If you like biographies and the entertainment industry, I recommend reading, or listening to, Will by Will Smith. Will did the narration for the audiobook and he did an outstanding job. This is one of my favorite books that I've read in the last year. He shares his humanity and weaknesses as equally as his successes and strengths.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://jsilva.blog/2022/10/20/will-smith-summary/
The Ideal Team Player has insights into building company culture, what makes good team players, and specific tactics for interviewing and hiring. The book has value for any leaders, managers, employees, and especially for anyone involved in hiring and human resources.
The book is written in a narrative format, similar to The New One Minute Manager, and is really easy for anyone to listen to and understand the main concepts.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://jsilva.blog/2019/07/11/ideal-team-player-summary/
This is a good book if you are a business owner, entrepreneur, or work in a management position where you have input in how the company operates. It includes a lot of advice for developing systems and processes in your business.
One of my favorite lessons is understanding the difference between working in your business and on your business.
This episode is also available as a blog post at: https://jsilva.blog/2020/08/31/e-myth-summary/
Covert Cows is a well-rounded book about marketing, sales, hospitality, brand building, and creating company culture. While it focuses on the food and beverage industry, most of the lessons can be applied to businesses in other categories.
This episode is also available as a blog post at https://jsilva.blog/2021/10/21/covert-cows-summary/
I wrote this summary several years ago, so it's not as detailed as I would make today. In spite of that, it is one of my more popular summaries so I wanted to make it available in audio format.
Algorithms to Live By is a surprisingly fun book considering the subject matter. It contains mathematical philosophy for decision-making on a wide range of topics. Including hiring, dating, real estate, sorting, and even doing laundry.
This episode is also available as a blog post at https://jsilva.blog/2019/02/05/algorithms-book-summary/
James Clear did a nice job of compiling and summarizing knowledge on habits from various sources and then adding specific actionable steps. He has also created good tools and media as companions to the book which are available for free, links in the summary on my blog.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://jsilva.blog/2020/03/30/atomic-habits-summary/
Fantastical Prospecting is a well-rounded book on prospecting and sales. I like the advice on leveraging text messaging and social media for prospecting. The section in chapter 9 on building familiarity and the number of touches required was helpful and a good mental model to be aware of.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://jsilva.blog/2019/02/27/fanatical-prospecting-summary/
Deep Work gives insights into the importance of mastery and the value of doing deep work. I really like, and agree with, the thesis and hypothesis of the book. Every one should find value in this book and I often recommend it as one of my favorites.
The book’s thesis: A deep life is not just economically lucrative but also a life well lived.
Deep work hypothesis: the ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://jsilva.blog/2019/08/15/deep-work-book-summary/
This is my book summary of A Mind for Numbers by Barbara Oakley.
My favorite quotes from the book:
Those who are the most disagreeable tend to be the most creative. This is because creative people challenge existing answers and assumptions.
Merely glancing at the solution to a problem and thinking you truly know it yourself is one of the most common illusions of competence in learning.
The dread of doing a task uses up more time and energy than doing a task itself.
Procrastination can be like taking tiny amounts of poison. It may not seem harmful at the time, but the long-term effects can be very damaging.
One might say that work substitutes for talent, or better yet, that work creates talent.
Simple explanations are possible for almost any concept, no matter how complex.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://jsilva.blog/2020/09/28/mind-numbers-summary/
This is my book summary of The Motive by Patrick Lencioni.
My Favorite Quotes from The Motive
Your job as the CEO is to do things that nobody else in the company can do.
If you are having bad meetings, you are making bad decisions. You’re almost certainly not talking about all of the right things.
Just because someone is in their 40’s, 50’s, or 60’s and has lots of experience doesn’t mean they do not need to be managed. Management is not a form of punishment or a sign of a lack of trust.
Good leaders are far more concerned about employees being uninformed than they are about being criticized for redundancy.
It is important for leaders to surround themselves with people who will be honest with them.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://jsilva.blog/2021/07/26/the-motive-summary/
This is my summary of Mastering the Market Cycle by Howard Marks.
