Ten books you might like
Future Work/Life is a weekly newsletter that casts a positive eye to the future. I bring you interesting stories and articles, analyse industry trends and offer tips on designing a better work/life. If you enjoy reading it, please SUBSCRIBE HERE, and share it!
It seems that knocking a podcast out every morning is very time consuming, so it came as a great relief this Sunday to have completed January's podstorm (an episode released every day for 31 days). I have never been so tired of my own voice, although I guess it comes with the territory.
The exercise was, though, a lovely reminder of the many wonderful people I've spoken to and worked with over the past month to create the Future Work/Life newsletter and then the podcast.
So much has happened over the past year, yet there's a definite treadmill effect in life right now. It's often difficult to step back to get some perspective – both on the things in which you've progressed and why you're even doing it.
During this period, I had a lot of time on my hands and resolved to do one of the things I love most, to determine the direction I wanted to take next. I proceeded to spend most of my free hours reading books covering a wide range of subjects, but primarily what you (and certainly my wife) might consider 'self-help books'.
One year on, this process has most definitely helped me develop fresh enthusiasm for my work and life, in general, even against a backdrop of one of the biggest shit shows I'll (hopefully) ever experience.
With that in mind, plus the fact that I like it when other people do the same, today I'm just going to share a list of ten books I'd recommend that I've read over the past twelve months.
I've lost count of everything I've read, and there's nothing particularly scientific with what I've come up with. The only exclusions I've made are those books that I've mentioned in any of my previous FWL newsletters.
Without further ado, thanks to everyone who shared these books with me, and here's the list:
Alex Hutchinson – Endure: Mind, Body and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance
Hutchinson is a former elite distance runner and physicist, turned journalist. He combines his varied expertise to create a fascinating look into human capacity within a sporting context. I'm drawn to the connection between physical and mental performance and how that relates to work.
Annie Auerbach – FLEX: The Modern Woman’s Handbook
What was previously a book that addressed the apparent need for us to rethink the way women, in particular, have to (attempt) to balance work and home commitments is about to be updated to reflect the changes resulting from Covid. It was already an inspiring read and it will now, I suspect, become a guide for many as they attempt to introduce more flexibility into their lives.
A well-researched book that counters many of the myths propagated about work, including that 'the best companies cascade goals', 'people need feedback', 'work-life balance matters most', and 'people can reliably rate others'. There's nuance in each of these statements, of course. However, I appreciate the evidence-based approach that runs counter to much of the management literature out there.
Chris Voss – Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It
Voss used to be the FBI's chief hostage negotiator before retiring to become a leading thinker on negotiating so many real-life, high-stakes examples here, combined with practical tips to use in work day-to-day life. The frequency with which my mate and I discuss applying the techniques is the best indication of its impact.
Daniel Susskind – A World Without Work: Technology, Automation and How We Should Respond
While intermittent articles appear about a future in which robots take our jobs, there's a general acceptance that machines have augmented human work with each technological leap in history - for every job replaced, one or more new ones have been created. However, Susskind's riveting take is that this period is coming to an end with increasingly advanced AI. The question is now not whether this bleak future will occur but rather, how we change society in a world with fewer and fewer jobs. Heavy subject matter, but thought-provoking
You'll be able to hear some of these authors on the next series of the podcast but, until next week, happy reading!
Ollie
Any Other Business:
For more book recommendations, The FT’s monthly business book tips are a useful source. Here’s February’s list.
As we adapt to remote working, we have to face up to some of the challenges we face elsewhere online, like trolls, as this New York Times article explains.
I’ve linked to content from Matt Wullenweg, co-founder of WordPress and CEO of Automattic a few times before, but he’s always worth a listen. The Knowledge Project is one of the better podcasts out there and in this episode, host Shane Parrish and Mullenweg discuss distributed work, the 5 levels of autonomous organizations, and decision making.
This article in Behavioral Scientist is a nice glimpse into why we should try to tap into our inner voice, however annoying it can occasionally be.
And finally, last week Benedict Evans shared his annual presentation, which is this year titled The Great Unbundling. There’s loads of interesting stuff in there, as ever, about changes in work, streaming, advertising and more, so check it out. This slide shows the basic premise behind it’s title, though.
