The Energy Bus | Jon Gordon

The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon is a short book that you can easily read and get some inspiration and question the way you live your life.

Positive people and positive teams produce positive results, and the essential ingredient is positive energy.

Everything happens for a reason. Don’t forget that. Every person we meet. Every event in our life. Every flat tire happens for a reason. You can choose to ignore it or ask what that reason is and try to learn from it. Every problem has a gift for you in its hands as my man Richard Bach says. You can choose to see the curse or the gift. And this one choice will determine if your life is a success story or one big soap opera.

We don’t talk this game, we play it.

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less | Greg McKeown

If I ask a key question to myself as: “What was the best book of 2024 so far?” Probably I would choose Greg McKeown’s “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less” which was easy to understand, applicable and eye-opening for me. I found it while I was searching Amazon’s best seller list and it is a real must-read if you deal with so many to-do’s within your ordinary day. I hope my quotes from the book will help you.

THE WISDOM OF LIFE CONSISTS IN THE ELIMINATION OF NON-ESSENTIALS.

 —Lin Yutang

Sam Elliot is a capable executive in Silicon Valley who found himself stretched too thin after his company was acquired by a larger, bureaucratic business. He was in earnest about being a good citizen in his new role so he said yes to many requests without really thinking about it. But as a result he would spend the whole day rushing from one meeting and conference call to another trying to please everyone and get it all done. His stress went up as the quality of his work went down. It was like he was majoring in minor activities and as a result, his work became unsatisfying for him and frustrating for the people he was trying so hard to please.

In the midst of his frustration the company came to him and offered him an early retirement package. But he was in his early 50s and had no interest in completely retiring.

He went to speak with a mentor who gave him surprising advice: “Stay, but do what you would as a consultant and nothing else. And don’t tell anyone.” In other words, his mentor was advising him to do only those things that he deemed essential—and ignore everything else that was asked of him.

The executive followed the advice! He made a daily commitment towards cutting out the red tape. He began saying no.

Now when a request would come in he would pause and evaluate the request against a tougher criteria: “Is this the very most important thing I should be doing with my time and resources right now?”

He stopped attending meetings on his calendar if he didn’t have a direct contribution to make. He explained to me, “Just because I was invited didn’t seem a good enough reason to attend.”

He could concentrate his efforts on one project at a time. He could plan thoroughly. He could anticipate roadblocks and start to remove obstacles. Instead of spinning his wheels trying to get everything done, he could get the right things done. His newfound commitment to doing only the things that were truly important—and eliminating everything else—restored the quality of his work. Instead of making just a millimeter of progress in a million directions he began to generate tremendous momentum towards accomplishing the things that were truly vital.

To his great surprise, there were no negative repercussions to his experiment. His manager didn’t chastise him. His colleagues didn’t resent him. Quite the opposite; because he was left only with projects that were meaningful to him and actually valuable to the company, they began to respect and value his work more than ever. His work became fulfilling again. His performance ratings went up. He ended up with one of the largest bonuses of his career!

In this example is the basic value proposition of Essentialism: only once you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone, can you make your highest contribution towards the things that really matter.

Unreasonable Hospitality | Will Guidara

I saw this book Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara in the book list that Ozan Varol shared and then I also noticed it in the bestseller list of Amazon when I was very close to finishing the book. It is a great book that every business people can find things to apply in their business life. Although Will Guidara has a profession that I am not familiar with, the method he uses will probably fit into almost all businesses.

Will Guidara was twenty-six when he took the helm of Eleven Madison Park, a struggling two-star brasserie that had never quite lived up to its majestic room. Eleven years later, EMP was named the best restaurant in the world. How did Guidara pull off this unprecedented transformation? Radical reinvention, a true partnership between the kitchen and the dining room—and memorable, over-the-top, bespoke hospitality. Let’s see what I highlighted from Will’s book.

In the rise of digital communication and increased demand for remote work, we are left feeling lonelier and more apart than at any other time in recent history. Yet our intense desire to feel a sense of belonging remains—it’s an innate human need. That’s where Unreasonable Hospitality comes.

