The sun rises at 6 PM: Our book journey for February, 2022

The Power to Change

Campbell Macpherson

As the saying goes, “Change is the only constant thing.” Global warming, artificial intelligence, automation, genetic modification, gig economy, and the most recent the pre and post-pandemic era! In the midst of all changes, we yearn for happiness and success. The key to embracing change is to study change itself. Understand the intensity of change while finding answers to its impact on your life, or has it been exposed to you by circumstances or people or is it self-initiated. Self-blame and victimhood are toxic ways of avoiding the barrage of emotions and the process of embracing change. Let them out and confront them openly. Of course, change is difficult. You could face setbacks, challenges, and vexations in the process, but resilience could help you pick up. You can’t control what happens but be resilient enough to control your response to change. Believe in yourself and trust your ability to overcome your obstacles!

• People often fear a bad change, but confronting them is the key.
• Voice your thoughts to yourself, before you speak them out to others.

A Room of One’s Own

Virginia Woolf

In A Room of One’s Own, Woolf dives deeper into the relationship between gender and creativity. After an unpleasant encounter with a man at a college campus by the riverbank, Woolf realized how the men’s university was well-funded, while the women’s college was barely managed. She was left wondering how this disparity was affecting the creative output of women. Woolf claims that while men have indulged in wrongly scrutinizing women in various publications, women’s accomplishments at the time had been completely diminished as a result of men’s insecurities and their desire to overrule. Even in the recent era of Elizabethan England, women were married early mostly against their wishes, and tended to their children and family, leaving them no time and choice to explore their creativity. 

• Best artists think beyond gender.

How To Talk To Anyone

Leil Lowndes

Workplace environments, meetings, private lives, or parties. An exemplary communication skill is a flex. Lowndes’s How To Talk To Anyone is a guide that can help you to put your best foot forward while in conversations with anyone and anywhere. A good first impression is important because it primes how you’re seen on later occasions. Lowndes gives us 92 little tricks for big success in relationships - from greeting with the right smile to maintaining eye contact to your body language - all have a powerful influence on others. To address the elephant in a room smoothly, a warm introduction is all that you need to get the conversation started. The author even suggests that you bring a vintage pocket watch or one-of-a-kind purse, allowing someone to ask “Where did you get that?” And before you know, the meeting has already kick-started. As the saying often goes, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” Identifying and addressing commonalities tend to get humans closer, and is something you can always take advantage of. You can always ameliorate your relationship with others by being more considerate, making sure you don’t leave a conversation hanging, and sometimes leaving things unsaid for the greater good. 

• Be confident and engage with a positive attitude.
• Small talk can either make or break a conversation. So learn the art of small talk. Say little and give importance to your partner talking.

The Way of the SEAL

Mark Divine

The Way of the SEAL enriches us with the concept of cultivating mental fortitude and strong performance towards achieving one's goals. In the book, Author Mark Divine takes inspiration from his training days at the combat services. He saw that defining a purpose is imperative to move ahead in life. And each individual has their fixed point or an integral value that gives disposition and meaning to their lives. This fixed point is the GPS towards one's purpose. There’s the purpose, and then there are inevitable challenges. Challenges are not the end of it, but our response to challenges will be the ultimatum. During these times, control over thoughts and emotions to forge one’s mental strength. And harness the power of the subconscious to gather information from all senses to better understand the environment and thus make better decisions. 

• Cling onto the three duties of life - Discipline, Drive, and Determination. 
• Subconscious is a great source of inspiration

A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century

Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying

Despite the modern world’s prosperity, many of us are miserable. The authors say that the answer to this conundrum lies in our innocuous aspects of contemporary living. We have evolved tremendously, and modernity is having an effect on our bodies and minds. The answer lies in our ancestral past. While the Inuit people of Northern Europe had a diet that was extremely high in meat and fat and no carbs, the people of the Northern Mediterranean contained high carbs. This means people from Mediterranean heritage may do best on a diet different from that of the Inuit heritage. Apart from dietary needs, health development in the early years sets the foundation for a child’s capacity to develop. Modern parents need to realize that childhood is also a crucial time for exploration and discovery. Although parents mean well, humans have the longest and slowest childhood of any species and time is crucial to learn about ourselves. The book is a result of years of scientific research and experiment and is a provocative exploration of our history and our modern woes. The authors confront today’s pressing issues from sleep deprivation to damaging diets to stressful parenting and empower the reader to lead a better life, scientifically.

The Storytelling Animal

Jonathan Gottschall

We love a good story. Crying child? Entertain guests? Tell all of them a story. Science found out that our brains spend a fair amount of time far from real life wandering through insane fantasies and imaginary circumstances. And we are addicted to them. But there are several surprises to stories and Drama attracts humans and simulation of stories could help us in real life as well! We don’t just perceive stories but they feel real to our brains. Haven’t we all experienced that while watching movies? This could even make us better at empathizing with others and strife. Good stories can change our lives with defining values holding social lives together. Stories aren’t just stories. They run deeper than that - a revelation of your improved self!

