What I Wish I Knew about Luck by Seelig

WHAT I WISH I KNEW ABOUT LUCK by Tina Seelig (What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20) has three main parts: Construct Your Ship; Recruit Your Crew; And Hoist Your Sail, reflecting Seelig’s propensity to give direction and guidance to young readers especially. She draws on her teaching experience of more than twenty-five years at Stanford and encourages readers to begin by changing their mindsets and behavior to more actively take calculated risks. Her main argument is that rather than being apparently brought in by chance, luck is the result of deliberate actions. She writes, “Luck is like the wind, often unpredictable, and always in motion.” One’s prepared mind (core values, skills, risk profile, goals) is essential along with the support of mentors, friends, family, collaborators and a willingness to do the hard work (the afore-mentioned risk taking, plus stretching beyond your comfort zone, showing up, and recovering from inevitable failures). Seelig’s tone is conversational but buoyed by both research and personal stories. WHAT I WISH I KNEW ABOUT LUCK is a practical, action oriented guide. Each chapter has a saying at the beginning to help readers reflect as they read and “A few questions that are designed to help you assess how you can now - or could in the future - increase your luck by applying the ideas in that chapter.”  Notes and Index comprise about ten percent of the book. 

For more on Seelig’s perspective, here is her TEDTalk from a few years ago: 

 

How to Rule the World by Theo Baker

HOW TO RULE THE WORLD by Theo Baker is a fascinating memoir about his time as a Stanford undergrad and his reporting about hubris and allegations of research misconduct tied to then Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne. It has certainly stirred some debate about elitism and Baker’s own privilege: see review and accompanying comments in The New York Times. I wonder how much of the negativity there is a result of what Anand Giridharadas, the reviewer, summarizes as how Baker “confronts his dreamland and concludes, painfully, that it is rotten, indifferent, built on lies, craving power for its own sake.” In any case, Baker’s account is well-written and well-substantiated and fact-checked. He describes not only the painful freshman journey to belong, but also the avarice and competition in the tech/finance and entrepreneurial world which Stanford feeds. HOW TO RULE THE WORLD received a starred review from Publishers Weekly (“incendiary account ... [and] ... a confident testament to the power of independent journalism from an author with a bright future”).

Baker’s reporting for The Stanford Daily won the George Polk Award. For a sense of his writing style, see this recent piece in The New York Times called “What A.I. Did to My College Class.”

A Course Called Home by Tom Coyne

A COURSE CALLED HOME by Tom Coyne is a series of wonderful “Adventures of an Accidental Golf Course Owner.” After entertaining us with travels to golf courses across America and Europe, Coyne will have readers enthralled by the efforts to save an almost 100 year old nine-hole golf course, Sullivan County Golf & Country Club in upstate New York. The amount of work required to run one’s own business, especially one that requires the physical upkeep of a golf course, plus concerns over finances are shared in an entertaining, relatable way. Coyne is extremely fortunate in the employees like Shane, chief groundskeeper, or the trio of pro shop retailers: Gary, Jimmy, and John; even the local high schooler Henry and other part-timers seem to form a family of sorts. And, Coyne’s connections in the golf world make their own (often surprising) contributions whether it’s equipment, supplies, rental golf carts, or financial support. Even Bill Murray, Jason Kelce and Mike Madden make appearances. Best-selling author Coyne weaves in reflections about his own family and the beauty of the Catskills where they now live for part of the year. Truly enjoyable and highly recommended.

Genius at Scale by Hill, Tedards, and Wild

GENIUS AT SCALE by Linda A. Hill, Emily Tedards, and Jason Wild is an in-depth, thoughtful look at “How Great Leaders Drive Innovation.” The authors’ credentials are impressive: Hill is the Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School (HBS); Tedards is a graduate researcher in organizational behavior at HBS; and Wild is he former Global Vice President of CEO Co-Innovation and Customer Engagement at Microsoft. Together, they essentially use case studies and real-world examples to talk about Architects, Bridgers, and Catalysts effecting change in their organizations. Some of the companies and groups mentioned are P&G, Pfizer, Mastercard, Delta Airlines, as well as food organizations in Africa and Italy and the Sampark Foundation which promoted educational advancements in India.  

