You are sabotaging your own personal and professional growth if you're not finding time to read.

These are the books that changed my life, and what I learned from them:
1. 'The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership'

Taught me how to reframe responsibility to take agency, and approac things with an open and curious mindset.

It also allowed me to bring emotional vulnerability to work

(cont.)
The key to agency is learning how to operate at the zone around 100% responsibility

Taking < 100% is a victim-mentality: you are letting things happen to you.

Conversely, taking > 100% is overstepping boundaries and playing the hero role
This book helped me reframe situations and react to events in my own life with more measure and clarity.
2. Untethered Soul

Introduces the Eastern philosophy of the 'witness.'

Recognize that you are an observer of thoughts, feelings, and sensations

If you've been watching the new @Marvel show, #WhatIf, it's like being The Watcher.

(cont.)
Another word for this is mindfulness.

Practicing nonjudgmental awareness and building that muscle over time has been really powerful in my leadership and personal growth.

It helped me put some space between stimulus and response.
3. 'Influence'

This is an esp. important one for entrepreneurs:

Outlines psychological ways to influence people to use your product, or your team to move towards specific goals.

Lots of great anecdotes highlighting the intricate social dimensions of exchange
4. 'The Artist's Way'

Even if you are not an artist, a creative's mind is a useful perspective to have.

We are all creative people in our hearts and minds - like any muscle, it needs to be trained consistently in order to free our thinking.

(cont.)
Creativity unlocks a freedom of expression that you can always tap into.

Many people stop being creative once they grow up; learning to reconnect with that spirit can be powerful for your mindset growth.
5. 'Shoe Dog'

A memoir by Phil Knight, founder of @nike.

Inspiring stories about how close the company came to dying multiple times, yet finding ways to survive.
6. 'Siddartha' (Hermann Hesse)

A story about the quest for enlightenment, making mistakes, and the importance of learning things the hard way.

This book has inspired me at multiple points in my life, especially to value the challenges I've faced.
7. 'Shogun' (James Cavell)

Fictional story about a British sailor who gets marooned in feudal Japan, at the center of political intrigue.

Interesting tactics about problem solving that helped us get out of a $150K lawsuit @twitch over a soccer match stream!
8. 'Dare to Lead' (Brene Brown)

One of the most important books in my business career, if you haven't seen her TedTalk about vulnerability go check it out

Vulnerability = strength
As a CEO and as a founder, vulnerability is often mistaken for weakness.

This book changed my mind.

The ability to connect with others is one of the most important parts of great leadership.

(cont.)
I spent my whole life running from negative emotions - I was very conflict avoidant.

It takes real courage to say how you feel in the moment, and inspiring others to reciprocate.

Being able to wholly feel your emotions and accept them is a superpower.
What are your favorite books? Let me know

This list was based on a video I did with my good friend @jasontan, where we break down each of these titles and our learnings in more detail:

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Justin Kan

Justin Kan Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @justinkan

9 Sep
What if I told you that I felt like a failure even after selling Twitch for a billion dollars?

This is for anyone experiencing impostor syndrome:
When you're in a startup, it's easy to feel like everyone else is crushing it while you are drowning.

Comparison is a fundamental part of our human nature and it is also our greatest bane.
This is the consequence of information asymmetry.

You're always seeing examples of the good news; everyone else is only showing the positive stuff.

Meanwhile, you are observing the full range of your own experiences. Some are good, some are bad.
Read 17 tweets
4 Sep
Here's what you need to know (and avoid) when it comes to company growth:

(from a former @ycombinator partner who failed a bunch of companies and sold one for $1 billion)
Inspired by a conversation I had with my friends @mattfong_ , @jamiequint, and @eshear's iconic thread celebrating the 10 year anniversary of @Twitch
1. Don't over-rely on press as your primary distribution strategy.

There are very rare cases of companies that manage to hack the press by forcing reporters to write about them over and over again.
Read 16 tweets
19 Aug
I've been a mentor to countless founders over the years

Here are the common traps 🪤 founders fall into that guarantee failure:
Waiting way too long to start their company.

I see this too often - people waiting for the 'perfect' opportunity and psyching themselves out and getting scared.

The secret:

There is never a perfect opportunity. You should start yesterday.
Being blinded by 'consistency' over truth.

Its important to recognize when your initial ideas aren't working;

Developing the wisdom to know when to pivot and adapt is such a vital skill.

Don't be a slave to the sunk-cost-fallacy.
Read 19 tweets
30 Jul
When we started justin.tv back in 2007, I had no idea what it would evolve into.

Nearly 15 years later, I sat down with the OG @twitch founders for a special reunion.

Here are some of my favorite moments:
It's 2010, and we were all sitting in @mwseibel 's apartment brainstorming and preparing for our interview with @google the next day

(cont.)
It was already a stressful situation and suddenly I received a phone call from an unlisted number.

A voice asked, 'Hello, is this Justin Kan?'

I instantly regretted answering the phone.
Read 12 tweets
21 Jul
Just launched my pod w/ @ImMollyBloom, the real-life Molly Bloom of 'Molly's Game', on YouTube!

Molly ran an underground poker game for Hollywood's 1%, then got raid by the FBI.

She was left w/ one thing: her story.

Here are a few things Molly wants you to know:

[A thread]
Always remember why you started in the 1st place.

When our motivations change, it is easy to make mistakes. Molly's plan from Day 1 had always been to make money, build connections, then bounce.

But she stayed and her motivations changed. This led to a bunch of bad decisions.
Bigger game, bigger stakes.

The more you have, the more you need to worry about.

When working at waitress' salary, Molly's biggest worry was getting fired. When she brought in $5m/year, she had a gun in her mouth.

It's a lot to have, but a lot to lose.
Read 5 tweets
14 Jul
New pod drop with @Conaw on:

Evangelical churches, networked thoughts and why @RoamResearch is about writing a Bible together.

[A thread]
[0:38-14:02]

An anthropology major, Conor spent nine months immersing himself and studying Evangelical Christian communities.

A fateful motorcycle crash led him to sleep on a stranger's couch. When debating about God, Conor realized that Christianity is about fellowships.
[31:22-40:03]

Roam became an extension of his philosophy: seeking truth, through collective intel. Its first step is to help people take notes differently.

Each note uploads a mental network to the cloud. Think of the multiplayer mode of Roam as writing a collective Bible.
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(