What a stunning and thoughtful compilation of @naval's work and words.
I predict that this is going to define a new industry - curating public content of thought leaders and converting them into books.
https://t.co/sHFCsvr4Jk
My top books I read in 2020
A thread...
What a stunning and thoughtful compilation of @naval's work and words.
I predict that this is going to define a new industry - curating public content of thought leaders and converting them into books.
https://t.co/sHFCsvr4Jk
@SamHarris provoked me through this book and offered me, an atheist, a lot to think about.
Pick up his works!
https://t.co/pcM5c7GkGo
My most awaited book of this year, since the day @morganhousel announced his book.
A must read for all ages, especially those in their 20s.
I predict this to reach levels of "Rich Dad Poor Dad" over the next 10 years
https://t.co/WGiowzQCCO
What a stunner! Challenges most of our tightly-held beliefs and I found myself nodding more often than not through the book.
Not for the faint-hearted.
https://t.co/ixHN5DUwOT
This was the biggest surprise of 2020. I started it with little expectations and was blown away by the story of how VISA came to being. Much read for all fin-tech enthusiasts.
https://t.co/EEM5ELUYQD
@bhorowitz strikes again, after HTAHT. This is a different yet joyous read from his earlier book and does the job well of establishing culture as a critical input to business success.
https://t.co/q3BKTycEBb
This was a long time due book and I am so glad I got to it this year. Any other year I may not have appreciated it as much.
Such a powerful book to read and reflect upon. Set during the time of the Buddha
https://t.co/c0dcJsxeko
@reedhastings first book. if you have read the Netflix Culture Deck, then this is a great follow up book. A must-read for all founders and business leaders.
https://t.co/4sfV9nhMR5
@RobertGreene calls a spade a spade. And this book brings all his spades together!
It is hard-hitting, it is unapologetically real and it kept me hooked.
https://t.co/ZVh1u9cWs7
This is hands down the most provocative science books that I have read. Gripping read, that tries to explain why we are the way we are!
https://t.co/OS61IKfLJ9
If you want the class generalist vs specialist question answered, this is the book for you. @DavidEpstein has written a beauty. One of the best reads of the year for me.
https://t.co/bDsFagbcgP
This is was my first read by OSHO and I quite liked it. In more ways than I expected, he made a lot of sense and his ideas were hard to not appreciate.
I would surely recommend this to many.
https://t.co/Wveb1sYBhu
I remain such an admirer of Seneca and his timeless wisdom. And every year find myself going back to some form of Stoic reading. This book was my highlight from the year.
https://t.co/ehdxK9C443
1. This year I read 37 books
2. 5 of them were re-reads
3. Of the 32 new books, I didn't complete 9 of them (Autobiography of Yogi being the most important one that I wish I had)
4. There were 47 days in 2020 when I did not read at all
You can download them for free here
https://t.co/Kf4xzkFPWs
https://t.co/daBa0uW5no
How I read my books
— Ankur Warikoo (@warikoo) October 16, 2020
A thread...
https://t.co/ytFYYFqodw
20 books that helped me, more than years of school or college ever will.
— Ankur Warikoo (@warikoo) September 18, 2020
A thread...
More from Ankur Warikoo
10 ways I am running my current startup differently from the ones before
A thread...
Difference #1
Bootstrapped as against raising money
https://t.co/RKWB3KfMZt was a venture funded company. We raised $43Mn from top investors, but I couldn’t give them a return that I would be proud of. In the process, learning how raising money works but also doesn’t work
My current startup is bootstrapped.
I do not intend to raise money for it.
It has been profitable from Day 1 and that is the way I hope it remains.
I have raised money from customers.
Difference #2
Slow and small
For the past decade, I was in the mode of fast and big.
Being fast was the only thing that mattered.
And you either go big or go home.
Today, I am taking it slow.
Slow to add costs, slow to take decisions that are irreversible.
I am patient because all good things in life take time!
A thread...
Difference #1
Bootstrapped as against raising money
https://t.co/RKWB3KfMZt was a venture funded company. We raised $43Mn from top investors, but I couldn’t give them a return that I would be proud of. In the process, learning how raising money works but also doesn’t work
My current startup is bootstrapped.
I do not intend to raise money for it.
It has been profitable from Day 1 and that is the way I hope it remains.
I have raised money from customers.
Difference #2
Slow and small
For the past decade, I was in the mode of fast and big.