GENIUS AT SCALE is very accessible, with differently sized helpful headers, a conversational tone, and a focus on individuals and their stories. Much of this necessitates a new way of thinking, like Mastercard’s emphasis on a Framework to Grow, Diversify and Build in the “World Beyond Cash” or P&G’s increasing recognition that “the product economy was shifting to an experience economy.” The authors note that “as much as leaders would like to plan their way to innovation, their job as architects is to help their teams and organizations act their way instead,” referencing a vivid descriptor from previous research: “it's like shifting from leading an orchestra to a jazz ensemble: while their sheet music provides some guardrails, the musicians have to improvise, listen, and adapt to each other as they perform.” Another chapter looks at the establishment of the Cleveland Clinic in Abu Dhabi, stressing the importance of continuous learning and adapting to local practices, needing “to create an environment where all caregivers could be ‘contemplative and creative rather than reactive problem solvers’.” While reading, I found many insightful comments like when the Sampark leadership opined “If you launch a decision as an initiative, people wait for it to fail. If you launch it as an experiment -- indicating that you will reverse it if it doesn't go right -- people participate in shaping it. They own it.” The authors and those they studied repeatedly point out how critical it is to have a “foundation of shared purposes and values -- a sense of community." GENIUS AT SCALE is clearly extensively researched with notes comprising at least ten percent of the book; there's also a helpful index and the online bibliography contains a list of over 700 books and articles.  Highly recommended.

Massively Better Healthcare by Halle Tecco

MASSIVELY BETTER HEALTHCARE by Halle Tecco is self-described as “The Innovator's Guide to Tackling Healthcare's Biggest Challenges.” Tecco, the founder of the venture fund Rock Health and an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School, has been a healthcare innovator herself, supporting and investing in numerous digital health companies. Her text is well-written and accessible and delivered in a logical manner. She begins with a section that describes US Healthcare, its costs and availability relative to other countries around the world, as well as describing the numerous stakeholders. This provides a strong basis for subsequent sections which deal with pathways to innovation and a checklist for evaluating new opportunities, and the four big lessons (“Work from the inside out, not the outside in; Align the margin and the mission; Be a good steward of health data; and Invest in evidence”) that she has learned from others in the field. Throughout, Tecco provides facts (“If the US healthcare system were a country, it would be the fourth-largest economy in the world.”), her own experiences (pricing for a prescription dermatological cream that went from $275 to $25 thanks to a pharmacist’s intervention), and tons of case studies (see graphic here).  Although MASSIVELY BETTER HEALTHCARE focuses on a particular sector, much of her framework could apply to innovators in other businesses.

Epic Disruptions by Scott D. Anthony

EPIC DISRUPTIONS by Scott D. Anthony (Eat, Sleep, Innovate) highlights “11 Innovations That Shaped Our Modern World” and I think it would have been fascinating to be in the discussions of which 11 to choose. Anthony, a Clinical Professor of Strategy at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, studies the adaptive challenges of disruptive change while clearly recognizing the contributions of his mentor, Clay Christensen. In his latest book, Anthony looks at technologies like the printing press, the Model T, and Apple iPhone. He argues that “Disruption is an engine of progress. By making the complicated simple and the expensive affordable, it transforms how we work, play, live, and communicate.” A few examples he chose may not come readily to mind: Julia Child, disposable diapers, steel minimills; but he uses his case studies to answer basic questions (Who does it? Is it random? Is it accelerating? Is it a universal good?).  I liked his graphs and many corporate examples (e.g., Eastman Kodak, Sears, and McDonald’s) to further support his points (e.g., “innovation magic happens at intersections”). The conclusion section is especially thought-provoking as he looks briefly at newer technologies (additive technology, artificial intelligence, robotics) whose story is not yet complete. There, Anthony again weaves facts and examples while asking probing questions. Approximately fifteen percent of the text is devoted to Notes and a detailed Index. For stories of some innovations particular to Texas, see the recent Texas Monthly feature that appeared on PBS.

Detective Aunty by Uzma Jalaluddin

DETECTIVE AUNTY by Uzma Jalaluddin (Ayesha at Last) is the first book in a new series featuring Kauser Khan, recently widowed older woman who returns to Toronto to help her daughter and the family. Called “Jack Reacher in a dupatta,” Khan’s heritage is South Asian and Muslim and there are frequent references to desi culture, including the numerous proverbial cups of chai as Kauser interviews suspects and attempts to solve a murder. Kauser is an appealing, sympathetic character although others (Kauser’s children, her friends, the dead real estate owner, his family, various business competitors) could have been more fully developed. No doubt that will occur (especially with the potential romance with a handsome solicitor) in future mysteries in this series. Jalaluddin writes that “Kauser Khan is my homage to community and second chances. May we all be involved by the former and gifted with the latter.” DETECTIVE AUNTY, although a bit repetitive in spots, received starred reviews from both Booklist and Kirkus and is a LibraryReads Hall of Fame selection for May. Library Journal says, “Recommended for fans of Sujata Massey's Perveen Mistry books and Robert Thorogood's 'Marlow Murder Club' series."