The greatest restaurants in the world became great by challenging the way we think about food: sourcing, preparation, presentation and, of course, taste. But when Will Guidara set out to make Eleven Madison Park the best restaurant in the world, he had a crazy idea about how to do it: “What would happen if we approached hospitality with the same passion, attention to detail, and rigor that we bring to our food?”

Awaken Your Genius | Ozan Varol

Ozan Varol is one of the best "out-of-the-box thinkers" I have known and after reading his best seller "Think Like a Rocket Scientist", I started to follow his blog and weekly posts. I get new perspective from what he shares and this makes him one of my best authors. And here is the best book I read in 2024: Awaken Your Genius. No need for fancy introduction, you will understand why I love him so much after having a look at the quotes from his book below. So let's start...

Here’s the thing: No one can compete with you at being you. You’re the first and the last time that you’ll ever happen. If your thinking is an extension of you—if what you’re building is a product of your own genius—you’ll be in a league of your own. But if you suppress yourself, if you don’t claim the wisdom within, no one else can. That wisdom will be lost, both to you and to the world.

Recognizing Success: A Week of Wins, Remote Realities, and the Power of Employee Recognition in Today’s Workplace

In the ever-changing world of work, the spotlight on employee recognition is shining brighter than ever. This rings especially true in the realm of remote work, where the need for employees to feel appreciated is like the secret sauce to keeping the team happy and thriving. According to a recent survey by OnePoll on behalf of Bonusly, a whopping 46% of U.S. workers hit the exit button because they didn't feel the love at work. Talk about a wake-up call for the importance of recognition, right?

And guess what? The recognition train has been making stops at my station too! Last week brought a double dose of career awesomeness. First up, my team effort with EY (Ernst Young - our tax advisor) snagged us a shiny incentive from the tax office, giving our company a sweet tax advantage. The cherry on top? The finance management team gave me a virtual high-five in the form of the ABCD (Above and Beyond Call of Duty) Award. 

Unlock Your Career Potential: Introducing "The Professional's Playbook"

Are you ready to take your career to the next level, achieve your professional goals, and become the best version of yourself in the workplace? If the answer is yes, then "The Professional's Playbook: Navigating Your Career Journey" is the guide you've been waiting for.

In this insightful and empowering book, Volkan Yorulmaz brings together a wealth of knowledge and experience to help you navigate the intricate terrain of your career. Drawing from the wisdom of best-selling authors and thought leaders, Yorulmaz offers you a comprehensive roadmap to success, providing practical advice and strategies for every step of your professional journey.

Your Next Five Moves | Patrick Bet-David

If I would need to share the best book I read in 2023, it is "Your Next Five Moves" by Patrick Bet-David. I found this book from the best sellers in Amazon business books list and I read it during a time where I need to answer some key questions in my career and set a new strategy for the upcoming performance review cycles. 

Let's leave the personal things and focus on this great book and its author.  According to Patrick Bet-David, "The only thing separating us from greatness is a vision and a plan for achieving greatness. When you’re fighting for a cause, a dream, something greater than yourself, you will find the enthusiasm, passion, and joy that make life a great adventure. The key is identifying your cause and knowing who you want to be." Who am I? A short question but the answer needs a long thinking. 

From my point of view, Patrick Bet-David's "Your Next Five Moves" has 2 main take-aways. First, get into the habit of thinking five moves ahead in everything you do in business.  Just working to try and do that will lift your game and lead to greater success. Second, in every industry, 80 percent of the players will be actors, and only 20 percent will be doers. The key to positioning yourself firmly in the doers camp is to be continually investing in learning and growth. Invest in yourself. Think five moves ahead.

The Culture Code | Daniel Coyle

Honestly, "The Culture Code" is not one of those books that I will recommend someone to read but it has well chosed quotes that I wanted to carry to my blog. Anyway, I respect to the authoe Daniel Coyle's effort. So here you may find them: 

Individual skills are not what matters. What matters is the interaction.

