This incredibly thought-provoking book describes the negative impact that social media and overparenting are having on today’s youth. It made me reflect on my own actions, as both a CEO and a parent, and what ways I’ve contributed to today’s “safetyism” culture. Its core message has stayed with me—and has led me to develop new ways to drive innovation and smart risk-taking at the office, while also helping me to encourage independence and resilience with my children at home.
Technology has already infiltrated every human interaction, but 2018 may be remembered as the year we truly started to grapple with the consequences. So perhaps it’s no surprise that when Bloomberg asked dozens of business leaders to name the best book they read this year, The Coddling of the American Mind, by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, received the most votes.
Also garnering several votes was John Carreyrou’s Bad Blood, the deep dive into the rise and fall of blood testing startup Theranos. PayPal’s Dan Schulman and Andreessen Horowitz’s Katie Haun both said this was their favorite book of 2018. Haun, who used to work as a Justice Department prosecutor (though not directly on Theranos), said it was fascinating to hear the other side of the story.
Practically overnight, Theranos went from being a $9 billion unicorn to losing it all. It’s a cautionary tale on what can happen when a captivating narrative distracts from business fundamentals—and the perils of squelching dissent at all costs. Carreyrou’s work also underscores the importance of investigative journalism, without which this story may well have never been told.Practically overnight, Theranos went from being a $9 billion unicorn to losing it all. It’s a cautionary tale on what can happen when a captivating narrative distracts from business fundamentals—and the perils of squelching dissent at all costs. Carreyrou’s work also underscores the importance of investigative journalism, without which this story may well have never been told.
Well-known technology executive and angel investor Elad Gil has worked with high growth tech companies like Airbnb, Twitter, Google, Instacart, Coinbase, Stripe, and Square as they’ve grown from small companies into global brands. Across all of these break-out companies, a set of common patterns has evolved into a repeatable playbook that Gil has codified in Well-known technology executive and angel investor Elad Gil has worked with high growth tech companies like Airbnb, Twitter, Google, Instacart, Coinbase, Stripe, and Square as they’ve grown from small companies into global brands. Across all of these break-out companies, a set of common patterns has evolved into a repeatable playbook that Gil has codified in High Growth Handbook.
Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Loveis a look at how successful technology companies such as Google, Tesla, and Netflix design, develop, and deploy attention-grabbing products. Discussions in this book focus on structuring staff and discovering/delivering technology products your customers will love. The client-centered approach mirrors what we do at Schwab; the emphasis on how successful teams work when the client is at the center echoes what we are undertaking within Schwab’s Digital Services team.
How do today’s most successful tech companies—Amazon, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Tesla—design, develop, and deploy the products that have earned the love of literally billions of people around the world? Perhaps surprisingly, they do it very differently than the vast majority of tech companies. In INSPIRED, technology product management thought leader Marty Cagan provides readers with a master class in how to structure and staff a vibrant and successful product organization, and how to discover and deliver technology products that your customers will love—and that will work for your business.
With sections on assembling the right people and skillsets, discovering the right product, embracing an effective yet lightweight process, and creating a strong product culture, readers can take the information they learn and immediately leverage it within their own organizations—dramatically improving their own product efforts.
Whether you’re an early stage startup working to get to product/market fit, or a growth-stage company working to scale your product organization, or a large, long-established company trying to regain your ability to consistently deliver new value for your customers, INSPIRED will take you and your product organization to a new level of customer engagement, consistent innovation, and business success.
Filled with the author’s own personal stories—and profiles of some of today’s most-successful product managers and technology-powered product companies, including Adobe, Apple, BBC, Google, Microsoft, and Netflix—INSPIRED will show you how to turn up the dial of your own product efforts, creating technology products your customers love.