Here are 100 books that Obliquity fans have personally recommended if you like
Obliquity.
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I’m an innovator. I’ve been one since I was a kid. Since then, I’ve started a couple of non-profits and four companies, and I’ve advised hundreds of clients on innovation opportunities. I’ve also led the team that created one of the world’s first smartphones. Over the past dozen years, I’ve written four books on the strategy and capabilities of innovation. Innovation is one of the essential characteristics that make us human. It can get the world into trouble, but it does more good than harm on balance. My mission is to make us better at innovation and make the world a better place.
As a strategy consultant for over two decades, let me tell you: the world is full of bad strategy. This book lays out so clearly what makes bad strategy bad, as well as what good strategy consists of. Rumelt uses examples from business, of course, but he goes far beyond that realm, too.
The book opens with a description of how Admiral Horatio Nelson defeated Napoleon’s forces in the Battle of Trafalgar. Rumelt, a Professor at UCLA, gives recommendations that are specific, tied to examples, and actionable. I walked away with a clear set of takeaways and wonderful stories to back them up.
When Richard Rumelt's Good Strategy/Bad Strategy was published in 2011, it immediately struck a chord, calling out as bad strategy the mish-mash of pop culture, motivational slogans and business buzz speak so often and misleadingly masquerading as the real thing.
Since then, his original and pragmatic ideas have won fans around the world and continue to help readers to recognise and avoid the elements of bad strategy and adopt good, action-oriented strategies that honestly acknowledge the challenges being faced and offer straightforward approaches to overcoming them. Strategy should not be equated with ambition, leadership, vision or planning; rather, it is…
Games and playing have always played a part of my life. I have created games and businesses and been fortunate enough to have worked with both at various levels as a mentor and guide. For me, this is the gift that keeps giving. The tee-shirt wearing creatives and the suit folk with their business acumen we seek to help scale our ideas. I have worked for years at the nexus of these tribes, and still find it a thrill to learn about the visions people have for the wonderful world of games and play and the oblique outcomes we couldn’t have predicted.
This book covers an often-overlooked aspect of finding a market and customers, users, or players for your game.
Tribes are the drivers of the traction you will need on social media and the impact your vision will have on your community. I love the case studies in this book, covering a global stage of BDSM through to the British Royal Family.
This book taught me the value of nurturing and caring for the diverse communities we serve.
Marketing and consumer research has traditionally conceptualized consumers as individuals- who exercise choice in the marketplace as individuals not as a class or a group. However an important new perspective is now emerging that rejects the individualistic view and focuses on the reality that human life is essentially social, and that who we are is an inherently social phenomenon. It is the tribus, the many little groups we belong to, that are fundamental to our experience of life. Tribal Marketing shows that it is not individual consumption of products that defines our lives but rather that this activity actually facilitates…
Games and playing have always played a part of my life. I have created games and businesses and been fortunate enough to have worked with both at various levels as a mentor and guide. For me, this is the gift that keeps giving. The tee-shirt wearing creatives and the suit folk with their business acumen we seek to help scale our ideas. I have worked for years at the nexus of these tribes, and still find it a thrill to learn about the visions people have for the wonderful world of games and play and the oblique outcomes we couldn’t have predicted.
Reading this book made me think hard about alternative truths and the consequences of these alternatives for communities everywhere.
From fake news, disinformation, and misinformation this book takes the reader on a fascinating journey where brands are having to face the reality that their marketing and communications. These are being eroded in ways brands find hard to manage.
Demonstrating authenticity is becoming more difficult as is persuading an audience that a brand knows best, that they are experts in their field and that they can be trusted. Purpose is at times in conflict with stakeholders needs and Chenecey quickly moves through the political and social aspects of these challenges while asking the reader to consider their own beliefs and knowledge within this context.
FINALIST - Business Book Awards 2019 - Embracing Change Category
Brands are built on trust, but in a post-truth world they're faced with a serious challenge: so much of modern life is defined by mistrust. A shattering of the vital trust connection between brands and consumers, together with the evaporation of authenticity as a core brand pillar, is causing enormous problems for businesses on a global scale. If a brand isn't seen as trustworthy, then when choice is available it will be rejected in favour of one that is.
