The Adentures Of Charlie Hardaker

BOOK 5 - $100 Start Up – Chris Guillebeau

The fifth book I listened to was on another Business Insider reading list. I was in need of a good read after the last book I read and $100 Start Up did not disappoint. It was genuinely heart-warming and I have since recommended it to many of my friends. Guillebeau illustrates the lessons in each chapter through inspiring vignettes and thought provoking examples of how to create different types of businesses. 

I took away some valuable lessons from this book:

1.       Follow a passion - but, it doesn’t have to be your primary topic of interest to be a good business idea. Your venture doesn’t have to aligned with your greatest passion but it does help if the work matters to you. I love playing hockey but I have no intention of making a career out of it. I do, however, also enjoy inventing and new solutions and making people’s lives better and this would be a better direction for me to focus a new enterprise.

2.       Lifestyle choices. The book focuses on how to cultivate a life you enjoy rather than how to become an overnight millionaire. Whether it be writing a blog whilst travelling or developing a business which gives you control over your lifestyle, it’s about spending your precious time doing the things that make you feel happy and fulfilled.

3.       Invest in your customers, not marketing. Keep the idea small and focus on using the successes of your customers’ experiences and their feedback to grow your business; this means that you don’t waste money on marketing and gives you the ability to create an even better product.

4.       Most Start-ups fail. This statement is what puts most people off of branching out on their own, but if you don’t invest too much at the being and if you re-enforce success when you come across it, you are guaranteed to at least come away with a wealth of new knowledge and experience and that is a success in and of itself. You don’t have to quit your job today, so just wait until you have proven your business is a success before letting go of the safety net.

 This book embodies the reasons why I am writing up my 52 books of 2018 – I want to better understand potential business opportunities and scope potential opportunities to top up my income (I might look into VLOGs and Podcasts next).

"A Leader is a Dealer in Hope" (Speech 3) 

Toastmasters Speech 3: Get to the Point

OBJECTIVES Select a speech topic and determine its general and specific purposes.

Organize the speech in a manner that best achieves those purposes,

Ensure the beginning, body and conclusion reinforce the purposes.

Project sincerity and conviction and control any nervousness you may feel.

"life isn't about finding yourself, Life is about creating yourself" (Toastmasters Speech 2) 

Toastmasters Speech 2: Organise Your Speech

There are four aims for this speech:

Toastmasters Table Topic "2016 A Year To Remember" 

Table Topics are impromptu speeches. The purpose of the Table Topics section is to help members think on their feet and speak on a given subject for between one and two minutes. It also allows speaking opportunities for those who are not programmed for other roles on the Agenda. My Table Topic was "how would Harambe the Gorilla's want to be remembered at his funeral"   

My Icebreaker "Charles Charlie Charles"

My first prepared speech at Citi Criers Toastmasters, the Icebreaker titled "Charles Charlie Charles". I found it very useful to watch other Toastmasters' Icebreakers, therefore it is only fair that I publish mine to help other first timers.

My Wedding's Groom's Speech

BOOK 3 – The Mom Test – Rob Fitzpatrick

The third book on my 2018 resolution list is another recommendation by the Citi Ventures team and the only one thus far that I have had to buy in hardcopy, as it didn’t come in audio book (how archaic). Although the cover of it sparked dubious glances from my fellow commuters and bemused my colleagues who saw it sitting on my desk, it really developed how I effectively asked if any of my ideas are any good.

In short, when you ask you mother if an idea is any good she will likely tell you that your idea is the best and greatest she has ever heard. Likewise, if you ask a friend about your idea they will probably tell you what they think you want to hear. Even when asking for “honest opinions” people are more likely to pick holes in future details of an idea rather than develop the understanding of the problem.

The second book I listened to was on recommendation by both Bill Gates and Warren Buffet so I instantly thought, ‘WOW, this must be an incredible book.’ After genuinely great first book I was ready to thoroughly enjoy myself again; however, this book was much more of a history book of unique business issues than a how to run a business or become a better corporate leader.

The book focuses on mainly on events in 1950s-60s with some lengthy and detailed pre-war vignettes. Although there are some highlighted takeaways and lessons from the author most of the text comes from the people he interviews which means that it is up to the reader to get their own lessoned learn and value from the book.

By the end I could see why these two titans of industry loved this book for it’s coverage of business and investment strategy over the years; industry and banking has come so far since then but the overall sentiment for success has remained the same.

