"Stand on the shoulders of giants" said Mr Munro, my all-wise (to me, then) history teacher.
And so that's what I've tried to do; listen, learn and challenge my thinking, my doing. As my old judo teacher also said; "learn fast or learn painful".
God knows, I make mistakes, but reading, watching, being, collaborating helps put them in context. As the guys at Spotify say to their engineers, "we don't you making mistakes as long as we learn and the ship doesn't go down".
These are some of my most recent or impression making reads, pods, watches. Always open to more suggestions!
The new CEO question I seem to be asked more than any other is "how can I get results (outcomes), faster than i am at the moment?". This excellent and practical book dives into exactly that.
Adam Grant - along with Malcolm Gladwell and Michael Lewis - remains by favourite non-fiction writer. Page turner ony why, increasingly are tumultuously complex world ever-more relies on the outliers, mavericks, disrupters and 100x thinkers.
Fab.
If you, like me, saw their kids grow up to the genius and wonder of Pixar's relentless parade of characters, storylines, animation and - well - life affirming, humanity extolling films then this is a fantastic behind the scenes read on how they make it all happen. So much to learn from.
Alright, alright, alright.Grudging admiration of a bro type actor gives away to genuine delight at his Greelights audiobook. A life being lived. Hilarious and sensitive, too. Gets you thinkin' Lots to inform on approach to life AND work.
The book that kicked off me re-belief that we could graft a way of working that I had seen in charity, start-ups, Operation Raleigh and at school could work at work. A great read, too.
Saw a keynote and was immediately taken with the forensic and compelling challenge to our silo and project thinking to one of value streams and product thinking.
Still pretty much the go-to first page turner on any org, team or person keen to understand the power of DevOps and CI-CD. Gene Kim, Jez Humble et al. Illustrated with fantastic case studies, too.
Respected product guru Marty Cagan of Silicon Valley Product Group has come up with a practical, readable and informed way to effect the change to product led organisation - including some great case studies such as as Trainline.
Still the go-to guru when it comes to a sense check on the perils, pitfalls and priorities when it comes to having a chance in facilitating organisational change.
If there's one thing I'm trying to better all the time, it is to become a better coach - be it agile, organisation, rugby. No one has a better term sheet than the legendary Bill Campbell. Simple, powerful, human.
Always been underwhelmed by Microsoft for thirty years, but this was a delight - and both hugely daunting and partly depressing. Much kudos to the energy, smarts, questing and application of brain to the very biggest of humanity's challenges. Could very well be one of the few who save us from ourselves.
All the empirical best practice to build and scale high performance technology organisations. Of interest - despite the belief that automation will deliver the value, it's actually people, teams and culture.
Probably the best non-fiction writer living (ok, maybe Bill Bryson has a look in), Michael (Liars Poker, Moneyball etc) Lewis is working with another hero, Malcolm Gladwell, creating insightful, professional pods on big, provicative stuff. Fab.
All round dude. Challenged our thinking with Four Hour Work Week and then built the go-to podcast on "deconstructing the habits, mindset, thinking and reading and doing of the world's must remarkable people". Usually a bikd ride must listen.
One of the most popular and "real" podcasts on real world Agile. Always something to learn and apply - and to realise that everyone is on a journey with Agile - me included - and need to stay humble and open.