The High 5 Habit

Mel Robbins

When Robbins was given the chance to do the internship of her dreams at an attorney general’s office in Michigan, she couldn’t get herself to do it. Her fears and self-doubt backed her down from landing her dream job. We are often our own harshest critics. Although it is necessary to have a healthy dose of inner criticism, we cannot let it disempower our inner positivity and confidence. After a lot of trials and tribulations, one fine morning Robbins decided to give herself a high-five in the mirror. Although it would look quirky to an outsider, Robbins felt better that day. It was a demonstration of self-belief. If you start looking out for positives, your Reticular Activating System (RAS) treats them as important and filters that information.  Like Jane Travis once said, “If you wouldn’t say it to a friend, don’t say it to yourself.”

• Be kind, supportive, and encouraging to yourself.

Digital Body Language

Erica Dhawan

Erica Dhawan says, “We’re experiencing a digital communication crisis.” And today in the ‘new normal’ where so many interactions happen behind a screen, digital body language is important. In modern workplaces, almost 70 percent of communication among teams is virtual and Dhawan highlights the dos and don’ts of these virtual exchanges to foster connections and avoid miscommunications. So tuning in your digital body is imperative. The author highlights four laws of digital body language to reduce friction and banish confusion- Valuing Visibly, Careful Communication, Collaborate Confidently, and Trusting Totally. On another important note, although there’s no question of gender biases being present at workplaces, digital workplaces tend to flatten this bias. Finally, be open and avoid preconceived notions. Employ face-to-face and phone conversations to foster trust and long-term relationships. 

• Prioritize thoughtfulness over speed. 
• While the tone and sound of the speaker are important, punctuations and medium of communication translate emotions too.

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

Haruki Murakami

The book is a memoir of Murakami where he writes about his interest in long-distance running. Murakami essentially talks about two activities that he has always been fascinated with, running and writing. He prefers solitude and he found that in running. It’s his ‘me time’ where a change of environment and getting outside for a run offers a great opportunity to clear his head and refocus. After failing at a grueling triathlon miserably, the author had given up and at some point, he realized that life is not about giving up. Life has more it. Facing fears and failure has glory in itself.

• Runners can develop both mental determination and physical discipline.
• Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional.
• With a positive mindset, you can discover your true potential.

Millennial Money

Patrick O’Shaughnessy

One of our millennial colleagues was at a friend’s party of 10 people, and in time they realized that only two of them invested in stock markets. Millennial Money is exactly about that. The book is an insight into how younger generations born between 1980 and 2000 invested less than their parent's generation. The reason the author points out is that millennials are more risk-averse compared to previous generations partly because they grew up in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis. Many people believe that having a savings account is the best way out, but it’s not completely true. A savings account merely has good interest rates. The author advises the youth to invest in stocks at an early age to secure a strong financial future. The foremost guiding principle of investing is diversification. Invest in companies all over the world. If the stock market struggles in one economy or if the currency value strengthens, this approach will protect your money. Secondly, find the best bargain in the market. Invest your time in extensive research. Buy cheap stock from valuable companies that can potentially maximize your future returns. Look out for cheap stocks that have substantially increased in the past six months.

Radical Product Thinking

R Dutt

How do you build visionary products? For building visionary and game-changing products, R Dutt says, “In building your product, instead of iterating in the pure pursuit of financial KPIs, you can take the purpose-driven approach of Radical Product Thinking. RPT gives you a methodology to systematically build successful products while avoiding the common product diseases that get in the way.” The author gives us a 5-step approach to RPT - A clear and meaningful vision answering critical questions, a strategic action plan to put your vision into practice, prioritizing pain points, measuring progress towards your vision, and finally embedding your purpose in your organization's culture. Although there’s nothing wrong with iterations, the problem lies when it stands in the way of a clear and defined vision.

The Case for Trump

Victor Davis Hanson

Despite being criticized for being a renegade businessman and with almost no political experience, Donald Trump managed to beat one of his big rivals, Hillary Clinton, during the presidential elections and successfully implemented his policies. He saw a political opportunity when the nation was anything but united. At a time when half of the Americans believed that the power and prestige of America had declined since 9/11, he popularized the slogan Make America Great Again or MAGA, instigating a sense of nation-building among the people. Even though Trump stood against the most potential of nominees, the electorate was tired of the status quo and saw something different in Trump’s unorthodox messages, rhetoric replies, and media-savvy appearances, offering them something altogether new. On the economic front, he ditched the important climate crisis discussions and called for more consumption and domestic resource extraction and ties it with a nationalistic perspective of not relying on foreign energy when they themselves are self-sufficient. It was also much easier to compete against the “Crooked Hillary Clinton” rather than a much neater politician Bernie Sanders.

Courage is Calling

Ryan Holiday

Fear is inevitable. But everything in life, from military victories to social activism to entrepreneurship one needs to overcome fear to move ahead. In Courage is Calling, Ryan Holiday breaks down the elements of fear and gives concrete ways to build courage and bravery laying out inspiring examples from history. Hercules' choice of embracing risky and courageous choices opened him to the path of glory that kept his name alive for eons. So how can we overcome fear? A one-stop solution is your logic. Probing your fears with a logical and reasoning mind, threats become less frightening. More importantly, don’t avoid things that cause you to fear. Think, examine and articulate your fears. Popular author Tim Ferris called it the fear-setting process. It helps you better equip yourself if they ever arise in the future.

