Notes from reading: Tribes by Seth Godin

I am a regular reader of Seth Godin blog, he is one of the best gurus on of brand building marketing. Being developer evangelist in my past job, I felt like reading this book.

Seth writes in details about building a community of like minded people who are self motivated and can go to any length in making vision of organization, group or  Tribe a success. He also mentions about leadership quality and how in fast pace innovating world an individual or an organization has to keep moving. He cites various examples from successful organizations to CEO’s on how they let innovation going and fueled the sense of leadership among the members of team.

I have this simple 4 take away from this book:

  1. Tribe: A small group of people who believes in vision of an organization or team and under a leader can go at any length to make task success.
  2. Heretics: An individual who is always up for taking challenge and not following an existing check list. Managers don’t like these kinds of employees or members. These are the kinds of people who do not belive in a system but going step further and getting better results.
  3. Sheepwalking: An organization where there exists a template of tasks and employees needs to strictly stick to it. An employee just has to work on the timings and do as asked, no need to use brain for anything else. Managers love these kinds of employee because they are mere robots taking decisions and working on it.
  4. Faith: As a stakeholder, leader of an organization it is extremely important to have faith. This faith will drive innovation and taking challenges. Most of us are scared of failing and hence die without trying, having a faith on self that things will go well help.

If you are a leader, CEO, founder it will be great to have vision and hiring motivations in place, like what kind of employees you want Heretics or Sheepwalkers.

In case you are building an army of sleepwalkers, disruption will bite you soon. If you are hiring heretics they will be pain for managers because of  the unconventional ways to doing tasks but at same time they will go out of the way and get SHIT done in more efficient and better manner. 

10 of my favourite books for 2017

I can happily admit that 2017 has been a year on my life when I spent good amount of time in reading, Madhav gets good credit for same.  His Kindle gift got me hooked.

These are some of my favorites, I have my notes added as well along with some of the books in list:

1. Total Freedom by J Krishnamurti

One of the tweet’s from Naval was the reason i picked this book.  Krishnamurti talks about various aspect of life, it is a heavy book and one has to read it few times to understand it. book notes

2. Wit and Wisdom from Poor Richard’s Almanack: Benjamin Franklin   

Benjamin Franklin was one of the founding fathers of USA. This small 50 page book can easily be kept in your mobile/kindle app. In this book Benjamin Franklin provides his opinion on various subject from eating, marriage, friendship, law, religion. book notes

3. Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio

Ray Dalio is self made Billionaire, philanthropist  and founder of Bridgewater Associates. In this book he spells his success secrets which he calls Principles. He in his life and at  Bridgewater Associates in business follow it as check list. It has a 350 page book and will take sometime to read and understand, i will be reading it once more. book notes 

4. The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius by Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius was Roman emperor and also a stoic aka believer of stoicism, a school of Philosophy that flourished throughout the Roman and Greek world until the 3rd century AD. The book is collection of his thoughts on various aspects of life.  book notes 

5. 10% Human: How Your Body’s Microbes Hold the Key to Health and Happiness by Alanna Collen

The book gives a great insight on guts and how our modern lifestyle, eating habits are adversely effecting it.  The book covers the other aspects like excessive use of antibiotics and its side affect on humans. book notes

6.  Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert Pirsig

Just the spoiler, the book is not entirely about motorcycle maintenance instead an account of author’s motorcycle trip from Minnesota to California with his young son Chris, a philosophical meditation on the concept of Quality, and the story of a man pursued by the ghost of his former self. The book is written by Robert Pirsig , who passed away recently at age of 88. book notes

7. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir by Haruki Murakami

 This book “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running” is collection of his daily entry of Haruki Murakami . He tries to connect his regular running habit and its learning to his way of life. It is a great read, so much of energy and motivation, I have ordered a hard copy for myself after reading on my kindle. book notes 

8. Damn Right!: Behind the Scenes with Berkshire Hathaway Billionaire Charlie Munger by Janet Lowe

One of the books which gives you personal insight of Charlie Munger, his life, family, beginning, sayings, success and failures. The book has everything you wanted to know about Charlie. The author has done great job in covering all part in the book. book notes  

9. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Harari

If you wanted to know about us aka homo sapiens, 1000+  long years journey of evolution, this is the book you should read. I think author must have spent 3-5 years in doing complete research before thinking about writing this book.  book notes

10. The Complete Adventures of Feluda (Volume 1) by Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray is a well respected name in Bangla Cinema and Literature.  The book is a detective fiction with Feluda being the detective. The book totally got me hooked, it was like visiting British India and the joy of seeing parts of India though eyes of the Indian James Bond.  Will be reading Volume 2 next year.