Howard Marks is one of my favorite writers on investing and I enjoy reading his memos throughout the year. Mastering the Market Cycle has insights for learning to see the big picture in the economy and investing.
My Favorite Quotes from Mastering the Market Cycle
It is from the extremes of the cycle of fear and greed that arise the greatest investment profits.
The rational investor is diligent, skeptical, and appropriately risk-averse at all times. But also on the lookout for opportunities for potential return that more than compensates for risk.
The greatest source of investment risk is the belief that there is no risk.
Cycles will happen to you, what you do in response is key.
Being too far ahead of your time is indistinguishable from being wrong.
You need a strong stomach for being wrong because we are all going to be wrong more often than we expect. Being wrong is inevitable and normal.
Success is not good for most people. Success can change people, and usually not for the better.
In investing there is a complex relationship between humility and confidence.
Ignoring cycles and extrapolating trends is one of the most dangerous things an investor can do.
My book summary of Mastering the Market Cycle is also available as a blog post: https://jsilva.blog/2020/08/03/mastering-market-cycle-summary/
This my book summary of The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. This episode is also available as a blog post at: https://jsilva.blog/2021/07/12/psychology-of-money-summary/
These are my favorite quotes from The Psychology of Money:
Your personal experiences with money makeup maybe 0.00000001% of what’s happened in the world but maybe 80% of how you think the world works.
Not all success is due to hard work, and not all poverty is due to laziness. Keep this in mind when judging people, including yourself.
There is no reason to risk what you have and need for what you don’t have and don’t need.
The hardest financial skill is getting the goalpost to stop moving.
Money’s greatest intrinsic value, and this can’t be overstated, is its ability to give you control over your time.
Using your money to buy time and options has a lifestyle benefit few luxury goods can compete with.
When most people say they want to be a millionaire, what they really mean is “I want to spend a million dollars,” which is literally the opposite of being a millionaire.
The world is filled with people who look modest but are actually wealthy, and people who look rich who live at the razor’s edge of insolvency.
You can build wealth without a high income but have no chance of building wealth without a high savings rate.
At every stage of our lives, we make decisions that will profoundly influence the lives of the people we are going to become. -Daniel Gilbert
Thinking of market volatility as a fee, rather than a fine, is an important part of developing the kind of mindset that lets you stick around long enough for investment gains to work in your favor.
Most people, when confronted with something they don’t understand, do not realize they don’t understand it.
My summary of The Ride of a Lifetime by Bob Iger.
These are my favorite quotes from the book.
It is vital to create space in each day to let your thoughts wander beyond your immediate job responsibilities, to turn things over in your mind in a less pressured, more creative way than is possible once the daily triage kicks in.
Avoid getting into the business of manufacturing trombone oil. You may become the greatest trombone oil manufacturer in the world, but in the end, the world only consumes a few quarts of trombone oil a year.
Do what you need to do to make it better.
One person’s unwillingness to give a timely response can cause so much unnecessary strain and inefficiency.
I would much rather take big risks, and sometimes fail, than not take risks at all.
I do not want to be in the business of playing it safe, I want to be in the business of creating possibilities for greatness.
The need to be comfortable with failure is the most profound lesson he learned in his first year running primetime at ABC. If you want innovation, and you should always, you need to give permission to fail.
Anything that reminds you that you are not the center of the universe is a good thing.
Managing your own time, and respecting others’ time, is one of the most vital things to do as a manager.
The tone you set as a leader has an enormous effect on the people around you, no one wants to follow a pessimist.
Don’t let your ego get in the way of making the best possible decision.
A little respect goes a long way, and the absence of it is often very costly.
You have to approach your work and life with a sense of genuine humility.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://jsilva.blog/2019/11/07/ride-of-a-lifetime-summary/
This is an audio version of my summary of Talking to Strangers.
If you don’t begin in a state of trust, you can’t have meaningful social encounters.
The right way to talk to strangers is with caution and humility.
There are clues to making sense of a stranger, but attending to them requires care and attention.