Ordinary Time by Annie B. Jones

ORDINARY TIME by Annie B. Jones is subtitled “Lessons Learned While Staying Put.” Reading this collection of story essays made me feel as though Annie Sue Butterworth Jones was a dear friend sharing her wise observations on life. Readers will learn that she is a talented writer and the owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in Thomasville, Georgia. One of my book group members also says she “meets with her weekly” since Jones hosts From the Front Porch, a regular podcast about books, small business, and life in the South. In ORDINARY TIME, she writes about family, her dreams, marriage, best friends and so much else (the only section which seems to be oversharing is about religion and her crisis of faith). She offers numerous self-reflective insights: “playing was silencing the perfectionist inside me” or “I am a finisher. But life requires a lot of opening. And I am not so good with the opening, the starting of something new.” Jones herself describes ORDINARY TIME as “a collection of stories about a life rooted in place, the blooming of possibility that can happen there, but also the hardship, the loneliness, the longing for more.” I especially liked her comments on childhood, “our childhood obsessions like basketball or The Baby-Sitters Club can save us. They can remind us of who we were before anything mattered, … before everything felt heavy and hard. When life is overwhelming and challenging and our joy is stolen or hard to find, I think the things we once loved can bring us back, center us, make us whole.”

Her sections on books and reading are well worth re-reading and I wanted to note a couple of other quotes: “I wonder if this is why I love books. I can dip my toe into other lives without entirely changing my own.” and “I read books because, at their best, they make me better, more empathetic, more socially aware, more in tune to the stranger beside me. They help me imagine a better future, provide answers to my insatiable questions, take me to places I'll never get to go. I read books because they are an easy point of entry to relationship.” and “A love of books is the through line of my life, a hobby I can trace back to my earliest childhood memories and immediately weave through my middle school and high school selves ...” 

The Bonfire Moment by Gonzalez and Yellin

THE BONFIRE MOMENT by Martin Gonzalez and Josh Yellin is subtitled “Bring Your Team Together to Solve the Hardest Issues Startups Face.” Experts in this area, Gonzalez is the creator of Google’s Effective Founders Project, a global research program, and Yellin co-founded Google's first Startup Accelerator. Together they argue that “ignoring people issues in favor of technical, financial, and strategic issues is a fatal trap. Those deceptively minor, hard-to-quantify team challenges or undermine your success if not confronted with resolve.” Gonzalez and Yellen have crafted a text with two main sections; the first describes why teams are harder than tech and the second looks at what to do about it. Their discussion is filled with numerous examples, particularly in the tech industry (Google, Shockley Semiconductor, General Magic, etc.). 

Based on their one day intense workshop that was the highest rated experience of Google Accelerator, THE BONFIRE MOMENT is a useful guide for managers and investors, and they intend to offer online support and materials. Those are “coming soon” although the book itself has several Appendices (describing the Effective Founders Project, a playbook in advance of the workshop, assessment tools, and a user guide) included. It will be interesting to watch these ideas develop further; there is much to ponder and learn from here. 

The French Ingredient by Jane Bertch

THE FRENCH INGREDIENT is the first book and memoir from Jane Bertch who started La Cuisine Paris in 2009. Despite the early setbacks which she describes that business has become the largest nonprofessional culinary school in France. Bertch subtitles her text “Making a Life in Paris One Lesson at a Time” and very engagingly depicts nearly two decades living and working in Europe. It is an eventful transition from a retail banker to a founder of a cooking school. Entrepreneurs will relate to her comments: “I was on a roller-coaster ride -- at one moment thinking, Forget it this will never work, the next feeling euphoric because we had booked a client or got some press.” She also does an entertaining job of contrasting her own grandmother’s “chaotic” kitchen with the French mise en place: the preparation for the meal with everything washed, chopped, measured, etc. before cooking begins, noting “this is likely why in a French cookbook, you will often see ingredients presented in order of quantities (highest to lowest), rather than when you use them (as in American cookbooks).” She also writes about the importance of relationships, particularly clients and regulars at a food establishment. A fun and informative read, and Bertch says, “I hope that something within these pages inspires you to do whatever you dare to think you can do -- despite all the obstacles and doubts.”