This post was result of my below mentioned tweet, feedback welcome. Happy 2018 🙂

Notes from reading: Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio

Ray Dalio is a seasoned philanthropist, business magnet and a billionaire. He is also founder of Bridgewater Associates one of the most successful hedge fund, wealth management firm.

Ray attributes his successful mantra for life, relationship and business to Principle: a  decision making  algorithm. According to him all aspects of our life should be governed more logically rather than being emotional or on our prejudice.

Reading the book gives me a feeling that Ray spent good time reading Philosophy, psychology and Neuroscience.  The success and DNA of Bridgewater Associates are these Principles. So an employee has to meet or give feedback or present he/she is advised to go read/see the related defined Principles for same.

I loved reading the book, so much to learn from it. The book is recommended to everyone who wants to understand and learn from Dalio’s successful mantra on life, business and relationship.  Please check the website https://www.principles.com  for more details.

These are 10 quotes from the book I really loved:

  1. Look at the patters of those things that affect you in order to understand the cause and its affect.
  2. Observe your thoughts, what changes you and your thoughts. What can you do to keep yourself going.
  3.  Be hyper realist  [Dream + Reality + Determination = A Successful Life].
  4. Be radically open minded and radically transparent.
  5. Work effectively, do  not work hard. You will be more productive working effectively.
  6. Do not let fear of what others think of you stand in your way.
  7. Evolution is the constant and only reality. Evolve or die.
  8. Success is struggling and evolving out of it.
  9. Take the pain and don’t walk away from it.
  10. We all have some blind spots, find yours and work on fixing it.
  11. You are responsible : take a stand and fix it. Stop crying over things which are not in your control.
  12. Realize that our conscious mind is in constant struggle with our subconscious mind.
  13. The biggest barriers to good decision making is our ego and our blind spots.
  14. Don’t hide your observation about people in your organization. Give regular feedback, tell them when they are making mistake.
  15. Understanding the great brain battle between conscious & subconscious and how to control/train them to get what you want.
  16. Organizing people to complement their strengths & compensate their weakness is like conducting as orchestra.
  17. Radical truth & transparency are fundamentals to having real idea meritocracy.
  18. Making sure people are doing good job doesn’t require watching everything that everybody is doing at all times.
  19. Don’t hold opinions about things you don’t know anything about.
  20. What you know paints a true and rich picture of the realities that will affect your decision.

On Goal

  1. Have clear Goal
  2. Prioritize
  3. Don’t confuse goal with desires
  4. Decide what you really want in life by reconciling your goals and desires
  5. Never rule out a goal because it is in-attainable
  6. Great expectation create great capability. Don’t lose hope.
  7. You can do anything if you are flexible and self accountable

 

On hiring talents

  1. Transparency
  2. Values
  3. Skillset
  4. Abilities
  5. Go getter
  6. Thiker

 

The 3 C’s in team members:

  1. Character
  2. Common Sense
  3. Creativity

 

Other  interesting web links:

Random Thoughts: Other’s mind

What is going on the other side? The mind of people around you? Are we able to get the other side of story?

We have our own predefined construct about some person or situation and if the result is favorable we are happy else we are in pain.

It is not easy to read others mind, but if we are aware and observe closely it might throw some surprises.

Imagine you are dating someone or in middle of signing a business deal. After rounds of meeting, email exchange or chat exchanges other side disappears or things get cold.

Let us say things  get back on track and every dispute resolved. Now the frequent replies, responses just turns into bare formality. The meeting, dinner which was full of conversation turns into awkward silence and constant glue to your cell phones. Everything becomes boring.

But, what can be done?

In my opinion having a honest conversation helps rather than dragging on . The game of guessing does no good to either side.

How many of us have courage to speak up the truth and settle is for rest? Unfortunately it is not for most of us because:

  1. We are scared of losing out on the benefits of the relationship.
  2. We are scared of hurting the other side.
  3. We are optimist & the hope of things might work out in future keeps it going.

I am still not sure what world we are living and level of gratification we are aiming for.

What do you think?

Random Thoughts: On Death

Death is the reality of life and most of us are scared about it. We try accumulating so much of wealth & enormous materialistic possessions. I have no clue if the kings/queens/riches of mummified world are using them after death. I’ve been told that most of the wealth left behind by the wealthy nobility and royals was plundered by thugs.

We tend to postpone most of what we like because we are so busy preparing for our future.

