Every December, like clockwork, my inbox fills with emails and alerts announcing the latest trends, must-read books, and predictions for the coming year. A former client of mine calls it “bullshit bingo.” He is not wrong. Technology trends and forecasts without context create noise, confusion and chaos, instead of creating clarity and a sense of direction. It might be useful to consider the things that are not going to change. Read “Same as ever“.
The Future: Slow Down Or Go Faster
One of the first books about books I wrote was “The Future: Slow Down Or Go Faster“. The core message of the book is simple: keeping up with the relentless pace of change is nearly impossible. Instead of chasing the future, you need to return to the fundamentals.
The only two books to read
I read all the business books, so you do not have to. If you’re looking to refocus on the essentials, there are only two books I recommend—golden oldies that (will) remain relevant:
Why these two? If you want to increase your internal clock speed and agility, you need to operate on (cultural) principles so you can devolve decision-making power into all the layers of your organisation. You can use these two books as the playbook to achieve just that.
If you do anything in the lead-up to 2025
Agree with everyone in your organisation on the vision, the guiding principles, the purpose, the passion, the positioning and the resourcing. Translate that into a 100-day plan for the first 3 months of 2025. Exactly as I advised last year (and the year before, and the year before, and the year before, etc.).
Think principles.
