Written in an entertaining laid-back style that more business books could use and – above all – surprisingly relevant over 25 years after first publication in 1991.
Philip Tetlock – Superforecasting
While containing valuable advice, the book does not go much beyond the basic market research toolkit I’d expect any strategy consultant to possess.
The Data’s Advocate
How to assure that insights change business decisions
The Board has decreed that you have to become a data-driven organization. To avoid obsolescence, things need to change. The old way of doing business is no longer viable. Only Data can make you smarter.
So, there you go. An Analytics department is set-up. A Big Data platform is is put in place. Data scientists are hired. Models are fitted. Insights flood the organization. And after a while all graphs start pointing to the top-right corner. Right?
Nope: Sales wants to sell, Operations wants to operate, and Marketing wants to do whatever it is that Marketing wants to do. No-one ever wants a proper analysis. Especially if the outcome is likely to challenge the status quo. There is a shop to run, a client to manage, and a problem to fix. If Analytics does not directly help to do just that, it is deemed useless. And everyone who does not get that, frankly, does not understand the business. That’s how, in many organizations, Data is side-tracked.
The first priority, is of course to assure that your insights are relevant and focus on improving key business decisions. But that is not enough. These insights should actually change the decisions your organization makes. And frankly, many business owners are unable to take an impartial perspective with respect to unexpected challenges – especially when under pressure.
What is needed, is someone who can ensure the fact-based perspective is taken into account in decision making.
Someone needs to defend data-driven insights without looking for compromises from the start. Someone needs to be in a position to challenge Category Management on their Sales v. Margin trade-offs. Someone needs to hold firm on the risk assessment in the face of an exciting Sales opportunity.
In short: you need a Data’s Advocate.
That is not to say that Data should always prevail over ‘Gut’ or ‘Experience’, or ‘Entrepreneurship’, or whatever you call it. But the trade-off should be an explicit one. Both to assure better decisions, and to build awareness on what it means to be a data driven organization.
Kevin Kelly – The inevitable
Enjoyable, yet somewhat theoretical, meandering between fundamental truisms and gross simplicications, leaving the reader with one key question: ‘Where does it pay off to act contrarian?’
Scott Carney – What doesn’t kill us
The quest of a journalist overcoming his initial scpeticism and transforming from a coach potatoe into a survival adept, who walks up mount Kilimajaro bare-chested and loses his initial stance as an objective observer.
Yuval Noah Harari – Homo Deus
Strongly opiniated view on the future of humanity, mostly valuable due to the emphasis on the role of humans in steering development of technology and AI.
Mel Robbins – The 5 second rule
Counting back from 5 to 1 and then ‘go’ is a useful mind trick that helps to bypass inertia.
Entertaining proponent of the emerging trend of ‘self re-programming’ within ‘self help’, leveraging scientific insights from fields such as neuro science and behavioral economics to train the mind.
Adam Grant – Give and take
In order to be successful, ‘givers’ have to be smart about how they direct their giving.
Remarkable how social environment and incentives can shape giving/taking behavior of individuals.
Deborah Blum – The poisoner’s handbook
Treasure trove of slightly lugubrious annecdotes on crimes, accidents and government schemes.
Ben Horowitz – The hard thing about hard things
Comfortingly desillusional perspective on entrepreneurship, with reassuring insights like: “No one cares.”
Stanislas Deheane – Consciousness and the brain
Fascinating read about how much progress has been made on the path initiated by Daniel Dennett in “Consciousness explained”.
Michael Smith – Streaming, Sharing, Stealing
Recent move of Disney to boycot Netflixs proves that incumbents are starting to realize the new reality.
Yuval Noah Harari – Sapiens
Refreshing evolutionary perspective, emphasizing the cognitive, agricultural, and industrial revolutions as turning points in human development.
Naomi Klein – No is not enough
Solid analysis of politics and mass communication ends in a disappointingly polarized plea for “us v. them”-thinking.
Pedro Domingos – The master algorithm
The brave attempt to cover an inherently deep subject in a non-technical way.
Richard Evans – The pursuit of power
Masterful balance between major developments and impact on human scale.
Martin Lindstrom – Small data
The author suggests a (false) dichotomy between small and big data.
Ashlee Vance – Elon Musk
Do not read the Dutch translation: Henk Popken did a crappy job.
Philip Fernbach and Steven Sloman – The Knowledge Illusion
In a world that is both complex and polarized, progress (which is fueled by sharing knowledge) is in serious danger of reversal.
The concept is almost trivial (which makes for a boring 1st half of the book), but the examples (partizan politics, fake news, pseudo science, etc.) are convincing and entertaining.
Clayton M. Christensen – Competing against luck
Good thought starter and a great tool to point out failures afterwards, but usually hard to get “the job” right before launch