Asking some questions might help:

  1. When was the last time you took vacation for yourself?

       2. Said everything to everyone you wanted to without worrying what will be the reaction or after effect?

Life is short, living it moment by moment with peace is what it needs not materialistic possessions or chasing timelines.

I know most of these things sounds absurd, but ask yourself are you living life to fullest at each moment & if you die now will it be without a single regret?

Random Thoughts: Few Such Friends

Everything in life is temporary and as we grow older we tend to realize this even more. The school friend of mine whose lunch box used to be opened by all of us soon after he entered our class has disappeared,  I don’t even know if he is alive.

I am 32 now and as I moved out of my hometown for higher studies & later for work {stayed in 4-5 cities so far & don’t ask me about number of jobs I switched}.  I kept meeting new people and made new friends too. I don’t know how many friends I have, it is hard to count honestly. But one thing I am totally aware of is that I have few close friends..  They’re as close to me as I am close to them. They are the ones who never judge me for what I am. I don’t have to dress up or down  because neither will be a turnoff for them. These friends know all my secrets {not all of them good}. They will be the ones who will attend my funeral {If I happen to die before them 😀 }

I feel lucky & blessed to have such friends. I can count them on my fingers.

How many such friends do you have?

Notes from reading: The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius by Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius was Roman emperor and also a stoic aka believer of stoicism, a school of Philosophy that flourished throughout the Roman and Greek world until the 3rd century AD.

The Meditations is his thoughts on various aspect of life as collection of books which are all combined as chapter here.

These are some notes:

  1. All existing things soon change, and they will either be reduced to vapour, if indeed all substance is one, or they will be dispersed.
  2. The best way of avenging thyself is not to become like the wrong doer.
  3. Motions and changes are continually renewing the world, just as the uninterrupted course of time is always renewing the infinite duration of ages.
  4. How strangely men act. They will not praise those who are living at the same time and living with themselves; but to be themselves praised by posterity, by those whom they have never seen or ever will see, this they set much value on.
  5. If any man is able to convince me and show me that I do not think or act right, I will gladly change; for I seek the truth by which no man was ever injured. But he is injured who abides in his error and ignorance.
  6. I do my duty: other things trouble me not; for they are either things without life, or things without reason, or things that have rambled and know not the way.
  7. As to the animals which have no reason and generally all things and objects, do thou, since thou hast reason and they have none, make use of them with a generous and liberal spirit. But towards human beings, as they have reason, behave in a social spirit.
  8. He who has seen present things has seen all, both everything which has taken place from all eternity and everything which will be for time without end; for all things are of one kin and of one form.
  9. Frequently consider the connexion of all things in the universe and their relation to one another.
  10. if we judge only those things which are in our power to be good or bad, there remains no reason either for finding fault with God or standing in a hostile attitude to man.
  11. whatever is profitable to any man is profitable also to other men. But let the word profitable be taken here in the common sense as said of things of the middle kind, neither good nor bad.
  12. One thing here is worth a great deal, to pass thy life in truth and justice, with a benevolent disposition even to liars and unjust men.
  13. He who loves fame considers another man’s activity to be his own good; and he who loves pleasure, his own sensations; but he who has understanding, considers his own acts to be his own good.
  14. It is in our power to have no opinion about a thing, and not to be disturbed in our soul; for things themselves have no natural power to form our judgements.
  15. What kind of people are those whom men wish to please, and for what objects, and by what kind of acts?
  16. Let not future things disturb thee, for thou wilt come to them, if it shall be necessary, having with thee the same reason which now thou usest for present things.
  17. All things are implicated with one another, and the bond is holy; and there is hardly anything unconnected with any other thing.
  18. Everything material soon disappears in the substance of the whole; and everything formal (causal) is very soon taken back into the universal reason; and the memory of everything is very soon overwhelmed in time.
  19. A virtue which is opposed to love of pleasure, and that is temperance.
  20. If thou takest away thy opinion about that which appears to give thee pain, thou thyself standest in perfect security.
  21. Hindrance to the perceptions of sense is an evil to the animal nature. Hindrance to the movements (desires) is equally an evil to the animal nature.
  22. It is not fit that I should give myself pain, for I have never intentionally given pain even to another.
  23. Different things delight different people. But it is my delight to keep the ruling faculty sound without turning away either from any man or from any of the things which happen to men, but looking at and receiving all with welcome eyes and using everything according to its value.
  24. See that thou secure this present time to thyself: for those who rather pursue posthumous fame do consider that the men of after time will be exactly such as these whom they cannot bear now; and both are mortal.
  25. He who does not know what the world is, does not know where he is. And he who does not know for what purpose the world exists, does not know who he is, nor what the world is.
  26. Dost thou wish to be praised by a man who curses himself thrice every hour? Wouldst thou wish to please a man who does not please himself? Does a man please himself who repents of nearly everything that he does?
  27. He who fears death either fears the loss of sensation or a different kind of sensation. But if thou shalt have no sensation, neither wilt thou feel any harm; and if thou shalt acquire another kind of sensation, thou wilt be a different kind of living being and thou wilt not cease to live.
  28. Men exist for the sake of one another. Teach them then or bear with them.
  29. In one way an arrow moves, in another way the mind.
  30. It would be a man’s happiest lot to depart from mankind without having had any taste of lying and hypocrisy and luxury and pride.
  31. the contrary way and attach us to life, to be permitted to live with those who have the same principles as ourse

