Hi folks,
It’s time to wrap up everyone’s favorite annual tradition – the TOA Book Award, or as it’s more commonly known, the Most Irrelevant Prize in World Literature.
We’re down to six finalists:
Daily Rituals by Mason Currey
Bring The Noise by Raphael Honigstein
Gridiron Genuis by Michael Lombardi
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Little Panic by Amanda Stern
Today, we'll eliminate three finalists from contention for the final prize. But before proceeding, a note - after years of confusion, I've decided to align the year of the award with the calendar year during which I make the decision. In other words, this is the 2019 award, but it's for a book I read in 2018.
Make sense?
No?
Good!
Daily Rituals by Mason Currey (December 2018)
Longtime readers will surely be exhausted of references to this book, Mason Currey’s investigation into the routines and schedules of various creative types throughout history. The main idea I took from this book was the importance of discovering a personal rhythm for creative work, and then pouring energy into protecting that time. Whether an artist works in structured ninety-minute increments, likes to block out a few hours every morning, or prefers all-night benders fueled by sudden inspiration, the key isn’t really in the details on the calendar. Rather, it’s a deep understanding of the self that is reflected in the way an artist uses his or her most valuable resource – time.
Parting thought: Creativity is variation within repetition.
I liked this thought the most out of many other interesting observations because I feel creativity is a concept all too easy to talk knowingly about without ever stopping to consider what it actually means. The reality is that on a planet of seven billion, someone else has likely come up with all of your good ideas (and even most of your bad ones). Creativity isn’t originality in the sense of pulling some new idea out of the air – rather, it’s a process of connecting existing people, places, and ideas in ways that don’t happen naturally. In a certain sense, creativity is a leadership act, and perhaps the most difficult one. The artist in full control of his or her creative powers is more likely to find new variation in the pattern others take for granted and these often become the moments we look back on as the inspirations that changed the world.
Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (July 2018)
Taleb’s newest book examines the consequences when systems lose the symmetry of their risk transfers. If the person in charge faces no consequences in the event of failure, how does the system change? The answer is in many ways obvious but as readers of his past work know there is much more to it than the simple answer.
Best idea: In a probabilistic sense, volatility and time are equivalent.
I hadn’t thought much about this lately but as I reviewed my notes on this book it was this idea that jumped out to me. The big themes in this work are much easier to understand through this lens. Over a long period, it isn’t so much the size of the risk in one instance but rather the number of instances that determines the likelihood of ruin.
Also a good idea: Investors do not match market gains if losses force a reduced position.
This is Taleb's ‘if-then’ thinking at its best. Most grasp the power of bad luck evening out and will at least pay lip service to riding out a tough time. However, the question isn’t about resolve but rather about resilience. If you know the rain will force you inside, you shouldn't invest in a way that will likely expose you to the occasional market thunderstorm.
Parting thought: An individual with a sufficient level of intolerance can change default preferences for the entire society.
This was an idea I (sort of) explained in this post. I sense a lot of big changes on the horizon and this idea seems to explain just how much power one person has in the equation. The speed of the change is proportional to the cost of changing preferences but this detail is irrelevant when talking about major changes that will happen slowly over the long term.
Gridiron Genuis by Michael Lombardi (November 2018)
Longtime TOA favorite Lombardi makes his writing debut in this work about leadership in NFL football. Like with many of the sports books I highlight on TOA, I felt many of this work’s big ideas translated beyond the helmet football field. Whether it was in his comment about the importance of simplicity as a driver of improved execution via repetition, his definition of growth as discovering new ways to do the same things, or his insistence that leadership starts by expertly defining what everyone in the organization must do, Lombardi’s clear thinking throughout this book shines a light on the basic fundamentals that define strong leadership in any context.
Food for thought: As I regain my Business Bro swagger in a new role, I should remember to keep in mind Lombardi’s point that a great fit for any system is a person whose abilities are maximized in the current scheme while also fueling the evolution of the system.
Parting thought: The coach’s job is to understand how each player retains information, and then tailor the teaching methods accordingly.
Lombardi notes that Bill Belichick’s offseason planning included time for the coaching staff to assess and adjust their teaching methods. This speaks to the broader point about the importance of understanding the way players retain information. Each player learns in both different ways and at different speeds – the best coaches can handle the largest variation in these combinations to get the most out of each player.
