Great list, Anton. I appreciate the effort you put into creating it, especially the takeaways. I’ve updated my reading queue, as I have a few titles to catch up with.
I’d add “The Dichotomy of Leadership: Balancing the Challenges of Extreme Ownership to Lead and Win”(quite a title) to the books - as a follow-up to “Extreme Ownership,” to clarify its ideas.
I appreciate the kind words about Perspectiveship and my writing. I’d add “Leading Developers” to the list of top newsletters. There’s a spot available since index [0] is not taken. Thank You!
I’ve bookmarked this post to see more suggestions coming in the comments.
Amazing books! I also recommend Resilient Management by Lara Hogen for new managers or people who needs a refresh. It's easy to read and cover very important topics.
Good selection of books, added a few to my reading list, but Dare to lead was a highly impactful on for me along with Radical Candor by Kim Scott. Those 2 really push from from being way more tech lead than lead and myself and my team are better for it.
Was actually surprised and impressed in our end of year 360s where some team member noticed and noted the change.
I’ve been a “lead” for many years, I was team lead and a junior at one company and maybe in a way both lucky and unlucky I ended running teams of people quite similar to me. All vocal, all very driven and self motivated so i guess leadership was kind of an auto-pilot type thing, nothing really to do.
I’ve also never had leaders who had 1:1 with me, I had my first “my own future” conversation 2 weeks ago, I’ve been doing this for almost 15 years. A lot of why I made and embraced this change has to do with the team I work with, most of while I’m leading are nothing like me, and beyond that they all also quite different among themselves. My own leaders are absolutely fantastic, my direct report she’s almost 12 years younger than me and has time and time again proven you can an old dog new tricks.
She’s sees things in me I don’t and knows exactly how to guide me to this potential, when it comes to myself I can be quite oblivious and often the best way for me to realise or believe something is not to tell me. lol
So I’ve had great examples in this company and great reasons to improve, and I see this being a long term stay.
Carmine uses Bezos as the main character in his book but provides strategies for improving communication skills for everyone.
Useful takeaways:
- Start with the logline: your big idea. The logline concept comes from Hollywood. Screenwriters wrote loglines to pitch a screenplay in one sentence. The key to a winning longline is to be customer-obsessed. It should be clear and concise to your audience. Before presentations, I use Carmine's framework: Write down the topic, then ask So what? So what? So what? to get down to the log line. Example from the book: A young man is transported to the past, where he must reunite his parents before he and his future cease to exist (Back to the Future).
- Great communicators use metaphors to describe unique experiences or events. Like Two-pizza teams, Day 1, The Flywheel. Example from the book: The most important thing we need to do is to find a business with a wide and long-lasting moat around it, protecting a terrific economic castle with an honest lord in charge of the castle. (Buffet)
- Great communicators also use analogies to allow the audience to associate what they're saying with something they're already familiar with. Example from the book: We need to plant many seeds because we don't know which one of those seeds will grow into a mighty oak (Bezos)
I really liked thinking about the Keeper test from the perspective of an IC.
Many people would interpret it as "being committed" to the company/team. Others would go to the other extreme saying a company is just a company and you are in a business relationship, so they have no attachments and they should take the money.
I lean into thinking: Where do I see myself 5 years from now? If staying helps me meet my objectives, then the extra pay for leaving wouldn't be worth it in the long run.
I agree with your approach - 'the ride of a lifetime' book is a great representation of it. Even if you go only pay-wise - I know I can be paid much more in other places, but I would never have made a director if I haven't stayed. Now when I'll go for another job, I'll rip the gains of the learnings (and promotions) that happened because I was committed to one place.
Really great list of books, I'm especially the biggest fan of "The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team". Appreciate the kind words and mention of me and my newsletter! Thank you Anton.
Engineering leaders get to where they are mostly thanks to their technical skills. But the communication skills, empathy, and all those other “soft” skills that are necessary to work through people might be missing. For this reason, I’m happy to see folks like Brené Brown to support engineering leaders.