This is another must buy, read recommendation to everyone reading this post. 

Notes from Reading: Wit and Wisdom from Poor Richard’s Almanack by Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin is considered as father of modern America. His versatile expertise and contribution in Literature, politics, science, philosophy, law and many other areas helped in re-shaping America. He was a prolific reader as well as writer, a true believer of virtues.

In early days he wrote Poor Richard’s Almanack,  it holds true even in 21st Century. It covers Benjamin’s take on various aspect of life, making friends,earning, eating, health and many more.

 

These are some noted from the Poor Richard’s Almanack:

  1. A Man in a Passion rides a mad Horse.
  2. Anger warms the Invention, but overheats the Oven.
  3. Neglect kills Injuries, Revenge increases them. If you would be reveng’d of your enemy, govern yourself.
  4. You may be too cunning for One, but not for All.
  5. Content makes poor men rich; Discontent makes rich Men poor.
  6. Discontented Minds, and Fevers of the Body are not to be cured by changing Beds or Businesses.
  7. He that sells upon trust, loses many friends, and always wants money.
  8. Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure.
  9. Laziness travels so slowly that Poverty soon overtakes him.
  10. Dine with little, sup with less: Do better still: sleep supperless.
  11. A full Belly is the Mother of all Evil.
  12. Eat to live; live not to eat.
  13. When the Wine enters, out goes the Truth.
  14. Nothing more like a Fool, than a drunken Man.
  15. He that would travel much, should eat little. Drink Water, Put the Money in your Pocket, and leave the Dry-bellyach in the Punchbowl.
  16. A full Belly makes a dull Brain.
  17. Fools need Advice most, but wise Men only are the better for it.
  18. To whom thy secret thou dost tell, to him thy freedom thou dost sell.
  19. There are three faithful friends—an old wife, an old dog, and ready money.
  20. A true Friend is the best Possession.
  21. Be slow in choosing a Friend, slower in changing.
  22. The learned Fool writes his Nonsense in better Language than the unlearned; but still ’tis Nonsense.

I would strongly recommend everyone to buy a copy of this book and keep it as bed side story and read it again and again for a better life. 🙂

 

Damn Right!: Behind the Scenes with Berkshire Hathaway Billionaire Charlie Munger by Janet Lowe

Charles Munger is vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and one of the most successful investor, philanthropist.    

For this  book Damn Right!: Behind the Scenes with Berkshire Hathaway Billionaire Charlie Munger, Janet Lowe(author) did extensive interview/research to bring every aspect of Charlie Munger’s life to the world.  

The book also covers share of failures Charlie had in early days of his career, divorce from first marriage, death of his father and how he lost one of his eye later because of unsuccessful operation.

Charlie Munger studied law, likes playing poker and voracious reader.  He follows Benjamin Franklin way of living life.

I kind of loved authors narrative in each scenario, it was like am watching a movie or sitting next to Charlie Munger and watching all his actions. It will be a hollywood blockbuster in my opinion if gets adopted as story.  

These are some notes from the book, it can be by Charlie himself or his friends, authors or quotes from some of the books from his favorite author.

