example, last February, I had to oversee a company layoff. In a single day, my firm laid off a quarter of our workforce, and my boss and I had to manage all of the behind-the-scenes logistics: when to tell people, how to tell people, when to shut off their computer access, etc. It was terrible. Then, one month later, I was laid off. The timing was wild, especially because I had just been on the other side of the table one moon prior. I understood why it happened because the company was st ..read more

Book: Slow Productivity by Cal Newport Reviewer: Bobby Powers My Thoughts: 8 of 10Newport has done it again with this great companion volume to his earlier book Deep Work. Whereas Deep Work talks about eliminating distractions and focusing on what matters most, Slow Productivity helps readers disregard the myth that "hours worked equals work completed" which began in the industrial age (because it was largely true at that time). Newport makes a compelling case that the best way to be truly productive is to bite off less and work at a sustainable pace. What I Learned from the ..read more

Book: Same as Ever by Morgan Housel Reviewer: Bobby Powers My Thoughts: 8 of 10Last year it felt like everyone was suddenly talking about Morgan Housel. I heard multiple podcasters and authors rave about his earlier book The Psychology of Money, so when I saw he released this new book in November 2023, I decided to check it out. Same as Ever is unique because it's focused on looking backward to help look forward. Housel investigates what trends have always been around throughout history and explains that they'll continue in the future because they're baked into human behavior. What I L ..read more

I never thought I'd be interested in reading obscure economics books, but I decided to take the plunge into behavioral economics when my favorite grad school professor recommended a book called Predictably Irrational. Within the first 50 pages, I was hooked. I realized that behavioral economics uncovers what's wrong with the traditional economics models that many academics have been trotting out to students for years. Behavioral economics fascinates me because it's so real. It's not based on theory—it's based on how consumers actually behave. It sits at the nexus of economics, psycholog ..read more

The best quotes contain a world of wisdom in a couple of sentences. Each of the 25 quotes below can be used to build a great life… “Not wanting something is as good as having it.” -Liad Shababo This concept has been around for thousands of years. Supposedly, when Socrates visited a mall, he joyously declared to his friends, “Look at all these things I don’t need!” The truly rich are those who want nothing more than what they already have. “Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life.” -Jerzy Gregorek Tim Ferriss and Naval Ravikant talk about how every effective self-improvement syste ..read more

Image created by author with credit to Shawn Lee and Surface I’m a bit weird. When I go to the grocery store, I obsess over which path of picking up groceries will require the fewest steps (it’s gotten to the point that my wife doesn’t like shopping together anymore). When I run errands around town, I mentally map out my route to ensure I won’t have to unnecessarily double back on any roads. When a family member tells me they’re ready to leave the house to go on a walk, I get frustrated if they’re not ready to go once my shoes are on. These tendencies are partially connected to my impat ..read more