The Post-Truth Business provides a way forward for any organization wishing…
We all want peace. We all want a life of joy and meaning. We want to feel blissfully comfortable in our own skin, moving through the world with grace and ease. But how many of us are actively taking the steps to create such a life?
Games and playing have always played a part of my life. I have created games and businesses and been fortunate enough to have worked with both at various levels as a mentor and guide. For me, this is the gift that keeps giving. The tee-shirt wearing creatives and the suit folk with their business acumen we seek to help scale our ideas. I have worked for years at the nexus of these tribes, and still find it a thrill to learn about the visions people have for the wonderful world of games and play and the oblique outcomes we couldn’t have predicted.
My copy is from 1976. It is a timeless classic that speaks to the human at the center of everything we play together.
This book serves to remind us that games don’t have to be digital experiences. Sometimes exploring ideas and being creative can lead to new paradigms of seeing each other as contributors to our joy and excitement of playing games.
I never tire of reading this book and learning of the scale and scope for being players and playing well together. The games in this book are co-created with a community of players, isn’t that the way it should be?
As game designers, when we pitch to investors, we often forget to include the joy and love that our customers, players, and users find in our games.
I’m a TedX and keynote speaker, leadership expert, and corporate facilitator. I’m also a repeat software founder and CEO. I work extensively with Fortune 1000 and hyperscale organizations to connect leadership and culture directly to organizational outcomes, as well as diversifying C-suites and corporate boardrooms. I’m passionate about guiding leaders to measurable outcomes and helping others learn from failure (yes, it happens to all of us!) Over the years, I’ve learned the key is understanding and embodying your own values so you can build resilience for yourself as an individual, your team, and your organization as a whole. I hope my list of recommended books helps you do just that!
We all need to have our conditioning challenged occasionally, and this book does exactly that.
It takes the idea that success is a straight line and turns it on its head. Rich Christiansen argues that the best goal setting isn’t linear. Instead, he encourages readers to literally zigzag to their goals. His book is important because it teaches leaders how to be nimble, flexible, and resilient.
The zigzag principle is simple, powerful, and offers a totally new way of approaching business (and life).
Have you ever set your sights on the top of a mountain and then started your ascent by heading straight through the trees and up the sheer cliffs? Or driven in your car to the other side of town-as the crow flies? Of course not! Because you instinctively know that, just as a river has to wend its way around obstacles, the best route is never actually a straight line!
In The Zigzag Principle, Rich Christiansen applies a foundational law of nature to business management, entrepreneurship, goal-setting, and life in general as he explores why…
I have been interested in motivation, productivity, and growth my whole life. I find it fascinating how we all have 24 hours; however, some people can maximize that time to create success while others let it go to waste. It all comes down to mindset. As an entrepreneur, I’ve consumed countless books, courses, and coaching programs to create what I call the “Rockstar Mind.” It has helped me tour the world opening for bands like KISS, write two best-selling books and 3 hit songs, and run two online businesses while supporting my young family during a global pandemic. I’m always looking for the edge to create more impact in my day.
Tim’s stories about Michael Jordan are worth the price of admission alone. What I really love about this book is how Tim breaks down the mindset of a champion – what it takes to overcome the daily challenges that come your way and thrive when the odds are working against you. The audiobook version also has great chapter intros by Tim.
'Tim Grover's teachings completely changed how I approached my professional career, helping me navigate the constant ups and downs that sport at the highest level brings.' Marcus Rashford, MBE From the elite performance coach for Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade and many others - and the author of the powerful bestseller Relentless - a no-holds-barred formula for winning that is ideal for business people, athletes and anybody wanting to achieve success.
In Relentless, Tim Grover showed that you need to be tough and ruthless - towards others and yourself - to achieve your goals. Now, in Winning he takes…
At the very beginning of my studies, I asked myself a question that still accompanies me today: “Why are some people successful and others not?” I've always been interested in people who are successful through their own efforts instead of building on the success of previous generations through their heritage. In my search for what distinguishes successful from less successful people, I began to read a variety of relevant books and attend seminars. These books and seminars dealt with the topics of success, personality development, marketing and sales, rhetoric, psychology, and management as well as self-management and personal productivity. To date, I've read several hundred books on these topics and attended a number of seminars.
Brian Tracy stands for professional and personal success.
I have read many of his books and listened to his lectures. In his book Goals, he shows you how to set goals and achieve them. Goal clarity is a prerequisite for all success.
