Bookshelf

The Journey Beyond Fear by John Hagel

In general, there seems to be a tendency among people, institutions and even places to perpetuate threat-based narratives rather than more positive opportunity-based narratives. But there are exceptions too. A threat-based narrative instils fear and anxiety at home and work and starts drifting away from our goals and passions. Institutions with such narratives tend to have a similar message for both employees and users of their products and services.

With many personal anecdotes, John Hagel provides the framework and tools to overcome our fears and move ahead to the next level in life by achieving more of our true potential.

He mentions a very straightforward and easy to grasp approach using three tools: Narratives, Passion, and Platforms – “the three pillars of positive emotion.”

Narratives are the motivation that propels you to reach your goal. It acts as a catalyst that draws out the dormant passion within us, converts fears to the excitement and makes seemingly impossible things possible. John makes a clear distinction between a narrative and a story. He also explains how a narrative is much broader than a purpose. Narratives provide us with the North Star and help to –

• Look ahead & motivate us
• Focus on actions & learn through them
• Come out of isolation and build a connection & trust with the outer world.
• Catalyze passion

Having worked in the IT industry for more than 15 years, I have sometimes struggled to align the personal narrative with the narratives of the institution and seen many in a similar boat. Hence the content on different types and the different levels of Narratives such as Personal, Institutional, Geographical & Movement-based narratives was very relatable.

The second pillar, Passion (of the explorer), provides the fuel to sustain us on our journey towards the goal and cannot be fully leveraged without reason. It is very different from the darker side of it – Obsession and the self-centred – Ambition.

(Learning) Platforms help in connecting and learning with each other. I liked this part of the book primarily because of the unlimited potential platforms and ecosystems possess. It also leaves you curious to know what John has in mind with the learning platform inside or outside the Center for the Edge.

I highly recommend The Journey Beyond Fear to everyone dealing with fear in his personal or professional life, procrastinating to embark on a journey to follow his/her passion or holding back to make a difference.

Some of my favourite quotes from the book

“Emotions have an interesting network effect: Once a critical mass of people feel a certain emotion, it tends to spread exponentially, both in terms of the number of people who feel it and in terms of the intensity with which it is felt. As the emotional cascade takes hold, it becomes harder and harder to resist.”

”….It’s not about risk and reward, it’s about fear and hope. That’s ultimately what motivates people to act.”

— Dee Hock, Founder of Visa Inc.

“(In Business Strategy) what really matters is psychology, not strategy. If you don’t understand the psychology of the individuals involved, if you don’t understand their emotions (their hopes and fears and what excites them), and if you don’t understand what motivates them, your strategic plans will just be documents on a shelf.”

That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea by Marc Randolph

Not actually a business book, but the Netflix co-founder does a good job in narrating the complicated story of business model adjustments, changes in strategy, pivots & new ideas behind the much familiar & popular Netflix’s origin story;

“Reed came up with idea for Netflix when he found a rental copy of Apollo 13 in his house, went to return it to the Blockbuster, and saw a $40 late fee. Then he thought: What if I never had to this again?”

Not sure, if Marc & Reed Hastings would agree, but I feel Alex Balkanski’s “This is sheet” remark was the first major turning point to Netflix’s original idea.

I was expecting more than the story beyond rental, shipping, subscription model & kiosk from the book, hope Reed Hastings tells us the rest, someday.

My biggest takeaway from the book

“Everyone who has taken a shower has had an idea, but it’s the people who get out of the shower, towel off, and do something about it that makes the difference.”

— Nolan Bushnell, Atari

Doing Agile Right by Darrell Rigby, Sarah Elk & Steve Berez of Bain & Company

Doing Agile Right means using agile as a tool in service of a strategy to improve business performance.

“Doing Agile Right” by Darrell Rigby, Sarah Elk & Steve Berez of Bain & Company is must read for business leaders and senior management teams. Personally, it was really fascinating to read how Henk Becker & team brought in transformative changes in the Bosch Power Tools division. With highly practical examples, this books serves as a must-follow-guidebook for the incumbents going through digital transformations.

My biggest takeaway from the book

“Agile is a tool, not a strategy”

Elevated Economics: How Conscious Consumers Will Fuel the Future of Business by Richard Steel

Richard Steel’s “Elevated Economics: How conscious consumers will fuel the future of business” is an extensively researched and thought-provoking work.

Elevated Economics has introduced a new fundamental pillar of business into the equation, it has the added ‘Purpose’ to the 4Ps. Purpose, which was up to this point, being driven by social enterprises only, along with Profit is set to become the new norm. The growing popularity of ESG & SRI among investors illustrates this trend well.

Apart from author’s view on Starbucks, most of the anecdotes fits very well in the book.

Fightback: How to win in the digital economy with platforms, ventures and entrepreneurs by Felix Staeritz (FoundersLane) & Simon Torrance

Thoroughly enjoyed Felix Staeritz (FoundersLane) & Simon Torrance’s new book –

“Fightback : How to win in the digital economy with platforms, ventures and entrepreneurs”.

Fightback presents some brilliant case studies from the author’s work with Pfizer, Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA, TRUMPF, GE Digital, Klöckner & Co SE, EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG, Vattenfall. It also emphasizes, through the frameworks such as the Entrepreneurial Co-Creation (ECC) model, on the urgency with which the traditional organizations need to respond to the threats unleashed upon them by fast, innovative & disruptive technological advances and transform their business models by giving a fightback.

My biggest takeaway from the book

We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don’t let yourself be lulled into inaction.

Bill Gates