Mastering Communication at Work

Ethan F Becker and Jon Wortmann

Workplace efficiency and communication go hand in hand. A master communicator adapts to people they’re talking to, keeping in mind their inductive or deductive nature. While understanding people is vital, maintaining one's ethos right is also critical. It changes depending on the context but it sure levels up your credibility. Finding the right balance of ethos is key to nurturing a respectful work environment. Working together as a team improves relations. To grow as a team and an organization, motivate the team by understanding what makes them tick. Each employee is different and so are their motivation factors - people are motivated by achievement, recognition, or power. 

• Choose the right words and frame your messages and meetings carefully that will keep everyone focused and engaged.
• Adjust the color - speed, volume, stress, and inflection - of your voice keeping in mind the type of your audience.
• A good communicator provides validation when needed.

Eating the Big Fish

Adam Morgan

When you are walking down the major streets of the city center you come across the same signs like Starbucks, McDonald's, and H&M. Do you ever get tired or annoyed as a consumer? How do the challenger brands succeed against the big names? Market leaders are a force to be reckoned with, but emerging brands can still pose a challenge by thinking differently. Challenger brands have to contend with increasingly skeptical, distracted, and stressed-out customers. They even have to battle the increasing competition due to the blurring of boundaries between different products like for example an iPhone is a phone, camera, iPod, browsing device, and much more. Challenger brands can give a tough competition using these 3 strategies:

• Strong values and emotional relationships with customers are vital for challenger brands.
• By reevaluating every product to awaken sleep shopping consumers. (rethink a particular category, brand and product and reconsider why consumers are not buying it).
• Spend marketing budget in the most effective way possible by creating a marketing plan and focusing on the same.
  

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

Jack Weatherford

The story of Genghis Khan and his empire is fascinating and deserves revisiting. From the hardships of Genghis Khan’s childhood to the construction of the first commercial empire which closely connected Europe and Asia, his story tells it all. Genghis Khan’s larger than life reputation began with humble origins in difficult terrain. He was born in a nomadic tribe in Eurasian steppe between Mongolia and Serbia and was given the name Temujin. After his father was killed Temujin was never formally educated and made his way in the brutally  tough environment. How did Temijin become Genghis khan?

• Genghis Khan was tech-smart and people smart and his abilities grew greater over four decades of warfare. He learned, experimented, adapted and revised.
• Genghis Khan controlled a vast territory with approximately one million people. It wasn't just the army which maintained order, but new laws were put in place to maintain peace among ethnically diverse tribes.
• Genghis Khan constructed a gigantic communication system to bind his empire together with fast riders and arrow messengers. This helped maintain stability and eliminated strife in the kingdom.

In this way, Mongols played an essential role in creating what we consider modern civilization.

How to have that Difficult Conversation

Henry Cloud and John Townsend 

This book is full of practical tips on how to have a difficult conversation. Difficult conversations are hard but very much essential as it makes our relations better, deepen intimacy with people, and cultivate more love, respect, and understanding. Successful people confront and have difficult conversations. But most of us don’t know how to have the conversation as we perceive it to be scary and avoid it. Some of the tips which help us have these difficult conversations are:

• Having a boundary-setting personal property line will define where to begin and where to end during conversations. It also helps in defining our relationships. People with good boundaries are clear about their opinions, beliefs, and attitudes.
• Having the talk - We live in a world where truth and love need to co-exist as allies. Having the talk helps in setting aside fears and solving problems. Healthy conversations not only preserve relationships but connect people together. This can be done by being emotionally present in the conversation, by being warm, and not giving a lecture.
• Being clear about U and I - If you are not clear about U and I the other person may feel controlled and may balk at whatever you say. You can do this by looking at the conversation emphatically, being clear in your mind, and speaking for your needs rather than identifying his. 

You have no control over the person you are confronting, but being humble and speaking from your own experience and heart goes a long way in making the conversation comfortable.

Rationality

Steven Pinker

It is safe to assume that no human has ever been perfectly rational, but the conviction that the objective of truth exists has allowed us to create rules that help us approach it. Rationality helped us reach the moon, eradicate smallpox and develop vaccines against a global pandemic. Rationality is a means to an end. Rationality helps you decide between passions. How does rationality help to attain goals?

• When one path is blocked when a human is taking an action, rationality always guides the mind to try another path to success.
• Goals sometimes clash, and you need help to decide which goal to pursue. Rationality helps us prioritize by giving us a yardstick to compare the relative worth of goals over time and helps us decide. 
• Science applies rationality to the real world. By applying rationality you can clearly distinguish between what is science and pseudoscience or superstition. 

Rationality is paradoxical and the worst outcome of rationality would result in everyone being rational about their self-interest and ignoring the common good.