Smart Startups and business advice

Thinking of starting your own business or investing in a new one? Here are some recent titles that offer perspective on those activities.

SMART STARTUPS, available from Harper Wave, is written by Catalina Daniels and James H. Sherman, both of whom are Harvard Business school graduates with experience as consultants (McKinsey and Bain, respectively), serial entrepreneurs, and angel investors. They have collaborated on this text to outline “What Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know -- Advice from 18 Harvard Business School Founders.” A primary goal is to share real world experience and perceptions from fellow alums and entrepreneurs like Jenny Fleis of Rent the Runway or Anthemos Georgiades from Zumper, the rental platform. Daniels and Sheran contend “one of the key takeaways from our interviews in this book is that one can learn to ‘start smarter’ but the challenges and the learning will never stop.” They offer an inspirational take on that journey, sharing insights about the passion to create, being resilient, and importance of timing. In addition, they stress the importance of planning and how “landing a good idea often requires a deliberate, lengthy ideation process.” SMART STARTUPS is filled with quotes and guidance that merit thoughtful reflection. Each chapter opens with a one-line summary (like: “Customer feedback should blow you away. Anything less means you keep refining.”) and then Daniels and Sherman include subheadings with commentary from their many successful interviewees. Budding entrepreneurs, as well as more established ones, will enjoy learning from this text.  

START. SCALE. EXIT. REPEAT., published by Forbes Books and written by Colin C. Campbell, is actually dedicated to “all the entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs who want to learn.”  Campbell is another serial entrepreneur, having been associated with numerous startups including Tucows, Internet Direct, Hostopia, and GeeksforLess. He divides this new text into the 4 steps outlined in the title and then further subdivides those into Story, People, Money and Systems. There he reveals entrepreneurs’ “secrets” like focusing on something you love and hiring people who are ‘different’ when starting out. He provides some honest commentary about his own experiences: [there were] “times when I partied like it's 1999 and times when I wanted to climb back into my cave and curl up into a ball.” Campbell breaks up the text with quotes and graphs and offers several lists, like key values. He writes about developing the business as well as balancing one’s personal life suggesting, for example, that readers “delegate responsibilities, not tasks.” Entrepreneurs, even aspiring ones, are likely familiar with many of the suggestions here, but still may enjoy a run through this very accessible text.

When the Heavens Went on Sale by Ashlee Vance

WHEN THE HEAVENS WENT ON SALE by Ashlee Vance is subtitled “The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach.” One could easily assume that Vance, a feature writer at Bloomberg Businessweek and author of the New Your Times bestseller Elon Musk, would be writing about companies like Musk’s SpaceX, Bezos’ Blue Origin, and Branson’s Virgin Galactic. He does comment on those companies but focuses this text on four others: Planet Labs, Rocket Lab, Astra, and Firefly Aerospace. Vance is adept at combining stories of pivotal events (e.g., the Indian launch resulting in near simultaneous deployment of 88 satellites for Planet Labs) and unusual facts (e.g., from the 1960s to 2020, the number of machines orbiting Earth had increased to roughly 2,500 and “From 2020 to 2022, something astonishing happened: the number of satellites doubled to 5000.”). Readers will learn a great deal from this well-written text, particularly as Vance introduces many of the key founders and players, saying, “it was important to me to let them tell their own stories and for you to hear how they talk and think in their own words.” WHEN THE HEAVENS WENT ON SALE is full of dreams fulfilled and dreams dashed; it received a starred review from Publishers Weekly (“Vance’s feels-like-you’re-there storytelling captures the ‘spectacular madness’ of the moonshots. It’s The Right Stuff for the silicon age.”).

Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club by J. Ryan Stradal

SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE LAKESIDE SUPPER CLUB by J. Ryan Stradal (Kitchens of the Great Midwest; The Lager Queen of Minnesota) is an intriguing look at restaurant business in Minnesota, filtered through the eyes of two very different restaurant families. It is also a multi-generational story, told from the viewpoints of several characters and set at different time periods (1934, 1940, 1980’s, 1996). Part of the jumping around is between Betty (who struggles to raise daughter Florence until they meet Floyd and find a home at his restaurant), Florence herself, who wants to escape the supper club, and her daughter, Mariel, who unconditionally loves the place. Then there are the well-off owners of Jorby’s, a growing chain in the Midwest: Edward, and his children, Ned and Carla. All of which can be confusing in places, but Stradal writes beautifully: “the core of their bond was so solid they could argue without hurting each other. Arguments are the leaves and the relationship is the trunk … One comes and goes, and the other doesn’t change, except to get stronger.” A perceptive tale about family dynamics and finding identity through work, SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE LAKESIDE SUPPER CLUB received a starred review from Kirkus (“A loving ode to supper clubs, the Midwest, and the people there who try their best to make life worth living.”) I also enjoyed listening to the audio book – with so much going on, this title could work well for book groups and the publisher provides a discussion guide.

