Thread by @peterkang34

The Barrel partners meet each quarter for an all-day session. I pick a book for us to all read ahead of the meeting & make time for discussion. It's been 4 years since we started this "book club" approach, so I wanted to share the 16 titles and why they've been transformative. 👇

1. Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman - our introduction to the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), which was a helpful framework for getting us to work “on” the business instead of in it

2. The Business of Expertise by @davidcbaker - lessons on the value of positioning and how firms must commit to becoming experts if they are to remain competitive and relevant, something we struggled with as an agency

3. Radical Candor by Kim Scott - was a popular management book at the time we read it, and the theme of giving and receiving feedback resonated with us

4. The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge - one of my favorite books of all time, about systems thinking and what it takes to have a learning org

I've written several blog posts about this book: peterkang.com/tag/the-fifth-…

5. Managing The Professional Service Firm by David H. Maister - a comprehensive book filled with practical tips & advice on running a professional service firm and how best to land new biz, grow client relationships, and manage talent

6. Trusted Advisor by David H. Maister - about establishing, nurturing, and deepening relationships with clients and understanding the dynamics at play in an authentic, mutually beneficial client-advisor relationship

7. Changing on the Job: Developing Leaders for a Complex World by Jennifer Garvey Berger - adult development theory / “forms of mind" framework for understanding growth as the ability to see others' perspectives & greater self-awareness (see sample table)

8. The E-Myth CFO: Why Most Small Businesses Run Out of Money and What to Do About It by Michael Gerber and Fred Parrish - goes into the nuts & bolts of running a small biz with topics like cash flow management & process design

Lessons I took away:
peterkang.com/lessons-from-t…

9. Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead by Laszlo Block - detailed accounts of Google’s scaled up people operations, especially the way they put an emphasis in recruitment and hiring of great talent, good inspo for small biz like ours

10. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen - lessons around weekly habits, organizing tasks, leveraging checklists, and applying the framework to different aspects of life

My takeaways: peterkang.com/lessons-from-g…

11. Les Schwab Pride in Performance: Keep It Going by Les Schwab - so much fun, had to buy used copies as they're out of print; highly personal and inspiring autobiography of legendary tire chain shop founder Les Schwab. "Life is hard."

https://twitter.com/peterkang34/status/1281422967638024193

12. The Road Less Stupid: Advice from the Chairman of the Board by Keith J. Cunningham - chock-full of practical advice and tips for small business operators; loved the concept of "Thinking Time" to make space to ponder tough questions about the biz

13. Playing With Movement: How to Explore the Many Dimensions of Physical Health and Performance by Todd Hargrove - great book to learn more about the body with many concepts that could be used as analogies to talk about biz (e.g. self-organizing complex systems, stressors, etc.)

14. What is Strategy? by Michael Porter - technically an essay and not a book, but gave us the idea to engage in an Activity Map exercise to explore ways to better position Barrel

See recap of the activity: peterkang.com/agency-journey…

15. An Everyone Culture by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey - learned about Deliberately Developmental Organizations and the possibilities of building a culture that challenges people to identify and work on their weaknesses

Was inspired to write this: peterkang.com/desired-future…

16. The Path of Least Resistance by Robert Fritz - impactful book about the creative process & the importance of developing a vision; inspired us to do some deep visioning exercises as a group

Check out takeaways by @lucasjballasy
lucasballasy.com/posts/shaping-…

In terms of how I curated these – I cast a wide net and try to read a bunch of stuff, not always finishing them.

Whenever I hit on a book that's fun to read & would make for great discussion, I nominate as a possibility. I'll usually make the call 6-8 weeks before next mtg...

to give the partners time to read, take notes, and come prepared with takeaways.

We then spend a good 60-90 minutes sharing our favorite parts and lessons and put them up on a virtual whiteboard. You can see the example from the latest one with The Path of Least Resistance.

It's interesting to see which parts of a book resonated the most with the others. Sometimes we're really aligned and other times we may appreciate the book differently. Great to experience both ways.

Overall, reading together has been great for both the business & for our personal development. It's expanded our understanding of concepts, expanded our perspectives, and given us language to better articulate ideas & situations.

That's all for now. Excited to keep adding to the list. You can check out all the books I've completed on my website and also sign up for my weekly newsletter, where I share stuff I've read.

peterkang.com/subscribe-to-p…