They are not competing for status. They stand shoulder to shoulder and work energetically together. They move quickly, spotting problems and offering help. They experiment, take risks, and notice outcomes, which guides them toward effective solutions.

They are tapping into a simple and powerful method in which a group of ordinary people can create a performance far beyond the sum of their parts.

I Will Teach You to Be Rich | Ramit Sethi

I am a fan of personal finance books and I do like to read this kind of books that I found in the best seller list of Amazon. This time, the list brought me the book: "I Will Teach You to Be Rich, Second Edition: No Guilt. No Excuses. No B.S." This New York Times and Wall Street Journal Bestseller is written by Ramit Sethi.

There were some generic recommendations which do not fit to the realities of today, at least for my country Turkiye. Anyway, it is a good piece of work who want to have a mindset about where to start for personal finance. Let's continue with my highlights from the book:

People love to argue minor points, partially because they feel it absolves them from actually having to do anything. You know what? Let the fools debate the details. I decided to learn about money by taking small steps to manage my own spending. Just as you don’t have to be a certified nutritionist to lose weight or an automotive engineer to drive a car, you don’t have to know everything about personal finance to be rich. I’ll repeat myself: You don’t have to be an expert to get rich. You do have to know how to cut through all the information and get started—which, incidentally, also helps reduce the guilt.

Investing early is the best thing you can do.

The best time to start investing was ten years ago. The second best time is today.

Leadership and the One Minute Manager | Ken Blanchard, Patricia Zigarmi, Drea Zigarmi

In my previous blog post, I shared my quotes from the book "How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don't Know" by Byron Sharp - this book was one of the two books my mentor Jalal İbrahimi recommended me in our first meeting. The second one is "Leadership and the One Minute Manager Updated Edition". It is a short read and during the weekend break, I had the chance to read the book and re-read my quotes from the book. 

This new, updated edition of Leadership and the One Minute Manager reflects the latest thinking about Situational Leadership® II. Written as a parable, it tells the story of an overworked entrepreneur who learns from the One Minute Manager how to get the most out of a diverse team by becoming a situational leader.

This is a book to read and reread until being a situational leader becomes second nature to you in your leadership roles at work, in your home, and in the community.

How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don't Know | Byron Sharp

I started to work with Jalal İbrahimi who is my mentor and he recommended me two books in our first mentoring session. The first one is How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don't Know by Byron Sharp. As a finance professional, it has been a while since I haven't read a book purely on marketing since my MBA graduation. There were many "aha moments" while I was reading the book and connecting the learnings with the ideas in the weekly commercial team meetings. So, let me share my highlights from the book. 

The most important knowledge contained in this book: No marketing activity, including innovation, should be seen as a goal in itself, its goal is to hold on to or improve mental and physical availability.

Bring the Noise: The Jürgen Klopp Story | Raphael Honigstein

I recently completed reading the book by Raphale Honigstein about Jürgen Klopp: Bring the Noise: The Jürgen Klopp Story. It is not a great biography but it still has great quotes to keep in mind. Here we go: 

It ain’t where you from, it’s where you at. - Eric B. and Rakim

If you need someone in a suit and in a tie, don’t get Jürgen Klopp. But if you want a top coach, you’ll have to get him. It wasn’t a case of making an immediate decision but I know that Dortmund were looking at him a bit more closely from that day on. But they still weren’t entirely convinced. Watzke kept on calling me, I don’t know how many times. I always said: “Go for it, go for it. You will never regret the day you sign Jürgen Klopp.”’

‘Once, Mainz drew 1-1 with us, in Dortmund, and I congratulated him on winning a point. To draw at Dortmund was a success for Mainz, wasn’t it? But he just looked at me and said: “Congratulations to you too.” That was classic Klopp.

‘It’s always about making the crowd happy, it’s about producing games with a recognisable style,’ he vowed. ‘When matches are boring, they lose their rationale. My teams have never played chess on the pitch. I hope we will witness the odd full-throttle occasion here. The sun won’t shine every day in Dortmund, but we have a chance to make it shine more often.’

