Mauricio Pedroso

Why this book matters a lot in our times (2021)?

Revisado: 08-25-21

Essentially because it gets you to better understand in the global and hyperconnected world today that we need (and how important is) to learn to let go thoughts, opinions and concepts that once made sense, but it got outdated with the increasing velocity of knowledge and information abundant and avaliable to everyone today that make us realize (or not) that those ideas, thoughts and/or past learning needs to be evolved. In others words, in Adam Grant's words, the importance to learn to unlearn, or, to think again/rethink.

And more, it explains why to detach is Soooooo hard.

Grant also teach us that according to Phil Tetlock's concepts that we basically operate in 3 modes of thinking "preacher, prosecutor and politician", but we can add another which he pertinently calls "scientist" mode or scientist mindset. To be curious, to experiment and learn like a scientist. Bringing us to the concept of "the rethinking cycle": "Humility => Doubt => Curiosity => Discovery" versus "the overconfidence cycle": "Pride => Conviction => Confirmation and Desirability Biases => Validation"

It talks about Dunning-Kruger effect, about imposter syndrome among the stories used to illustrate the idea of rethinking.

With great storytelling, research data and cases, It shows us the power of knowing what you don't know, that "if knowledge is power, than knowing what you don't know is wisdom".

One of the greatest books, imho, of 2021.

Kudos once more to Adam Grant, certainly one of the greatest new thinkers of our time. I'll talk more about him when I write the review about the the sensational "Give and Take" book he had previously written. The Originals book I still have to read it (in his case, I started with his latest book). Finally, I can say that both books (Think Again and Give&Take) are at the top 5 books I've read/listened this year among the 40 I've already finished.

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Key for changing your perspective (or mindset)

Revisado: 06-26-21

Why this book matters?

This is one of my all time favorites, I liked so much that I purchase 5 or more copies and distributed to my family and friends. Why?

Because the concept here is FUNDAMENTAL it should be taught in our basic schools! The understanding of fixed vs. growth mindset is instrumental for you to achieve success in your life and persevere in the path of your goals and dreams.

Although, a few find the book repetitive as the concept it sounds fairly simple, I found the anedoctes in different perspectives (business, sports, relationships, parenting, teaching) very useful to fixate the concept and in my humble opinion the stories are compelling and enjoyable (maybe because I knew most of the sports and business personalities mentioned and used to exemplify the mindset in the book).

Also, when I listen to this audiobook during my walking exercise on my vacation back in November, I felt that I was doing an ""self-therapy", lot of thoughts came to my mind related to my youth, school time, my parents, my sister, my brother, my nephew and of course my relationship with my spouse.

So it was deep to me, it touched me and I figured that it was not only to me because a family member told me that he/she even cried (!!) when reading the book.

Unfortunately, a few family members haven't read yet, maybe because they sense it will touch them as well, as it is really therapeutic. And who already did therapy knows that is good, but a lot of times is hard and...hurts. Hurts, but heals, so be brave and enjoy the journey!

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The kind of book everyone should read.

Revisado: 06-26-21

Why this book matters?

Because we all know that human beings are a complex beings and we all understand the we difer on each other. However, we underestimate what we know about this differences and treat it with our empiric and superficial knowledge. This way, we do not realize the opportunities we have to connect better with people if we get more understanding about this differences.

By starting with a very known one, introversion trait, it is a great and important step to improve the way we interact and therefore have better relationships in our lifes (personal and professional).

This book show us the history of why western civilization, starting on begining of 20th century, began to value extroversion and introversion became a negative trait seen by western society. In contrast, it then shows the power of introverts (a lot mankind genius were introverts) and how we confuse introversion concept, for instance, with shyness, and other negavite biases. It is rich in history, in examples and thought provoking that will change the way we see the ""quiet"".

Furthermore, It shows how this misconception impacts in our business world, in the way we mistakenly value the extrovers (I'm an extrovert by the way) and undervalue introverts, missing opportunities of having better business impact and results.

So, imho, anyone in a management or leadership position should read this book and better unlock the potential of your team members and partners.

Finally, it also helps to have a new (and better) vision to improve your personal relationships (you will better understand your spouses, family members and friends that are introvers and sometimes act as sudo-extroverts because that is what our western society unfortunately values)."