Being fast was the only thing that mattered.
And you either go big or go home.
Today, I am taking it slow.
Slow to add costs, slow to take decisions that are irreversible.
I am patient because all good things in life take time!
More from Book
We had a conversation on the podcast about the racialization of dog breeds, where we talked to @BronwenDickey, the author of Pitbull: The Battle Over an American Icon.
In the 1930s, Pitbulls — which, as Bronwen pointed out to me over and over, don’t constitute a dog breed but a shape — used to be seen as the trusty sidekick of the proletariat, the Honda Civic of canines. (Think of “the Little Rascals” dog.)
.
That began changing in the postwar years and the rise of the suburbs. A pedigreed dog became a status symbol for the burgeoning white middle class. And pitbulls got left behind in the cities.
Aside: USians have flitted between different “dangerous” breeds and media-fueled panics around specific dogs. (anti-German xenophobia in the late 1800s fueled extermination programs of the spitz, a little German dog that newspapers said was vicious and spread disease.)
Some previously “dangerous” dogs get rebranded over the years — German shepherds, Dobermans, Rottweilers. But the thing their respective periods of contempt and concern had to do is that they were associated with some contemporarily undesirable group.
Michael Tesler in @FiveThirtyEight bringing some data to bear on my tweets about @ReverendWarnock\u2019s dog ad. A piece worth reading, and a reminder: It\u2019s never \u201cjust a dog,\u201d y\u2019all.https://t.co/ijQvTDOdvj pic.twitter.com/sp05Bhueob
— Hakeem Jefferson (@hakeemjefferson) December 15, 2020
In the 1930s, Pitbulls — which, as Bronwen pointed out to me over and over, don’t constitute a dog breed but a shape — used to be seen as the trusty sidekick of the proletariat, the Honda Civic of canines. (Think of “the Little Rascals” dog.)
.
That began changing in the postwar years and the rise of the suburbs. A pedigreed dog became a status symbol for the burgeoning white middle class. And pitbulls got left behind in the cities.
Aside: USians have flitted between different “dangerous” breeds and media-fueled panics around specific dogs. (anti-German xenophobia in the late 1800s fueled extermination programs of the spitz, a little German dog that newspapers said was vicious and spread disease.)
Some previously “dangerous” dogs get rebranded over the years — German shepherds, Dobermans, Rottweilers. But the thing their respective periods of contempt and concern had to do is that they were associated with some contemporarily undesirable group.
Another thread on Whittle as a companion to this thread.
Here Stephen makes an impassioned plea for the rights of trans people not to be sterilised. I agree. Does Stephen know that we are now, effectively, sterilising “transkids”? Is Stephen speaking out about this?
Yes. I agree you have the right to be parents. You know many “transmen” who have given birth. What will happen to the kids put on #PubertyBlockers followed by Cross-sex hormones?
Makes a clear statement activists did not want to campaign on “surgical status”. #LeaveNoOneBehind. Also that they have the right to bodily privacy,
Just trans folks? Do women have the right to bodily privacy?
Is this what passing looks like? Ignoring women?
Congratulations
An impassioned defence of the campaign for Self-Identification. Make no mistake this was a demand that women accept male-bodied women in single sex spaces. That was significant over-reach and a massive blunder. Women only spaces, regardless of surgery, is my stance now.
So I am in the middle of a document co-authored by Stephen Whittle. I took a little detour to have a look at Whittle on YouTube.
— Patrick\U0001f578 (@STILLTish) December 9, 2020
Here are a few clips. This one surprised me. Whittle recalls being heckled by Butch Lesbians and is asked about their role. pic.twitter.com/OWFd0kNDei
Here Stephen makes an impassioned plea for the rights of trans people not to be sterilised. I agree. Does Stephen know that we are now, effectively, sterilising “transkids”? Is Stephen speaking out about this?
Yes. I agree you have the right to be parents. You know many “transmen” who have given birth. What will happen to the kids put on #PubertyBlockers followed by Cross-sex hormones?
Makes a clear statement activists did not want to campaign on “surgical status”. #LeaveNoOneBehind. Also that they have the right to bodily privacy,
Just trans folks? Do women have the right to bodily privacy?
Is this what passing looks like? Ignoring women?
Congratulations
An impassioned defence of the campaign for Self-Identification. Make no mistake this was a demand that women accept male-bodied women in single sex spaces. That was significant over-reach and a massive blunder. Women only spaces, regardless of surgery, is my stance now.