I write this article after having read seven other books on my list and I wish now that I had added it further down the line.  I already feel more professionally mature than I was at the time of reading Business Adventures and the later in this list I had left it the better development value I think I would have gained.

I will revisit this book again in many years when I have matured professionally as I feel there are many potential lessons still to extract from the book.

BOOK 1 - Lean Startup – Eric Ries

The first book I listened to was by recommendation from the Citi Ventures team, and I was genuinely surprised at how much I enjoyed it. It was so good I bought a hard copy to make notes in as I went along. 

In Lean Startup, Eric takes you through his ‘build-measure-learn’ sequence with great case studies and tips on how you can apply these principles. It made me understand the different mindsets required for working in the corporate world versus in a start-up, and particularly how success is  measured in these environments. It also led me to reflect on my military experiences and realise that this is how we were taught to win - by learning, and therefore thinking, faster than everyone else. In the army it is referred to as getting inside someone’s OODA Loop, the OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide and Act) being a concept originally applied to the combat operations process, often at the strategic level in military operations). 

Great book for anyone who wants to start thinking about their own business or being in charge.

My main takeaways from this book are:

Entrepreneurship can be anywhere. Militaries and corporations can apply it just as easily as an individual with the correct senior management support. I now like to tell people that my role within Citi is as an “Intrepreneur”

Entrepreneurship is a form of management. Large organisations are often put off by innovation and entrepreneurship because they see it as unfocused and unmeasurable and  individuals generally want to work for start-ups to get away from traditional management structures; but actually, entrepreneurship is just a different type of management outside of Focus Programmes and Project or Business As Usual (BAU).

Build-Measure-Learn. This is the heart of Eric’s book and the start-up mindset, for me it is a different way of applying the OODA Loop.

My New Year’s resolution for 2018 was to read a book a week (by audiobook), finishing 52 books this year. Why am I doing this as a resolution? Am I mad? My wife sure thinks so, as the average cost of one of these books is £10, it is likely that this resolution will cost me at least £520 (which is one of the reasons we aren’t going on holiday outside of Western Europe this year).  

Here is why I am doing this:

It will make me a better leader.  Arrogantly I believed for the last two years that with over 7 years military experience I would immediately be a great leader outside the armed forces. That experience did make me a good leader, but I must keep developing in order to become great.

Broaden my knowledge. It will give me a wider understanding of the world and what makes it tick, and as such give me an advantage over the challenges I face.

Increase my worldview.  It will open my mind to new ideas, new cultures, and new worldviews.

Help with Creativity. Exploring new ways of thinking and viewing the world helps us understand how we can add value to the world and encourages us to become the best version of ourselves as individuals and not a fleet of drones. We begin to see the world differently and we find new creative solutions because of it.

Because it is hard. A book a week is hard work it will take discipline and drive in order to achieve this. I am additionally writing a blog to ensure that the lessons I learn after reading each book are cemented into my mind, and I also hope that this will be a useful tool to help my friends and colleagues in choosing their next books.

Why have I waited until February to mention this blogging bit? Well because,

a.       I have actually been successful in keeping up the pace thus far, and

b.       a number of the books have really motivated me, and one specifically recommended starting a blog on something you are interested in. No better place and time to start than now.

So, after trawling through a number of websites with recommended reading lists, focusing on the books for personal and professional development (most of which I was apparently supposed to read before I turned 30…Oops), below is my draft list (subject to change through the course of the year).

Wish me luck!

1.       Creativity, Inc.

2.       Rework

1.       The Power of Habit

2.       Predictably Irrational

3.       Lean In

4.       The Lean Startup

5.       Good to Great

6.       The Start Up of You

7.       The Red Notice

8.       Leading Change

9.       McKenzie Mind

10.   FedEx Delivers

11.   The 7 Habits of highly Successful people

12.   Never Split the Difference

13.   Virtual Freedom

14.   How to Win at the Sport of Business

15.   Stress Test: Reflections of a Financial crisis

16.   The Intelligent Investor

17.   Security Analysis

18.   The Essays of Warren Buffet

19.   Losing my Virginity

20.   Finding my Virginity

21.   Innovators Dilemma

22.   Innovators Solution

23.   Business Adventures

24.   Mom Test

25.   Pitch Anything

26.   $100 Start Up

27.   How to Win Friends and Influence people

28.   Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits

29.   Jack: Straight From the gut

30.   The Outsides

31.   Outliers