This episode is also available as a blog post at https://jsilva.blog/2020/01/06/talking-strangers-summary/
When we apply effortless actions to high-leverage activities the return on our effort compounds.
When we invite joy into our daily routine, we are no longer yearning for the far-off day when it might arrive. That day is always today.
After I complain, I will say something I am thankful for.
When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. -Maya Angelou
When we are fully present with another person we see them more clearly, and we help them see themselves more clearly.
Simplicity, the art of maximizing the steps not taken, is essential.
Most geniuses prosper not by deconstructing intricate complexities, but by exploiting unrecognized simplicities. -Andy Benoit
There is no mastery without mistakes.
If you are not embarrassed by your first product launch, you launched it too late. -Reid Hoffman
The most useful knowledge often comes from fields different than our own.
Reading a book is among the most high-leverage activities on earth.
Identify knowledge that is unique to you and build on it.
Knowledge may open the door to an opportunity, but unique knowledge produces perpetual opportunities.
When we invest our time in actions with a long tail, we continue to reap the benefits over a long period.
Each new moment is a chance to start over, a chance to make a new choice.
Just think how the trajectory of a life can shift in the most fleeting of moments.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://jsilva.blog/2021/06/21/effortless-summary/
My Favorite Quotes from Outliers
Practice isn’t the thing you do once you are good, practice is the thing that makes you good.
People at the top do not just work much harder than everyone else, they work much much harder.
What started out as adversity ended up being an opportunity.
It is not how much money we make that makes us happy, it is whether our work fulfills us.
The kinds of errors that cause plane crashes are invariably errors of teamwork and communication.
This episode is also available as a blog post: at https://jsilva.blog/2020/10/26/outliers-summary/
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://jsilva.blog/2021/02/05/living-with-the-monks-by-jesse-itzler-summary/
Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it. -Andy Rooney
The process is often more valuable than the outcome.
Distractions are the enemies of your goals. Learn to move past the distractions and you will succeed.
I prefer to look at happiness as a lifestyle, not a goal.
It only takes a minute to quit, but the moment will replay in your mind tomorrow and many tomorrows after that.
Getting over the fear of being embarrassed is one of the most liberating gifts you can give yourself.
If your why is big enough, the how usually emerges. A big why crushes smaller obstacles every time.
There is nothing so fatal to character as half-finished tasks. -David Lloyd George
Thinking is a skill, a craft, and an art. It can be worked on and improved with practice. We all have an opportunity to become better thinkers.
If nobody told you how to do your job, how would you do it? You can get amazing results by asking this question.
How will you feel tomorrow if you quit too soon?
How many days do you have left?
How do you want to spend them?
Whom do you want to spend them with?
Did I do my best today?
This Restaurant Man Book Summary is also available as a blog post at https://jsilva.blog/2021/03/19/restaurant-man-summary/
Once you’ve been hungry, things are never the same.
The road to excess does not lead to the palace of wisdom.
When you fire someone, you are securing and enforcing the position of everyone in the restaurant.
Once your ego is making the decisions, it’s over.
Quality tells, every time.
Discounting is degrading the quality of your service and undermines the professionalism of the restauranteur.
We are in the business of exceeding expectations.
Everything on the table sends a message. A big statement is not to put salt and pepper on the table. If you are a chef driven restaurant, why would you allow your customers to alter the flavor of the food?
Failure and victory are not so far apart.
Never make decisions on your best day, and never make decisions on your worst day, make all your decisions on medium days.
What is this meal really worth in terms of the experience?
If there are misspellings on the menu, how much do you think the people who created it really care?
Would you want your doctor to give you a discount? Would you go to a different doctor because he offered a 25% discount?
If you are a chef-driven restaurant, why would you allow your customers to alter the flavor of the food?
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://jsilva.blog/2020/11/09/greenlights-summary/
This episode is also available as a blog post: Nobu: A Memoir Book Summary.
Here is the URL to my book summary https://jsilva.blog/2021/05/14/nobu-book-summary/
