My 2025 Reading

Clearly I read a lot, I haven't posted this stuff here but I thought I'd give it a go. I've been intentionally reading more and keeping track since 2002, so longer than some of my children have been alive.

My top 10 takeaways in 2025:

• We don’t rise to the level of our ambition but fall to the level of our systems. From Great by Choice
• If you get a result from the majority of people the majority of the time it’s not the people it’s the system. From Learning Systems Thinking
• Leaders who share in the risks they create don’t just earn trust, they sharpen their judgment. From Skin in the Game
• If you don’t prioritize your life someone else will. From Essentialism
• How we frame the problem determines what we see and what we don’t. From Clear Thinking
• If you’re still making every decision, checking every detail, and solving every problem, you haven’t built a team. You’ve built a bottleneck with your name on it. From Product Driven
• Instead of trying to get customers to say you exceeded my expectations, you are trying to get them to say you made that easy. From The Effortless Experience
• It doesn't feel like something to being wrong, it feels like being right. From Being Wrong
• You are a story you tell yourself. From You Are Not So Smart
• Effective leadership is more akin to gardening than chess. From Team of Teams

I also read a lot of fiction, stand outs are finishing the Hyperion series and starting the Expanse series. I also decided to read the rest of the Cosmere books from Brandon Sanderson which was a delight. Lots of ups, some downs. The surprising book that has lived rent free in my head is Tender is the Flesh. Disturbing to the core, and not for everyone.

I'm sharing because I keep thinking I need to participate in this community more, so nothing like starting the year off by contributing what I loved last year.