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Quintessential

Revisado: 06-26-21

*Why this book matters?*

Even by reading it in 2020, you see that it's a quintessential book for understanding how we humans act and behave and how this is key to have more control of our lives and, most importantly, to improve the way we connect with people and ourselves.

Because of this book, emotional intelligence notion was popularized, but after reading I understood that if we have never read it, we do only have a small notion and not a more precise comprehension of what entails emotional intelligence and how ignorante we may be in such an important aspect, key for humans living a good and healthier life.

EI encompasses the Salovey and John Mayer work that proposed 5 main domains and in parenthisis we have Goleman's components-: know your emotions (self-awareness), managing emotions (self-regulation), motivating oneself (intrinsic motivation), recognizing emotions in others (empathy), and handling relationships (social skills).

The understanding of each domain is what I figured that we lack so much in our education, which is unfortunalely only academic (basically IQ driven), and by being implicit in our human interactions (personal and professional) we understimate it and here is where it lies the majority of our issues we have in life.

The lack understanding on this domains it helps us to lose or not have control of our actions and reactions, therefore, this is why I think this is a quintessential book, a journey start to better understand ourselves and others and get control of our lives.

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A Key book for entrepreneurs and leaders

Revisado: 06-25-21

*Why this book matters?*

1) Because it tells the very interesting story of Google growth success;
2) Because it tells the compelling story (and the challenges surmounted) of one of the greatest business man and CEO of modern industry, Andy Grove from Intel;
3) Because it tells the story of OKRs and why it matters for modern companies success;
4) Because you may be interested in your job or business to understand on how to:
- achieve ""Focus and Commit to priorities" or why this is important;
- "Align and Connect for Teamwork" or why it is important;
- "Track for Accountability" AND why this is essential;
- "Stretch for Amazing" and what this exactly means and push you to raise the bar

These are my summarized reasons, but know that is also about stories of John Doerr itself and Bill Campbell, two major figures in the modern business world, the first is one of the most influential Venture Capitalists ever and the second a legendary coach (and former CEO) for the leaders of the major companies in the world today. Besides, the stories told in the book encompasses real examples involving small business to filantropy institutions from the likes of Bill and Melinda Gates and Bono Vox from U2.

We'll talk more about Bill Campbell when I write a review of the book I also read, The Trillion Dollar Coach."

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Helpful book, but maybe morally questionable

Revisado: 04-13-21

This book synthesizes some psychological concepts used by big tech but in a shallow and summarized way.

It may be very helpful to give insights on how to build products based on habits. However, although it tries to discuss the morality of the manipulation these learnings may cause, I felt it lacks more depth on this sort of important discussion and still tending to lobby on this field as being a natural evolution of our times and given the potential of doing a good thing when you build/create with good purpose (sounded intentionally naive).
Furthermore, at some point it seemed to put the responsibility on the user to make the distinction and have discernment (is that really doable given the education level variability throughout the world? Meaning, is people capable of having this discernment?), which made me think as morally questionable, although he tried not to looks like that and to incentivize to build products with good intentions.

I’d recommend reading for awareness as it is an easy and sometimes interesting reading and also good for those who have not yet been aware of this psychological “hacks” the tech companies have learned to use and apply within their products. But read cautiously with a keen critical sense as for me the author sounds less to want to open your mind and more to convince you that “hooked” is good.

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Essential reading

Revisado: 12-23-20

Why this book matters?

For me it is an essential reading, because his book breaks important paradigms in terms of our emotions and feelings understanding (I recently learned that they are different things and we often don't realize the importance of this distinction). Moreover, it gives us insights on how better manage them to serve us in our lives.

A major takeway is about negative feelings, bringing to our awareness how they are important, that they exist for a purpose and by figuring that out, you can embrace it, accept and deal better with it. Not that is an easy task, of course, but with awareness and, when needed, with support or looking for support, you can work on it to evolve your emotional control which is fundamental for your interactions with the hyper connected world.

Finally, strongly recommended for those who seek to educate themselves more in the domains (1), (2) and (3) of emotional intelligence (Daniel Goleman), gaining th Emotional Agility.

PS.: I believe we should all be doing this while our schools have not prioritized ASL - Social and Emotional Learning - in their standard curriculum)

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Essential content

Revisado: 10-18-19

Everyone should read this to better understand how we can get motivated at work. It’s an inspiring reading.

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