Skin In The Game | Nassim Nicholas Taleb

In Skin In The Game, Nassim Nicholas Taleb explains how the willingness of accepting one’s own risks is an important quality of heroes, saints and successful people in all walks of life. 

Skin In The Game is about the distortions of symmetry and reciprocity in life. If you have the rewards, you must also get some of the risks and not let others pay the price of your mistakes.

Here are my highlights from the book:

If you have the rewards, you must also get some of the risks, not let others pay the price of your mistakes. If you inflict risk on others, and they are harmed, you need to pay some price for it.

Don’t tell me what you “think,” just tell me what’s in your portfolio.

The Power of One More | Ed Mylett

It is another personal development or self motivation book that I read and honestly speaking, I liked the content and flow. This is the book I met with Ed Mylett and after completing the reading of this book, I started to follow Ed in twitter which is a sign that I liked him. I have 9 pages of highlights from Ed's book. I have read the last part of the book in a Starbucks with a melancholic mood and the book was a great friend for me at that time and place. So let's see what I highlight:

At its core, The Power of One More is about your willingness to do one more rep, make one more phone call, get up one hour earlier, build one more relationship, or do one more thing for whatever your situation calls for.

You can find your best life by doing “one more” than the world expects from you.

The individual thoughts and actions you take don't need to be profound. However, when you compound these small thoughts and actions and stack them up on top of each other, the resulting changes over time are profound.

“Winning is more fun than fun is fun.”

They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.

 —Andy Warhol

Deep inside, you know what's true about you.

What we perceive about ourselves is what we believe about ourselves.

Nobody is ever always right. As a child, you accepted much of what you were told, right or wrong. Your identity became the good and the bad parts of how other people influenced you. The unfortunate thing is that you were defenseless. Your critical thinking skills did not exist to give you the tools you needed to survive in the world.

As you grew older, you began to confirm your identity. If someone said you weren't a good student or a lousy athlete, that became a part of your identity. You still didn't have the capacity to disavow what you were being told. You grew into adulthood, and you carried with you these beliefs about yourself. Your identity had taken root. Your limitations became a part of you, and because they were so ingrained, you weren't even sure where they came from.

Give and Take | Adam Grant

In Give and Take, Adam Grant, an award-winning researcher and Wharton’s highest-rated professor, examines the surprising forces that shape why some people rise to the top of the success ladder while others sink to the bottom. Praised by social scientists, business theorists, and corporate leaders, Give and Take opens up an approach to work, interactions, and productivity that is nothing short of revolutionary. This book was a summer read for me and I highlighted a lot quotes in Adam’s Grant’s “Give and Take”.

Good Returns

According to conventional wisdom, highly successful people have three things in common: motivation, ability, and opportunity. If we want to succeed, we need a combination of hard work, talent, and luck.

How Are You, Really? | Jenna Kutcher

Generally, when I am trying to find a book to read, I visit amazon.com and check out the most sellers in business and biographies. It was a weekend like this and I was updating my Kobo ebook reader with new contents and I just saw that Amazon advises this book: “How are you, really?” by Jenna Kutcher. This honest and natural question interested me and I have a quick look about its comments. Then I visited goodreads.com and saw the high rating and I decided to download. It was one of the many books I uploaded to my ebook reader that weekend but because of its tempting name, I decided to start reading this book first. And I am glad to have read it. It is maybe another personal development book that motivates you but it does not repeat the same things with the other ones. It clearly states how Jenna manages her success story. It is authentic and it makes it unique. I like it as a summer read and I highly advise it to those who do not stop and check how she/he is. In the meantime, how are your, really?