Great list Anton! Leaders Eat Last was the only leadership style book I've read, but I learned a lot from experience and making bad decisions. That's the best book to read 😃
I'm using Evernote, and it has nice integrations. From books, I just highlight the parts I read in the Kindle app, and then in the end export the notes, and send it to an evernote email that automatically creates a note for me with the tags I asked
That's nice. I know there are tools to automate the part where you send the Kindle notes manually. Ali Abdaal has a video on this "second brain" setup. I haven't used Evernote, but I use Notion for longer-lasting notes and Google Keep / Todoist for shorter notes.
Wow thanks for the mention Anton! A powerful list, I am grateful to make it :D
Your book recommendations are very solid as well. All the ones I have read on there (High Output Management is the book that made me want to be an EM!) were very helpful in my career. There are a few I have not read though, I'll need to move them up my list! :D
Three come to mind! Thinking, Fast and Slow. Great book on psychological bias. Clear Thinking by Shane Perish, really great for decision making. I enjoyed Tribal Leadership, but I read this more than 8 years ago.
Great list, Anton. I appreciate the effort you put into creating it, especially the takeaways. I’ve updated my reading queue, as I have a few titles to catch up with.
I’d add “The Dichotomy of Leadership: Balancing the Challenges of Extreme Ownership to Lead and Win”(quite a title) to the books - as a follow-up to “Extreme Ownership,” to clarify its ideas.
I appreciate the kind words about Perspectiveship and my writing. I’d add “Leading Developers” to the list of top newsletters. There’s a spot available since index [0] is not taken. Thank You!
I’ve bookmarked this post to see more suggestions coming in the comments.
Thank you Michal! I've heard about the dichotomy of leadership in Extreme Ownership, but for some reason didn't feel like pursuing it - now I'll do :)
Amazing books! I also recommend Resilient Management by Lara Hogen for new managers or people who needs a refresh. It's easy to read and cover very important topics.
Thanks for the words and for the mention :)
Another new one for me, thanks Dani!
Good selection of books, added a few to my reading list, but Dare to lead was a highly impactful on for me along with Radical Candor by Kim Scott. Those 2 really push from from being way more tech lead than lead and myself and my team are better for it.
Was actually surprised and impressed in our end of year 360s where some team member noticed and noted the change.
Thanks Reme. I completely agree about Radical Candor - honestly, it's in my top 10, but as I wrote about it in Tech Books (https://techbooks.substack.com/p/why-nice-managers-are-bad-managers), I didn't want to share it again :)
But it's defenitely a must read.
Nice to see people acknowledged the change, I've rarely seen such cases, usually people change approaches when they start somewhere new.
I’ve been a “lead” for many years, I was team lead and a junior at one company and maybe in a way both lucky and unlucky I ended running teams of people quite similar to me. All vocal, all very driven and self motivated so i guess leadership was kind of an auto-pilot type thing, nothing really to do.
I’ve also never had leaders who had 1:1 with me, I had my first “my own future” conversation 2 weeks ago, I’ve been doing this for almost 15 years. A lot of why I made and embraced this change has to do with the team I work with, most of while I’m leading are nothing like me, and beyond that they all also quite different among themselves. My own leaders are absolutely fantastic, my direct report she’s almost 12 years younger than me and has time and time again proven you can an old dog new tricks.
She’s sees things in me I don’t and knows exactly how to guide me to this potential, when it comes to myself I can be quite oblivious and often the best way for me to realise or believe something is not to tell me. lol
So I’ve had great examples in this company and great reasons to improve, and I see this being a long term stay.
I was already enjoying your article and then I read my name. :) Appreciate the mention, Anton.
You put together a great list of books. I read The Making of a Manager the weekend before I started managing a team. I highly recommend this one, too.
I also recommend The Bezos Blueprint by Carmine Gallo, 2022
https://a.co/d/cryh625
Carmine uses Bezos as the main character in his book but provides strategies for improving communication skills for everyone.
