Books & Dogs
With information (fake and real) traveling at lightning speed, the bad guys winning the constant game of security whack-a-mole, and regulation, it’s downright insane out there. Throw in SaaD/SaaS renewals and mercury retrograde and it might be time to hang up my spurs.
In two weeks’ time, we have been:
- locked out of salesforce.
- driven to heck and back by their renewal team (which is still not resolved).
- locked out of our bank account due to email spoofing.
- told by our bank we must install ‘positive pay services’ to make sure auto debits are legit.
- notified by our payroll company that a certain country now requires all women under 55 be given 12 days of mandatory menstrual leave each year.
We have had to:
- upgrade everyone’s multi-factor authentication.
- Add in a stronger email defender.
- certify the spoof situation was resolved by double-authenticating, live by phone, that I am me. This is to prove I am not a spoofer spoofing my own IT firm’s ‘all’s clear’ letter since I am the one that sent it.
I told my colleague I’d been MFA’d. His reply: “I remember when that meant Museum of Fine Arts.”
If only.
32 years in and a member of the 13% club, we are still a SMB. But the bureaucracy we have inherited makes IBM look like a nimble start-up.
Can’t we just make life simpler? For that I turn to my lab-less lab, in full Yoda mode, living his best life. Yup, that’s him in the photo Tuesday afternoon. I am at work. He is with the dog walker. Something is wrong when the dog is at the beach and I’m at a desk.
I decide to give thanks for Thanksgiving. It cannot come soon enough. Four days off will feel like four weeks in the dog years of internet time. The holiday will yield a nice rest.
Life is good when it’s simple. A run on the beach. Turkey, mashed potatoes, time with family. A good book. A warm blanket. A roaring fire. If the dog is alongside so much the better. So we are sharing a great list of books to enjoy this holiday season generated from our annual CEO Sentiment Study taken in early fall. Here among a series of questions they also shared their favorite book of the year.
Not to be outdone, we asked Chat GPT to characterize our CEO Network members based on this list.
“These book choices reveal a cohort of CEOs who are intellectually curious, analytical, and drawn to rigorous history, strategy, and future-oriented nonfiction that deepens their understanding of how complex systems work. Their selections suggest long-horizon thinkers who value principled decision-making, continuous learning, and applying structured mental models to leadership.”
So there you have it. Wherever you are in the world sprinkle some gratitude around you. That too is simple. Take the dog for a walk and enjoy this list. Happy Reading! And for those celebrating: Happy Thanksgiving! I’ll be back to writing on the 5th of December.
1. A Certain Idea of America (2)
2. A Story Lately Told
3. Adam Grant — Hidden Potential
4. All’arme! All’arme! I priori fanno carne!
5. Another Way (2)
6. April Dunford — Obviously Awesome
7. CEO Excellence
8. Cold Start
9. Dereliction of Duty
10. Dominate in a Downturn
11. Good Strategy / Bad Strategy
12. How Big Things Get Done
13. Invisible Women
14. Isaac’s Storm
15. Last of the Mohicans
16. Life in a Medieval Castle
17. Madame Bovary (2)
18. Men and Rubber: The Story of Business
19. The CIA Book Club
20. The Coming of the Third Reich
21. The Enduring Constitution (2)
22. The First 20 Minutes
23. The Inner Game of Work
24. The Power Broker (2)
25. The Singularity is Nearer (2)
26. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F
27. The Tipping Point
28. Those Passions: On Art and Politics
29. Three Hours in Paris
30. Tiger Woods