The truth is, we lie. We lie to ourselves about how we’re really feeling and what we really want. Not anymore. In How Are You, Really?, Jenna Kutcher teaches how to harness your power to take control of your life. You deserve more – and deep down, you know it. If, when you get really honest with yourself, you discover that you want more out of your life: more joy, more passion, more fulfillment, and more peace? In today’s chaotic world, sometimes you might wake up and not feel like yourself anymore, and you don’t even know how you are… REALLY. You’re trying to balance it all: your family, your work, and your goals, but your emotions are all over the place and you don’t feel as confident and happy as you thought you would. This book is a guide to reframing your entire life and finally finding your own sense of joy and fulfillment in a world telling you who to be. It’s about understanding what’s going on in your head and finding your way back to a life that is truly your own. Your expert guide is Jenna Kutcher, who started from working a day job at Target to building an empire while living in a small town in Minnesota as a mom. In her inspirational debut book, she shares how she struggled with these same issues to find her identity and balance in launching a business, raising a family, and, eventually, starting her popular podcast The Goal Digger. Join the millions of people who count on Jenna’s life and business advice every week because of her authentic example and deep understanding of how women think and strive to achieve their dreams. It’s time to ask yourself the question you’ve been avoiding: How are you, really? It’s time to find your answer, and start living.

The Psychology of Money | Morgan Housel

When you read the title of the book, you might guess that it is only about money and maybe business, but it is about life. With the real time stories shared by Morgan Housel, this book makes stories meaningful and let you know more about personal finance, investment, wealth creation and living a better life.

Doing well with money isn’t necessarily about what you know. It’s about how you behave. And behavior is hard to teach, even to really smart people. Money―investing, personal finance, and business decisions―is typically taught as a math-based field, where data and formulas tell us exactly what to do. But in the real world people don’t make financial decisions on a spreadsheet. They make them at the dinner table, or in a meeting room, where personal history, your own unique view of the world, ego, pride, marketing, and odd incentives are scrambled together. In The Psychology of Money, award-winning author Morgan Housel shares short stories exploring the strange ways people think about money and teaches you how to make better sense of one of life’s most important topics.

The Ride of a Lifetime | Robert Iger

My readers know that I am a lover of memoirs and it is not always easy to find an inspiring memoir. And thanks God, I found it this time. It is a memoir by Robert Iger, ex-CEO of Disney and I liked the flow of the book with the real-time cases. Out of this book, I have even created 2 blog posts for my personal blog. If interested, you can also have a look at them:

Volkan Yorulmaz: Leadership Lessons from Disney’s CEO

Volkan Yorulmaz: No Price on Integrity

Prologue

Something will always come up. At its simplest, this book is about being guided by a set of principles that help nurture the good and manage the bad. I was reluctant to write it for a long time. Until fairly recently, I even avoided talking publicly about my “rules for leadership” or any such ideas, because I felt I hadn’t fully “walked the walk.” After forty-five years, though—and especially after the past fourteen—I’ve come to believe that I have insights that could be useful beyond my own experience.

The Total Money Makeover | Dave Ramsey

Plain and simple, if you like your current financial situation, you probably feel pretty good about money matters, and you don’t need a makeover. On the other hand, if you don’t like your current financial situation, you probably feel pretty lousy about your finances. A makeover is for you!

Wealth building isn’t rocket science. The principles are simple, time-proven, and effective. In a nutshell, “spend less and invest more” is a five-word financial strategy.

If you will live like no one else now . . .

later you can live like no one else.

Will | Will Smith, Mark Manson

One of the most dynamic and globally recognized entertainment forces of our time opens up fully about his life, in a brave and inspiring book that traces his learning curve to a place where outer success, inner happiness, and human connection are aligned. Along the way, Will tells the story in full of one of the most amazing rides through the worlds of music and film that anyone has ever had.

Will Smith’s transformation from a fearful child in a tense West Philadelphia home to one of the biggest rap stars of his era and then one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood history, with a string of box office successes that will likely never be broken, is an epic tale of inner transformation and outer triumph, and Will tells it astonishingly well. But it's only half the story.

Let me share the quotes I highlighted when I was reading Will. By the way, I started reading this book before Will's terrible action in Oscar and just after that event, I did not want to finalize the book. Thus my quotes do not include the whole potential text to be highlighted. Yes, that's a personal choice and I hope my readers will respect to this decision.