| January 18th |
"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey
- One of my favorites as well. "Begin with the end in mind" is one of my go-to strategies.
- That book club session was so much fun!
- In both my professional life and personal life, I jump from deadline to deadline and focus too much on urgency that often I neglect what's important. Time to "sharpen the saw" in 2024 and remind myself to set aside time for people or causes that are important to me.
- The richness of the discussion highlighted the relevance of Covey's principles to the challenges project managers face.
- The discussion on empathetic listening was a cornerstone on improving communication with others.
|
4.5 |
4.82 |
| March 21st |
"The Jelly Effect" by Andy Bounds
- My understanding of the book could be summed as, "Poor communication is like throwing jelly at a wall - it does not stick."
- "People do not care about what you say. They only care about what they are left with AFTER you've said it." I loved the author's explanation of AFTER. It is like determining the effect you want your communication to have before the conversation starts.
- The communication tips within this book are great because they apply to a wide variety of situations, like how to network to promote professional development and specific strategies regarding it, how to give a presentation to a team or executives, or how to think about and understand the needs of stakeholders.
- "The Big Fish Concept : The people you are itching to meet (decision makers in organizations & influencers), once you identify them, you will see that they are everywhere." Although I have always known this, reading it in the book was very profound for me.
|
4 |
4.5 |
| May 16th |
"How to Measure Anything" (Chapters 1 -7) by Douglas W. Hubbard
- My understanding of the reading could be summed as, "You can measure anything you want, as long as you know what you are measuring in a very concrete way."
- The section in the book on calibrating estimates was very exciting as it presents a very visceral way of understanding choices in the context of what it means to have a confidence interval of any given amount. Would you rather take a given chance to be right with your decision or answer or would you leave it up to spinning a wheel of the equivalent chance?
- I liked the discussion on risk management as it goes against traditional methods of risk assessment and reveals what those issues are and ways to rectify the shortcomings.
|
4.2 |
4.5 |
| July 18th |
"How to Measure Anything" (Chapters 8 - 14) by Douglas W. Hubbard
- One of my takeaways is learning the skill Bayesian reasoning with the intent to integrate new information into decisions."
- A part I liked was the discussion on how, while correlation does not prove causation (which is something everyone says), the book makes the point that correlation is evidence of causation.
|
3.25 |
3.4 |
| September 19th |
"Business Acumen For Project Managers" by Steven Haines
- I enjoyed learning about the importance of establishing relationships throughout an organization and not limiting myself to just my department in order to understand how everyone fits into the organization's overall goals.
- A part I liked was the discussion on the interaction between business strategy (how to get there), business goals (where to go), and the makeup of the business (where we are now).
|
3.7 |
4 |
| November 21st |
"The 360 Degree Leader" by John C. Maxwell
- It was interesting to learn about the author's point that leadership is about influence and not position and the various methods available to lead up, across, and down an organization. The discussion on leading down was very illuminating because that's an area where I do not have much experience because I typically am in lower positions within an organization.
- The book provided valuable takeaways for me, including the importance of leadership as a practice of influence, strategies for leading in all directions, and practical tools to strengthen relationships and inspire others.
|
4.14 |
4.87 |
