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This short review deals with the second edition of The Introverted Leader, 2018. I bought this one in the Foyle’s close to Covent Garden in London during my most recent management/leadership book buying spree. Some time in summer 2019. It seemed to be a worthy skim-book to refresh some thoughts, and it fulfilled that promise. The core of this book is about communication skills. It’s a manual for communicating across a sliding scale of introversion and extroversion....

This epic read on business strategy examines what defines good and bad strategy, what powers good strategy, and what strategic thinking is and how to do it. Not small subjects! The value-per-page ratio is high throughout, as the whole book comes in at just under 300 pages. The book is split into 3 roughly-equal-sized sections. Good and bad strategy Sources of power Thinking like a strategist Exploring the definition of strategy might seem bland at first glance....

“Strategic” networking is never about getting a series of gold nuggets out of peers. Other people don’t have answers that will map 1:1 into your world – at least exceedingly rarely. Situations are different. Instead, it’s the little ideas. Tiny seedlings that grow into something beautiful only with careful processing and gene-splicing with other lil’ idea-seeds. That changes how to approach a networking conversation. Don’t go in to get “insights”. Go in to get surprised, taken aback, confused, or worried....

You can only really exert a sprint-effort at anything if you come from a place of rest. A boxer is completely relaxed before striking. Brilliant ideas don’t come from extended periods of mild focus, but rather all at once in a burst, typically from a relaxed state. Type II muscle fibers (fast twitch) can only sustain a short burst of energy all at once, and to deliver 100% of that burst they have to start fully relaxed....

It’s common for people to consider the option to invest vs spend when it comes to money. Should you save it up, invest in some kind of value-store, or spend it on necessities and feel-good things? Choices like this are made often, especially monthly around the time the payslip comes along. It’s almost never considered for time. The same rules don’t quite apply, but the same consideration is definitely worth making....