Culture – dr.Pep

If the talent density in your organization is high enough and your corporate culture strong enough, you could give extreme freedom to your people to increase te level of innovation

Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer – No Rules Rules

Pretty strong boundary conditions need to be fulfilled in order for this scheme to work; including broad acceptance of a high level of interpersonal ruthlessness.

Africa and Africans have never been taken seriously by the Western world, simplifying the story of the continent to ‘famine and safaris’

Dipo Faloyin – Africa is not a country

Well known story told in a fresh style, which unfortunately still serves a purpose.

The subtle nuances that can be achieved by varying ingredients, shaping, and timing of your bread are under-appreciated

Dan Lepard – The handmade loaf

Impressive collection of inspiring perspectives and variation on bread making.

The initial strength of the Hanseatic League was the fluidity of the institution, but that also limited the degree to which it could scale its power

Carsten Jahnke – Die Hanse (read in German)

Nice to read as an example of a successful alternative power structure (in the sense of Graeber en Wengrow), that is nonetheless is firmly rooted in proto-capitalist principles.

When structuring your tech-heavy organization it helps to think in archetypes of team roles and interaction modes

Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais – Team Topologies

An elegant little book that provides a refreshingly clear view on how to make Conway’s law an effective principle for organizing products and platforms.

Indigenous societies show that, next to capitalism, there are many alternative blends of violence, knowledge and charisma on which a viable social power structure can be built

David Graeber and David Wengrow – The dawn of everything

The authors attack a overly simplified version of the theories they aim to refute, failing to recognize the necessarily non-linear nature of evolution.

A selfless focus on creating impact makes employees highly valuable for organizations

Liz Wiseman – Impact Players

The book gives surprisingly little attention to the question how Impact Players can assure they get rewarded for the value they bring

From Anime to the Karaoke machine and the Gameboy, Japanese design has had an outsized influence on pop culture

Matt Alt – Pure invention

Highly entertaining book, providing entertaining facts and refreshing perspectives.

The US postal service is a success story of the benefits of public funding

Winifred Gallagher – How the post office created America

In theory a fascinating topic, but in practice a boring read; as I should have expected because the Post leveraged rather than drove innovation.

To solve the problems facing our planet today, we need to think ahead seven generations

Roman Krznaric – The good ancestor

Hard-felt plea for including future generations into political decision making.

Today’s dominant ideology is the acceptance of ‘how the world really is’ and that any attempt to change that will lead to ruin

Slavoj Zizek – Like a thief in broad daylight

Mix of interesting Marxist perspectives on contemporary politics and confusing rants about old movies.

A hero is someone directing their rage towards achieving an unattainable goal and, if successful, ending up a star

Stephen Fry – Heros

Fresh and highly entertaining retelling of classic tales.

Like in other instances of decolonization, forming the USA has been a murky affair largely dependent on chance

Colin Woodard – American nations

The book is more about political realities than about cultures, with little attention given to the role of black people (apart from them being enslaved).