Ryan Holiday condenses the wisdom of stoics into a short manual for living. Again. Previous work by Ryan Holiday (such as Ego Is The Enemy) is themed around specific concepts, which provide some continuity during the reading experience. This latest addition to the collection follows a different hierarchy. The core idea is that stillness is a missing ingredient in many people’s lives today. This core is examined through 3 lenses – mind, soul and body....
“Herding Tigers” is Todd Henry’s playbook for being the leader that creative people need. Herding tigers because herding cats doesn’t adequately convey the feeling of leading a creative team. Lulz. Nice one, Todd. Apart from the intro (How to draw Darth Vader), the book is split into two sections, one for mindset and one for mechanics. It’s a clean split between approaching the task, and specific tactics. The book is very much an attempt to roll up all sorts of good little nuggets harvested from many sources....
Ed Catmull shares the story of his journey into Pixar leadership, and the principles he believes has made Pixar and Disney able to capitalise on the opportunities they’ve come across. Catmull seeks to make a lasting impression of the principles by delivering them in story, instead of as just a list of tips (although the afterword does contain said list of tips, to serve as reminders – a cheat sheet to revisit for bite-sized Ed wisdom in the future)....
Excellent reminder of ones personal insignificance. A reminder not to hope for better. A reminder not to wait. A reminder to be an adult, not a child or an adolescent. A reminder to base life on values. A reminder that we decide what our life looks like (at least for now, until AI takes over everything) Here’s the key: Don’t hope for better. Just be better.
The book talks about how habits work, and how they have the power to create (or prevent) change within 3 distinct areas of life: Personal development, organisations and work, and in society. It also provides a handy guide for the concrete application of the toolkit for personal development. And finally, it communicates a directive: When you know about the habits that drive your behaviour, and you know they can be changed – you have a moral imperative do so....