Without a Doubt by Surbhi Sarna

WITHOUT A DOUBT by Surbhi Sarna is a new business book intended to describe “How to Go from Underrated to Unbeatable.” Sarna is an entrepreneur and partner at Y Combinator, a technology startup accelerator. She frankly shares her own medical journey, beginning at age thirteen when she was diagnosed with a potentially cancerous complex ovarian cyst, saying “I was angry. We’d had to do too much guessing and waiting. We were forced to make so many impossible choices.”  That experience (and her innate interest in science) led Sarna to eventually form a company that developed, tested, and patented a process for earlier, more accurate detection. In the text, she reflects on “the weight of doubt pulling at us while we try to reach out goals” and encourages her readers to realize that “your power lies in recognizing the qualities that make you different and leveraging them to pursue your dreams.” The content is accessible, motivating, and exciting – even with setbacks as she admits, “I’d stumbled again and again, sometimes barely making it back onto my feet” before selling her business to Boston Scientific for $275 million and going on to advocate for other young entrepreneurs. WITHOUT A DOUBT received a starred review from Kirkus and was named one of “40 Nonfiction Books to Watch Out for in 2023” by The Next Big Idea Club which also highlighted titles like Unraveling (a personal favorite!); The Climate Book; The Big Myth; and Four Battlegrounds; plus The Teachers and  The Real Work (reviews forthcoming).

When Women Lead by Julia Boorstin

WHEN WOMEN LEAD by Julia Boorstin offers a look, in the author’s words, at “understand[ing] how some women had been able to become exceptions. … how they had done it - and what we can learn from them.” Boorstin is CNBC’s Senior Media & Tech correspondent, an on-air reporter who created and launched CNBC Disruptor 50, an annual list of private companies that are transforming the economy and challenging more established industry leaders. She uses her networking and reporting skills to identify and interview mostly female executives and entrepreneurs. Those narratives, combined with insights from academic research, provide the outline for Boorstin’s book which highlights strengths like being more empathetic, being more open to varied views, and leading with vulnerability. Her book is divided into three parts: How and Why Women Build Strong Companies; Fixing Problems; and Creating New Patterns. Boorstin is an engaging writer and provides anecdotes across a variety of industries, including healthcare, fashion, and finance. I particularly liked the image she referenced of Bumble going public with founder Whitney Wolfe Herd ringing the opening Nasdaq bell with her toddler on her hip. Our business students (and readers in general) will benefit from discussing and embracing Boorstin’s summary of women’s leadership models: “communal, empathetic, vulnerable, and purpose driven.” WHEN WOMEN LEAD received a starred review from Kirkus (“showing the positive impact of diversity and argues convincingly that the best counter to bias is citing the profitability figures and performance evidence for women-led firms.”). 

The Innovation Mindset

THE INNOVATION MINDSET is written by Lorraine H. Marchand, general manager of life sciences at IBM Watson Health, with John Hanc. Marchand draws on her long experience in new product management and her work as an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School to develop and describe “Eight Essential Steps to Transform Any Industry.” These “laws” are explained in individual chapters filled with illustrative anecdotes, questions to consider and some summary takeaways. The many examples add a practical, realistic note and help make the ideas more memorable. Although THE INNOVATION MINDSET is slightly repetitive in places, it could provide an excellent outline and discussion prompt for Business classes as well as for individual entrepreneurs and corporate employees. Marchand acknowledges that she has written this text for readers “interested in fomenting change or who want to better understand the process of innovation.” And she is an superb guide, helpfully including a chapter devoted to the “unique challenges women innovators face and why” plus an appendix which lists resources for women innovators. That is only one of seven appendices; others include information about and examples of a business plan, funding application, and a pitch deck. Be curious and have a look at THE INNOVATION MINDSET – as Marchand writes, “whether you are sixteen or sixty, your whole life is ahead of you. You can choose your area of focus and start generating new ideas today. Your time is now.”