Need some holiday reading? | Issue #221
Top 10 business books of 2022
I’ve read so many great books this year, and I’ve had the pleasure of talking with some of the authors on The Melting Pot. If you’re looking for inspiration to come back stronger and smarter in 2023, here’s the list of some of the books I’ve enjoyed the most this year. Enjoy!
The Science Behind Forecasting And Making Decisions with Annie Duke
This week on the Melting Pot, we talked with and learned from Annie Duke, an ex-professional poker player and author of two books, Thinking in bets and Quit. The first makes a parallel between poker and business, and covers ways in which we could bring the critical decision-making process from gambling into the entrepreneurial adventure. The latter is a gem that helps us know when to call it quits. More specifically, it helps decision-makers discover the neuroscience behind firing people and how to do it right. She proposes a precise methodology to know where an employee is not a good fit anymore and how to let them understand that it is time for them to quit.
After earning the title of ‘The Duchess of Poker’, she now focuses on cognitive-behavioural decision authorship and coaches businesses in making the right decisions in their environment.
Download and listen to this fascinating episode where Annie shares the journey that led her to coaching decision-makers, interesting concepts such as loss aversion, and what aspects of the human cognitive bias can affect our forecasting.
Recommended Podcasts
What are the best sales professionals doing to get to the top? In the Sales Success Stories podcast, Scott Ingram interviews and deconstructs world class sales performers to uncover their favorite sales books, habits, routines, strategies and tips. These salespeople are the A+ players among A players.
Recommended Articles
Survey: What Attracts Top Tech Talent?
We define culture as “how work gets done around here”. Put simply, it is your organization’s DNA: deeply embedded in your people’s actual values, assumptions, behaviors and mindsets – which might be very different from written values or leader talking points. And because culture has a direct link to performance, a strong culture most often leads to increased business value. In fact, 91% of executives surveyed said that improving corporate culture is likely to increase their organization’s value and nearly 80% ranked culture among the five most important factors driving their valuation.
Harnessing the Science of Persuasion
No leader can succeed without mastering the art of persuasion. But there’s hard science in that skill, too, and a large body of psychological research suggests there are six basic laws of winning friends and influencing people.
“Culture isn’t your coffee machine, the latest Apple Macs, ping pong tables or free lunches. Culture is the people! You can’t manufacture culture.” A few quick fixes to improve the culture.
Recommended Reads
Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke
Even the best decision doesn’t yield the best outcome every time. There’s always an element of luck that you can’t control, and there is always information that is hidden from view. So the key to long-term success (and avoiding worrying yourself to death) is to think in bets: How sure am I? What are the possible ways things could turn out? What decision has the highest odds of success? Did I land in the unlucky 10% on the strategy that works 90% of the time? Or is my success attributable to dumb luck rather than great decision-making? Annie Duke, a former World Series of Poker champion turned business consultant, draws on examples from business, sports, politics, and (of course) poker to share tools anyone can use to embrace uncertainty and make better decisions.
Quote of the week
“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.”
Harry S. Truman
Dominic Monkhouse
Dominic offers business coaching and management development, strategy planning and organisational change, using tried and tested methods to launch your organisation onto an unparalleled growth trajectory. His programme is a function of his broad experience, his deep expertise and a proven process used by over 2,700 firms worldwide.