100 books like I Love It Here

Emotions and emotional intelligence (EQ) aren’t taught in business school, and are rarely evident in abundance in the corner offices of CEOs. And yet here’s one ready to admit to the errors of his earlier ways, and to have adjusted his leadership style at Best Buy accordingly. If it can happen in business, why not in politics, too, perhaps saving us from leaders who lack empathy.

This book was introduced on the first day of art school. Then, it was reintroduced and repeated by each professor for the duration of my education. As such, it's fair to say that it's an enduring force within academic circles. 

The book touches on major points essential for any informed artist and the need for modern artists to subvert our viewers' hidden biases. It eloquently teaches artists to dive beneath the surface of a work to understand the unseen, the context, and the subtext. Ways of Seeing skillfully inspires a new lens through which to view the world and urges its readers to peel back the layers of meaning from even the most minimal artworks.

For me and so many other artists, this book was an awakening and is one that I turn back to often and am doomed to cite for eternity. It's a transformative journey that challenges and… show more.

One could almost have predicted that the concept of brain laterality would provide material for explaining the division between the political left and right.

Do political conservatives and liberals have brain differences that may, in part, determine their politics? This volume is valuable as a rare source of material for addressing this question. Political conservatives apparently have larger amygdalas (which register reactions to threat), while liberals may have a reverse valuation. These two brain features may contribute to determining hemispheric preferences.

Armed with the latest findings in neurobiology, the author explores how profoundly emotions drive our behavior and “thinking.” Why the air quotes around the word, thinking? The answer is that fMRI brain scan data reveals that most decision-making is basically emotionally driven, intuitive, and super quick, i.e. under a second.

The bottom line is that the people who focus on what they want, not what they don’t want, achieve their goals and even accelerate the achievement of their goals. So many times we have limiting beliefs (things we don’t want to happen) that get our focus and that is the wrong thing to focus on. No matter what you want in business or in life, the power of focus will help you get there. This book helps you to focus on your strengths and eliminate what holds you back from getting to where you ultimately want to go. It can help you change bad habits into habits that will serve you much better in life. This is a powerful book to help you no matter where you are or what you want in your business and life.

This book came by recommendation from Jonathan Siegel, the brains and brawn behind Xenon Partners, a private equity firm that I joined in 2018. This book summarizes several profit models presented by a fictional mentor coaching a business executive. It’s clever, poignant, and was helpful to me in thinking about other profitable business models. For example, in my side-hustle life, I use the Profit-Multiplier Model: running multiple small SaaS businesses in parallel using the same tech stack (make money off the same good or skill in different markets).

As a young real estate agent, I had heard it a million times: “Real estate is a relationship business”.

I understood this in theory, but I had no idea how to put this wisdom into practice. Then I read The Go-Giver and everything changed for me. Through a truly compelling story about the protagonist Joe, I learned about the 5 laws of Stratospheric Success.

I couldn’t put this fascinating book down and I read the whole thing in an afternoon.

The 5 laws forever changed the way I see business, sales, and life. I’ve gone on to surpass my wildest dreams in business and I owe so much of my success (and joy) to this special little book!

I have listened to Steven Bartlett’s podcast for years. He has interviewed an impressive and eclectic range of people, especially founders, and has pulled together much of what he has learned, both from his own business success and that of his guests.

I like the practicality of the “33 laws” in the book. I don’t agree with all of them. For example, I take issue with “Create a cult mentality,” but many of these laws are very sound indeed, including “Ask who not how” and “You must out-fail the competition.”

I like Steven’s persuasive and punchy style and the fact that he came from humble beginnings and has achieved so much. 

Sam the Man wants a job. His next-door neighbor will pay him a whole dollar each time he can convince her dad, Mr. Stockfish, to join him for a daily walk. But getting Mr. Stockfish to leave the living room isn’t easy. So when another neighbor asks if Sam would like to watch her chickens, he jumps at the chance. Chicken-sitting is way more fun than he expects, and soon Sam the Man is watching a chicken of his very own. The story is satisfying and funny and readers will want to learn all about Sam’s adventures in the rest of the series. Sam’s creative problem-solving skills had me laughing out loud.

In Antifragile, Nassim Taleb describes the concept of convexity as a property of systems that benefit from volatility, stressors, or uncertainty, and suffer from calm or stability.

You should work to make your body and mind antifragile by exposing yourself to stressors, such as exercise, fasting, and solving complex cognitive problems. That will make you stronger and more resilient.

The principle of convexity can be applied to your own cognitive development in several ways for example make it an everyday habit to embrace small failures and mistakes, pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone, and working on skills that are just beyond your current level of ability, and pursue diverse experiences.

By seeking out new experiences and challenging yourself to learn new things, you can increase your cognitive flexibility and resilience.