In this book you will learn everything about goal setting and how to achieve goals.
Based on more than 20 years of experience and 40 years of research, this book presents a practical, proven strategy for creating and meeting goals that has been used by more than 1 million people to achieve extraordinary things in life. Author Brian Tracy explains the seven key elements of goal setting and the 12 steps necessary to set and accomplish goals of any size. Using simple language and real-life examples, Tracy shows how to do the crucial work of determining one's strengths, values, and true goals. He explains how to build the self-esteem and confidence necessary for achievement; how…
I have spent most of my adult life using entrepreneurial business practices and principles to redesign and transform nonprofits. From my very first nonprofit organizational acceleration, I was hooked. The wealth one receives from helping other people is so much richer and more satisfying than money–altruism is truly life's greatest pleasure. You know the movie The Sixth Sense where the little kid sees dead people everywhere? I am the same way, except everywhere I look, I see uncaptured opportunities for social impact. I live and breathe social impact strategy, governance, financing, evaluation, and change management. Because by fixing problems in those areas, organizations are able to do more to make the world a better place.
Planning is easy, but execution is hard. Nonprofit leaders can gain a clear, practical understanding of how to measure and execute an organization's progress toward social impact goals with the clear, simple, and compelling four disciplines of execution.
It is simply terrific for putting strategy into practice. You will learn the key concepts from 4DX. We found reading it like getting a new set of glasses that brings the world of management into focus and allows us to see a pathway to success.
Fully revised and updated, the definitive guide for leaders on how to create lasting organisational change.
Do you remember the last major initiative you watched die in your organisation? Did it go down with a loud crash? Or was it slowly and quietly suffocated by other competing priorities? By the time it finally disappeared, it's quite likely noone even noticed.
Almost every company struggles with making change happen. The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Revised and Updated is meant to help you reach the goals you've always dreamed of with a simple, repeatable, and proven formula. In this updated edition of…
I’ve experienced good organisations and less so in my working life. Likewise, I've experienced the good and less so of leadership. In leading teams and organisations during my career, I, too, have been an example of both, so I’m passionate about helping leaders grow their capability to ‘avoid the less so’ and lead well, with humanity and greater consciousness, to create workplaces where people flourish and organisations that contribute positively to the future of our world.
In my view, this book is a game-changer. Sinek probably agrees, given that it became a bestseller and has seen him become one of the most influential thinkers on leadership of our time. The Golden Circle—Why, How, What—at the heart of the book flips conventional leadership thinking on its head, getting clear on purpose (the why) rather than starting with the what.
I love the way Sinek brings his thinking and the power of purpose to life with real-world examples, from the Wright brothers, the ‘founders of powered flight,’ through Martin Luther King Jr. to Jobs and Apple.
The plan was insane. The trap seemed to snap shut on Bruce and Maggie Tate, an isolation forced on them by the pandemic and America's growing political factionalism. Something had to change.
Maggie's surprising answer: buy a boat, learn to pilot it, and embark on the Great Loop. With no…
These are the books that changed my life and were the catalyst for a change in career from litigation attorney to life coach. I am also a Friendship expert who is currently traveling the US, meeting a stranger in every state to share a meal with. These books align with the way I live and the energy and lessons that I hope to share with everyone I meet. These are not just books to entertain but also books that have helped me get through some difficult times in life and have helped me find real purpose and meaning in the way I move through life.
This book changed my life. This is the book that taught me the power of journaling.
I found the journal prompts that the book offers to be useful and appreciate that they provided a guide that helped me define my core beliefs and taught me to listen to my inner voice in a way that brought about an easy method to figure out not only what is truly important to me but this method also helped me to define my goals and purpose in a no-fuss bare bones way.
This book was the catalyst that eventually led me to my career as a life coach.
Your bucket list. Quarterly objectives. Strategic plans. Big dreams. Goals. Lots of goals and plans to achieve those goals-no matter what. Except ...
You're not chasing the goal itself, you're actually chasing the feeling that you hope achieving that goal will give you.
Which means we have the procedures of achievement upside down. We go after the stuff we want to have, get, or accomplish, and we hope that we'll be fulfilled when we get there. It's backwards. And it's burning us out.
So what if you first got clear on how you actually wanted to feel in your life,…
