Author Richard H. Thaler, Cass R. Sunstein Summary Practical recommendations for how to design systems that support people in making the right choices. Takeaways The design of the environment in which choices have to be made (choice architecture) often greatly influences the results, e.g. the order of food items in a cafeteria or the order of options and default values on a website. The goal of designing choice architectures should be to nudge people to make a choice that best reflects their true intention....

Author Chip Heath, Dan Heath Summary An overview of communication techniques for effective messaging of ideas. Takeaways In order for ideas to stick with an audience they have to be framed as Simple Unexpected Concrete Credible Emotional Stories (SUCCES). If we follow the SUCCES framework, we can drill to the core of the message to know what to say (simple) and frame it in a way that helps people to pay attention (unexpected), understand and remember (concrete), believe and agree (credible), care (emotional), and act (stories)....

Author Ed Catmull, Amy Wallace Summary Practical advice on how to establish and maintain a culture of creativity and innovation in an organization Takeaways Running a large organization requires dealing with great complexity, and high uncertainty and instability. It is easy for managers to lose sight of the problems of their employees. The only way managers can avoid this is to encourage candor and open feedback, and to actively work on uncovering and understanding anything that is hidden....

Converting a ranking into a set of normally distributed scores. rank2score <- function(rank, n_total, mn = 0, std = 1, n_tied = 1) { # following the equal area method # http://node101.psych.cornell.edu/Darlington/transfrm.htm mean_rank <- rank / n_tied qnorm(mean_rank / (n_total + 1), mean = mn, sd = std) } ...

Author Jocko Willink, Leif Babin Summary A set of leadership principles from the Navy Seals and how to apply them to the business context. Takeaways Successful leaders need to take ownership to the next level. “Extreme Ownership” includes owning up to mistakes, believing in the mission, and providing enough context for subordinates and supervisors. The best leaders keep their egos in check and critically assess how they can contribute to the team’s success....

Author Eliyahu M. Goldratt Summary The story of a plant manager who discovers the benefit of systematically assessing the processing bottlenecks instead of relying on conventional wisdom. Takeaways Instead of relying on conventional wisdom, it is crucial to deeply reflect on the goal of an operation or organization and take a scientific and systematic approach to explore the factors (bottlenecks or constraints) that prevent us from reaching it. The following process can serve as a blueprint to work towards achieving any goal....

Author Cathy O’Neil Summary A warning of the destructive power of black-box algorithms that govern our lives. Takeaways Algorithms and mathematical models are ubiquitously applied and drive decisions in every aspect of our lives. They, for example, determine college admissions, calculate insurance fees, and determine the content in our social media feeds. Many of the algorithms are intransparent, making it impossible to understand and challenge the results. If there is no alignment between the objectives of the models and the interest of the modeled subjects and if there is no feedback loop to improve the model over time, these “weapons of math destruction (WMD)” can cause significant harm....

Author Mik Kersten Summary A practical guide to developing a product focussed management framework that allows competing in the Age of Software. Takeaways We are at the turning point of the digital revolution. Companies need to transform their business practices to effectively leverage software development and technology. Many companies realize the need for transformation but rely on management practices that are not adequate for the task. Products differ from projects in multiple ways....

Author Philip Reeve Summary The fictional tale of traveling cities and their residents that battle for survival in a distant future. Takeaways Devotion to an ideology can be a strong motivator but also a destructive force. The actions of the characters are driven by their dedication to their way of living and their role in a world that leaves little room for exploring alternative ideas. Quotes “But he mustn’t feel sorry for them: it was natural that cities ate towns, just as the towns ate smaller towns and smaller towns snapped up the miserable static settlements....

Author Peter Thiel Summary Practical advice for founders how to build a successful startup and create something new. Takeaways Competition is a concept that has a high value in our educational system and economic thinking. The emphasis on competition leads to a uniform approach to development and only incremental improvements. Innovation and success come from avoiding competition and focusing on individual strengths and believes that set yourself apart from others....