Useful takeaways:
- Start with the logline: your big idea. The logline concept comes from Hollywood. Screenwriters wrote loglines to pitch a screenplay in one sentence. The key to a winning longline is to be customer-obsessed. It should be clear and concise to your audience. Before presentations, I use Carmine's framework: Write down the topic, then ask So what? So what? So what? to get down to the log line. Example from the book: A young man is transported to the past, where he must reunite his parents before he and his future cease to exist (Back to the Future).
- Great communicators use metaphors to describe unique experiences or events. Like Two-pizza teams, Day 1, The Flywheel. Example from the book: The most important thing we need to do is to find a business with a wide and long-lasting moat around it, protecting a terrific economic castle with an honest lord in charge of the castle. (Buffet)
- Great communicators also use analogies to allow the audience to associate what they're saying with something they're already familiar with. Example from the book: We need to plant many seeds because we don't know which one of those seeds will grow into a mighty oak (Bezos)
Thanks Jiovanni, loved the examples! Sounds like a book I'll enjoy, added it to my backlog :)
I really liked thinking about the Keeper test from the perspective of an IC.
Many people would interpret it as "being committed" to the company/team. Others would go to the other extreme saying a company is just a company and you are in a business relationship, so they have no attachments and they should take the money.
I lean into thinking: Where do I see myself 5 years from now? If staying helps me meet my objectives, then the extra pay for leaving wouldn't be worth it in the long run.
I agree with your approach - 'the ride of a lifetime' book is a great representation of it. Even if you go only pay-wise - I know I can be paid much more in other places, but I would never have made a director if I haven't stayed. Now when I'll go for another job, I'll rip the gains of the learnings (and promotions) that happened because I was committed to one place.
Really great list of books, I'm especially the biggest fan of "The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team". Appreciate the kind words and mention of me and my newsletter! Thank you Anton.
Thanks Gregor, definitely a must-read. I loved the story-telling in it (and how it's so concise).
Amazing books! Thanks, Anton for sharing these
Engineering leaders get to where they are mostly thanks to their technical skills. But the communication skills, empathy, and all those other “soft” skills that are necessary to work through people might be missing. For this reason, I’m happy to see folks like Brené Brown to support engineering leaders.
I think that without those softer parts, there is no way to succeed in 2024. What worked from the previous generation won’t work nowadays.
Great list Anton! Leaders Eat Last was the only leadership style book I've read, but I learned a lot from experience and making bad decisions. That's the best book to read 😃
I think I've read this a few years back, bit I don't remember anything (since it was before I started building my second brain), added for a re-read!
Thanks Akos :)
where do you keep your second brain? Do you use some kind of automation for it?
Are you familiar with Tiago Forte's book?
I'm using Evernote, and it has nice integrations. From books, I just highlight the parts I read in the Kindle app, and then in the end export the notes, and send it to an evernote email that automatically creates a note for me with the tags I asked
No, I haven't read that book.
That's nice. I know there are tools to automate the part where you send the Kindle notes manually. Ali Abdaal has a video on this "second brain" setup. I haven't used Evernote, but I use Notion for longer-lasting notes and Google Keep / Todoist for shorter notes.
I'm sure it can be automated, but it takes me 5 seconds, so I don't feel it's worth the effort to even try to do it.
I REALLY recommend reading that book - it changes my life (seriously).
This https://www.amazon.com/Building-Second-Brain-Organize-Potential-ebook/dp/B09LVVN9L3?
Wow thanks for the mention Anton! A powerful list, I am grateful to make it :D
Your book recommendations are very solid as well. All the ones I have read on there (High Output Management is the book that made me want to be an EM!) were very helpful in my career. There are a few I have not read though, I'll need to move them up my list! :D
You are welcome Coltin :)
Any books not in the list that you recommend?
Three come to mind! Thinking, Fast and Slow. Great book on psychological bias. Clear Thinking by Shane Perish, really great for decision making. I enjoyed Tribal Leadership, but I read this more than 8 years ago.
Thanks Coltin! I the first one, the third one is in my backlog, but I was not familiar with Clear Thinking :)
Clear Thinking is relatively new, released last October! I really enjoyed it.