Reading is an essential part of being an effective executive, so find out what we read in 2024.
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Why is reading still important in 2024?
In a world ripe with noise, books and longer form articles are a way to widen your experiences while focusing on what you care about. I find that people that read non-fiction tend to be literate (deliberate choice of words) in a much wider variety of fields than non-readers.
If you haven’t read hundreds of books, you are functionally illiterate, and you will be incompetent, because your personal experiences alone aren’t broad enough to sustain you. – GEN (R) Mattis
What did EffectivExec read in 2024?
We read or listened to 22 book length works in 2024. While our reading list usually includes some fictional works, this year it was exclusively focused on non-fiction.
| Title | Author | Category | Month | Notes / Take Aways |
| Indistractible | Nir Eyal | Personal Improvement | January | Distraction robs us of focus – change this by reducing external triggers, making precommitments, leaving time for traction |
| Madhouse at the End of the Earth | Julian Sancton | History | January | Story of the the Adrian de Gerlache’s exposition to reach the magnetic South Pole, with through poor leadership and preparation became the adventure of trying to stay alive while wintering in Antarctica |
| Talking to Strangers | Malcom Gladeell | Current events | February | Transparency (not really a thing), power of coupling, Kansas City Policing technique |
| Outlive | Peter Atta | Personal Improvement | March | We should seek to live better for longer, with a short & steep drop off at the end; to do this we need to combat the four horsemen (cancer, brain disfunction, cardiac disease, and diabetes) |
| Winning in FastTime | John Warden | Business | March | Strategy requires devoting future picture and then aggressively influencing the COGs |
| 80/20 CEO | Bill Canadly | Business | April | Segment your business into a quad and take appropriate action for each. Use this as the basis of the company’s growth strategy. Actually great overview to strategy and lean |
| Thank You for Arguing | Jay Heinrichs | Personal Improvement | April | The art of roetoric is essential for daily living. Through argument (not beating up) we learn to get our points across, refine our viewpoint and generally convince others to our ways |
| Killing Patton | History | June | Philosophy that being busy isn’t the same as productive. Underpinned by do fewer things, work at a natural pace, obsess over quality | |
| Slow Productivity | Cal Newton | Personal Improvement | May | Working at a methotoical but sustained pace can lead to really breakthroughs and avoid burnout. |
| Boys in the Boat | Daniel James Brown | History | June | In rowing (and in life) the ability to transcend normal limits comes from ‘swing’, created by giving one’s self up totally to the crew |
| American Prometheus: The Inspiration for the Major Motion Picture OPPENHEIMER | Kai Bird | History | July | Robert Oppenheimer was an absolute genius who organized the manattan project. His ties to early communist organizations (and his unwillingness/inability to stop his detractors) ultimately spelled his demise. |
| Work from Home Hacks | Aja Frost | Personal Improvement | August | Implementing small hacks as a WFH employee can improve your productivity and quality of life |
| US Telecom Infrastructure Crisis | Frederick L Pilot | Current events | August | Universal access to high speed internet is extremely far off and has a deterimental impact on our economy and education system. Much of the reason that infrastructure investment hasn’t occured is that there is a fundemental mismatch between the telecom/cable business model and the need for long term infrastructure building |
| Verizon Untethered: An Insider’s Story of Innovation and Disruption | Ivan Seidenberg | History | August | Verizon started as a Baby Bell but grew into a telecom giant by embracing celluar phone technology; story of their response to 9/11 is extremely inspiring and helped America re-open on the following Monday (including the NYSE) |
| The Titanium Economy | McKinsey | Current events | August | The industrial economy is a key driver of the US GDP. Doubling down on employee engagement & technology with a long term view can differentiate – improve core ops, expand multiple, conduct M&A |
| Clear Thinking | Shane Parrish | Personal Improvement | August | Clear thinking boils down to suppressing instincts (defaults) and determining exactly what we want. |
| Never Split the Difference | Chris Voss | Personal Improvement | September | Everything is a negotiation – use calibrated questions, tactical empathy (how am I supposed to do that) and the Ackerman method (65,85, 90, 100%) for haggling; seek the black swan to gain massive leverage |
| Chip Wars | Chris Miller | Current events | October | Development of microprocessors have shaped 21st century products, weapons, and lifestyle; development of advanced chip fabs to keep up with Moore’s Law can cost >$100B; world supply chains dependent on TSMC creates uncessary risk with Tiwaian straight and China |
| Strategic Inclusion | Dr Liz | Business | November | Inclusion should be treated like any other change initiative and driven through the same change management processes; also, inclusion should focs on the 8 basic needs of all human |
Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI | Yuval Noah Harari | Current events | November | Beyond the ability to tell stories, information networks & technology (e.g., writing, printing press, internet, AI) have enabled humans to share information and keep it organized. AI is the next iteration of this, but takes it to another level because there is not necessarily a human in the loop. It is dangerous to think that access to more information will necessarily lead to more truth (niaive view of information) – new information tech can result in democracy (distributed information) or autocracy (information in the middle) As AI becomes more powerful, it will require human oversight and rules to reduce negative (or disasterous) results. One of the most important indicators of the success and openness of an organization is having strong self correcting (learning) mechanisms. |
| Great CEOs are Lazy | Jim Schleckser | Business | Deploy 5 archetypes (learner, coach, player, architect, engineer) to develop leverage, don’t peanut butter spread CEO time | |
| The Captain Class: The Hidden Force that Creates the World’s Greatest Teams | Sam Walker | Business | December | The normal view of leaders / captains as the star player is incorrect (at least in the case of the best sports teams in history). Instead, the most effective captains carry the water, enable their teammates, push the limits of the rules, and stand up to authority when needed. |
What themes are you focused on for 2025 reading?
Our goal each year is to read at least one book a month, for a total of 12 books by the end of the year. In reality, we tend to read more because we are generally consuming 3-4 works at the same time.
Book on Audible – Audible books are great for long runs, car rides, and business travel.
Book on Kindle –
Actual paper book –
Strategies for reading more books
To read more, you just need to read. But seriously, we all know it takes more to build good habits. Below are a couple ideas to help increase the amount of ‘good’ content you consume in 2025:
- Set a reading goal – this could be a number of books by end of year or break it down into monthly goals
- Read books you are interested in – this should be a no brainer. If you aren’t in school anymore, you get to set the reading agenda and you’re MUCH more likely to finish books that you’re interested in
- Keep a list of books you want to read – I keep a running list in Evernote of books that I’d like to read
- Double down on themes – as you find topics that you’re interested in, double down on other books on the same topic. There’s nothing better than building a mini-expertise in a subject. Bonus hint: use the works cited or references to find additional works on a topic
- Read more than one book at the same time – Reading books on a few different mediums can make it easier to find time to read
- Carve out habits when you read – I find that dedicating a few minutes before bed to read on my Kindle or listen to an Audible book on a long run are great habits (for me) to increase consumption.
EffectivExec Reading Themes for 2025
As I enter 2025, I’m very interested in a few key topics, that will hopefully shape my reading content for the coming year:
- Artificial intelligence
- Telecommunications & fiber optics
- Special Forces history
- Stoicism
- World War II resistance history