  • Charlie is generous in the deepest sense and never lets ego interfere with rationality.
  • Hunger for the world’s approval, Charlie judges himself entirely by an inner scorecard-and he is a tough grader.
  • I’ve been associated with Warren (Buffett) so long, I thought I’d be just a footnote.’ Charles T. Munger, when he was first named to the Forbes magazine list of richest Americans in 1993
  • Like Warren, I had a considerable passion to get rich,” said Charlie, who early on earned his living as a lawyer. “Not because I wanted Ferraris-I wanted the independence. I desperately wanted.
  • Being surrounded by right values from the beginning is an immense treasure.
  • Humor breaks the tension, provides psychological protection, and allows them to assert dominance over their circumstances.
  • I play golf with a man who says, “What good is health? You can’t buy money with it.”‘
  • We try to be realistic and smart and logical all the time, but there is another side to it.
  • What you learn from Nancy is never give up on yourself. Just keep working on your stuff.
  • What you learn from Nancy (Charlie’s 2nd wife) is never give up on yourself. Just keep working on your stuff.
  • “As parents, part of their success was in transmitting values, human morality, and ethical codes to their children,” said Emilie (Charlie’s daughter).
  • The investment game always involves considering both quality and price, and the trick is to get more quality than you pay for in price.
  • In order to be truly wealthy, a person needed to build ownership in a business.
  • “Hard work, honesty, if you keep at it, will get you almost anything.”
  • “the lesson of his business life is that you don’t want to do business with people you can’t trust. The economics are irrelevant if you don’t have trust.
  • “Never wrestle with a pig because if you do you’ll both get dirty, but the pig will enjoy”
  • There are a million business traps. You can get sloppy, you can get alcoholic, you can get megalomania, you can not understand your own limitations. There are a million ways to gum it up.
  • Munger and Buffett realized how much easier and pleasanter it was to buy a good business and just let it roll along, than to buy a deeply discounted but struggling business and spend time, energy, and sometimes more money setting it straight.
  • Smart, hard-working people aren’t exempted from professional disasters of overconfidence.
  • “If you just keep pressing on and don’t let anything that happens get to you, your life is so much better.”
  • If you try to predict the future of everything, you attempt too much. You’re going to fail through lack of specialization.
  • When serious problems arise, the reaction of top management must be both swift and thorough.
  • If Warren and Charlie believe in the principle of something, they don’t deviate from it, even if it’s not popular with the individuals around them.
  • You live it in the middle of the field, and you don’t cut corners.
  • Anyone who struggles to make the box of his life larger discovers that the box has walls that must be burst open.
  • I don’t think you can get to be a really good investor over a broad range without doing a massive amount of reading.
  • Every time you think some person, or some unfairness is ruining your life, it is you who are ruining your life.
  • To become a great investor Charlie says  “Each person has to play the game given his own marginal utility considerations and in a way that takes into account his own psychology. If losses are going to make you miserable-and some losses are inevitable-you might be wise to utilize a very conservative pattern of investment and saving all your life. So you have to adapt your strategy to your own nature and your own talents. I don’t think there’s a one-size-fits-all investment strategy that I can give you.”‘
  • Though few companies last forever, all of them should be built to last a long time, says Munger.
  • “It’s … necessary to accommodate a lot of failure, and because no matter how able you are, you’re going to have headwinds and troubles,”

Random Thoughts: On rejection

It was quoted somewhere that “humans are social animal”. We live in this society constructed around us. We live happily in our tribe divided on basis of boundaries, color, race, economies Et All.

While growing up in this society construct we gave rise to  competition in all the domains from education, services to wealth. Even various nations started competing which resulted in rise of Nuclear armaments.

I have limited knowledge about many things and many aspects in life, I will be focussing on rejection in day to day basis for an individual.

We get rejection in many domains, moments and aspects in our life like a few :

  1. Applied for admission to a college: Rejected
  2. Applied for dream Job: Rejected
  3. Saw some guy/girl at bar, approached to make a conversation: Rejected
  4. Looking for potential bride/groom on matrimonial site: Rejected {Physical appearance as reason cited, more of Indian construct}
  5. Applied for funding for startup: Rejected
  6. Applied for presenting at conference: Rejected
  7. Proposed growth vision, plan to my founders from organizations growth: Rejected
  8. Applied for H1B for moving to USA: Rejected

Rejection sucks and some of us end up going in depression and taking extreme steps like committing suicide. This is one part of the story or one side of coin.

Some people get even stronger with rejections, they build a system within them to take this all as learnings. They work much harder and do things which are unachievable, these are the misfits who scares shit out of society’s caretaker.

  1. Mahatma Gandhi and his civil disobedience movement for India’s independence with Britishers.
  2. Martin Luther King and fight for equal rights for people from African origin in America.
  3. Eklayava from Mahabharat getting rejected by Drona for training in archery and making it big by himself.
  4. Sylvester Stallone’s rejection again and again for his movie script Rockey.
  5. Elon Musk after going bankrupt and facing all kind of media trials on Tesla

What made them do it the impossible? What can we learn from them?

In my limited knowledge, all of them were/are self driven and gritty. They must have built a system over period of time while failing again and again.

What do you folks think? Have you ever asked from your inner self these questions? 🙂