Aboriginal self-government - legal and constitutional issues 1995 Ottawa, Canada- Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples #Metis
Aboriginal self-government - legal and constitutional issues 1995 Ottawa, Canada- Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples- pg141. - papers argues that it is logical and sensible to consider persons of mixed ancestry of all kinds to be within sec. 91(24) jurisdiction and that the
Metis are included within the fiduciary relationship owed by the crown to the Aboriginal peoples. (pg142) The recognition of Metis as one of the "aboriginal peoples of Canada" in section 35 of the Constitution Act 1982, reinforces this federal practice. "It is concluded that
sec 91(24) includes persons of mixed ancestry." pg143- "the Guerin case suggests that the federal gov. may be breaching its fiduciary obligations if it refuses to initiate legislation needed to acknowledge the existence of certain Aboriginal peoples or to meet basic economic
or social needs." https://t.co/90gG3LeCFC -
RELATED CASES AND POSTS
Guerin v. The Queen, [1984] 2 SCR 335
Aboriginal self-government - legal and constitutional issues 1995 Ottawa, Canada- Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples- pg141. - papers argues that it is logical and sensible to consider persons of mixed ancestry of all kinds to be within sec. 91(24) jurisdiction and that the
Metis are included within the fiduciary relationship owed by the crown to the Aboriginal peoples. (pg142) The recognition of Metis as one of the "aboriginal peoples of Canada" in section 35 of the Constitution Act 1982, reinforces this federal practice. "It is concluded that
sec 91(24) includes persons of mixed ancestry." pg143- "the Guerin case suggests that the federal gov. may be breaching its fiduciary obligations if it refuses to initiate legislation needed to acknowledge the existence of certain Aboriginal peoples or to meet basic economic
or social needs." https://t.co/90gG3LeCFC -
RELATED CASES AND POSTS
Guerin v. The Queen, [1984] 2 SCR 335
You May Also Like
1/ Some initial thoughts on personal moats:
Like company moats, your personal moat should be a competitive advantage that is not only durable—it should also compound over time.
Characteristics of a personal moat below:
2/ Like a company moat, you want to build career capital while you sleep.
As Andrew Chen noted:
3/ You don’t want to build a competitive advantage that is fleeting or that will get commoditized
Things that might get commoditized over time (some longer than
4/ Before the arrival of recorded music, what used to be scarce was the actual music itself — required an in-person artist.
After recorded music, the music itself became abundant and what became scarce was curation, distribution, and self space.
5/ Similarly, in careers, what used to be (more) scarce were things like ideas, money, and exclusive relationships.
In the internet economy, what has become scarce are things like specific knowledge, rare & valuable skills, and great reputations.
Like company moats, your personal moat should be a competitive advantage that is not only durable—it should also compound over time.
Characteristics of a personal moat below:
I'm increasingly interested in the idea of "personal moats" in the context of careers.
— Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) November 22, 2018
Moats should be:
- Hard to learn and hard to do (but perhaps easier for you)
- Skills that are rare and valuable
- Legible
- Compounding over time
- Unique to your own talents & interests https://t.co/bB3k1YcH5b
2/ Like a company moat, you want to build career capital while you sleep.
As Andrew Chen noted:
People talk about \u201cpassive income\u201d a lot but not about \u201cpassive social capital\u201d or \u201cpassive networking\u201d or \u201cpassive knowledge gaining\u201d but that\u2019s what you can architect if you have a thing and it grows over time without intensive constant effort to sustain it
— Andrew Chen (@andrewchen) November 22, 2018
3/ You don’t want to build a competitive advantage that is fleeting or that will get commoditized
Things that might get commoditized over time (some longer than
Things that look like moats but likely aren\u2019t or may fade:
— Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) November 22, 2018
- Proprietary networks
- Being something other than one of the best at any tournament style-game
- Many "awards"
- Twitter followers or general reach without "respect"
- Anything that depends on information asymmetry https://t.co/abjxesVIh9
4/ Before the arrival of recorded music, what used to be scarce was the actual music itself — required an in-person artist.
After recorded music, the music itself became abundant and what became scarce was curation, distribution, and self space.
5/ Similarly, in careers, what used to be (more) scarce were things like ideas, money, and exclusive relationships.
In the internet economy, what has become scarce are things like specific knowledge, rare & valuable skills, and great reputations.
