For the last five years, I wrote blog posts (2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 & 2016) listing the books that I read in the past year and that I wanted to be reading during that year. It was a good year for reading. I added many books to my list during the year, read some unexpected ones (4 about pregnancies and babies, who would have thought!?).
This year (2021) will be slightly different as I expect to read a bit less than 2020 (where I hit over 30 books). As we welcomed our daughter into the world in December, I likely can spend less time reading (I also rather spend time with her). So let’s jump into things…
What books I didn’t get to in 2020 and have re-added to the list for 2021:
- The Intelligent Investor: Wanting to read more about investing, this is an excellent book to start with to learn more. As it’s also one of Buffet’s favorite books, it needs to be finally read next year. This one has somehow been stuck on my to-read list for many years.
- Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable: Quite a fan of Tim Grover’s narrative, and his work with top NBA players should speak for itself.
- The Strategist: Be the Leader Your Business Needs: Defining, Communicating, and rewriting strategy is becoming more important.
My favorites from 2020:
- HBR Strategic Thinking: Being an executive requires me to put more and more time aside to think about where a business/industry and organization is heading. Besides that, I always really like the format of HBR books with concise articles that quickly get to the core.
- No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention: I’ve always been a bit skeptical about the ideas around the culture at Netflix from reading some previous posts. But this book very much surprised me, and I found myself agreeing with tons of the content. I would highly recommend this one to leaders/founders that want to improve their culture.
- The McKinsey Way: Something I wanted to learn more about this year was consulting companies (not for a particular reason, I’m also not becoming one anytime soon). Reading two books about how McKinsey approaches their practices and sees the world was a fascinating insight.
What books I’d like to be reading in 2021
Next year will be a mix of books on Marketing, investing, and personal development. Let’s see how many books I’ll get to realistically.
- Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind
- Unleashed: The Unapologetic Leader’s Guide to Empowering Everyone Around You
- Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups
- Go Long: Why Long-Term Thinking Is Your Best Short-Term Strategy
- Billion Dollar Loser: The Epic Rise and Spectacular Fall of Adam Neumann and WeWork
- Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
- Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
- The Culture Map
- The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness
Leave your recommendations via @MartijnSch as I’d love to know from others what I should be reading.