Be polite, on time, and work really fucking hard until you are talented enough to be blunt, a little late, and take vacations and even then … be polite.
Ashton Kutcher is a prominent actor, investor, and entrepreneur. He began his acting career in the popular sitcom That ’70s Show, which aired for eight seasons, and he starred in the comedy and box office hit Dude, Where’s My Car? He is a renowned technology investor, with investments in Airbnb, Square, Skype, Uber, Foursquare, Duolingo, and others. He is currently a co-founder and chairman of the board of A Plus, a digital media company devoted to spreading the message of positive journalism, where he leads strategic partnerships with brands and influencers. In 2009, he became the first Twitter user to reach one million followers, and he now has close to 20 million.
What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?
The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp. If you want to be a hands-on parent and also have some of a career, this book is gold. I usually send it with another book called The Sleepeasy Solution, written by Jennifer Waldburger and Jill Spivack.
The brainy book I seem to be sharing or talking about the most lately is Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. The more that I study people and the way systems work, the more I realize that it’s all made up. It’s easy to spout philosophies, or quote books, well-known people, or doctrines as if they are somehow of more credence than others, but the deeper you dig, the more you realize we are all just standing on piles of collective fiction. This book does a great job of illustrating that point.
I started my first business with $200…. I learned far more about business from that $200 than from a debt-inducing MBA.
Kevin Kelly is “senior maverick” at Wired magazine, which he co-founded in 1993. He also co-founded the All Species Foundation, a non-profit aimed at cataloging and identifying every living species on Earth, and the Rosetta Project, which is building an archive of all documented human languages. In his spare time, he writes best-selling books and serves on the board of the Long Now Foundation. As part of the last, he’s investigating how to revive and restore endangered or extinct species, including the woolly mammoth. He might be the real-world “most interesting man in the world.” His latest book is The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future.
What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are books that have greatly influenced your life?
Here are the books that altered my behavior, changed my mind, redirected the course of my life. These books have been levers for me (and others). I list them in the order they entered my life.
Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke: For a kid growing up without TV in the boring enclaves of suburbia in the ’50s and early ’60s, science fiction opened up my universe. I devoured any and all science fiction our public library contained. Arthur C. Clarke’s stories in particular birthed a lifelong interest in science and a deep respect for the power of imagination. This story of a singularity always stuck with me as something to prepare for.
Ask yourself, “Would you say yes if this were next Tuesday?” It’s so easy to commit to things that are weeks or months out, when your schedule still looks uncluttered.
Esther Dyson is the founder of HICCup and chairman of EDventure Holdings. Esther is an active angel investor, best-selling author, board member, and advisor concentrating on emerging markets and technologies, new space, and health. She sits on the boards of 23andMe and Voxiva (txt4baby), and is an investor in Crohnology, Eligible API, Keas, Omada Health, Sleepio, StartUp Health, and Valkee, among others. From October 2008 to March 2009, Esther lived in Star City outside Moscow, Russia, training as a backup cosmonaut.
What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?
The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction Is Not a Disease by Marc Lewis. Addiction is short-term desire. Purpose is long-term desire.
Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir. An explanation of scarcity for rich intellectuals, showing how poor people do stupid things for lack of money, while rich people do stupid things for lack of time.
From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds by Daniel C. Dennett. How consciousness arises, and how much it depends on a sense of past, present, and future (plus a lot of other interesting insights).
For me [mdeitation] is a great safe place where I can go deeply into my own trauma and drama, free from fea—decreasing being reactive and clearing space to be proactive.
Michael “Mike D” Diamond is a rapper, musician, songwriter, drummer, and fashion designer, best known as a founding member of the pioneering hip-hop group The Beastie Boys. The Beastie Boys have been included in Rolling Stone‘s “Top 100 Greatest Artists of All Time” and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2012. Eminem said, “It’s obvious to anyone how big of an influence the Beastie Boys were on me and so many others.” The Beastie Boys disbanded in 2012 after the death of one of the group’s founding members, Adam “MCA” Yauch. Mike currently hosts a Beats 1 radio show, The Echo Chamber.
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a “favorite failure” of yours?
Wow, there are so many instances of moments that either didn’t go as we wanted at all as a band—ideas imaged and not realized, shows that seemed to last a lifetime because nothing would click—but perhaps the most “liberating” failure I can think of is an album of ours: Paul’s Boutique. Over time it turned out not to be such a failure, as a lot of people cite it as their favorite of our albums. But it does make us wonder what all of these people were so busy with at the time of its release that they couldn’t make it to a record store (really a CD store at the time) to part with $9.99.
I ask myself, “What’s the most loving thing I can do for myself and others right now?” Then I get to it.
Leo Babauta is the founder of Zen Habits, a website dedicated to finding simplicity and mindfulness in the daily chaos of our lives. Zen Habits has more than two million readers, and Time magazine named it one of the “Top 25 Blogs” for 2009 and one of the “Top 50 Websites” for 2011. Leo is the author of The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential … in Business and in Life, Essential Zen Habits: Mastering the Art of Change, Briefly, and several other books.
What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last six months (or in recent memory)?
I got a Manduka PRO black yoga mat for about $100 (on sale). It is such a heavy, luxurious mat that it encourages me to practice at home, which is frankly a miracle.
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a “favorite failure” of yours?
In 2005, I was stuck—deeply in debt, overweight, addicted to junk food, no time for my family, couldn’t stick to an exercise plan. I felt like an absolute failure. But this led to me researching habits and how to change them, and I put my entire being into making one single change. And then another. It led to my entire life changing, and to me helping others to change habits. It felt horrible, but it was one of the most incredible lessons of my life.
Dr. Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. Brené’s 2010 TEDxHouston Talk, “The Power of Vulnerability,” has been viewed more than 36 million times and is one of the top five most viewed TED Talks in the world. She has spent the past 14 years studying vulnerability, courage, worthiness, and shame. Brené is also the New York Times best-selling author of Daring Greatly, The Gifts of Imperfection, Rising Strong, and Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone.
What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?
I give out a lot of books. My go-to list includes The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner (so helpful for couples in that “I’m screaming and he’s/she’s shutting down” cycle) and her new books, Why Won’t You Apologize? (Turns out that most of us are pretty terrible apologizers—this really changed me.) For new parents, I love the Positive Disciple series by Jane Nelsen (empowering for kids and parents) and the Touchpoints series by T. Berry Brazelton (you really can’t guide your children if you don’t understand what’s happening developmentally). I buy everyone on my team books a few times a year. Our next reads are Stretch by Scott Sonenshein and Lead Yourself First by Kethledge and Erwin.
Bear Grylls is one of the most recognized faces of outdoor survival and adventure. Bear spent three years as a soldier in the British Special Forces, serving with 21 SAS. It was there that he perfected many of the skills he now showcases on television. His Emmy-nominated show Man vs. Wild/Born Survivor became one of the most-watched programs on the planet with an estimated audience of 1.2 billion. On his hit NBC adventure show Running Wild, he takes some of the world’s best-known stars on incredible adventures, including former president Barack Obama, Ben Stiller, Kate Winslet, Zac Efron, and Channing Tatum. He has authored 20 books, including the #1 best-selling autobiography, Mud, Sweat & Tears.
What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?
Rhinoceros Success by Scott Alexander. I read this at age 13, and it basically told me that life is tough and like a jungle, and that life rewards the rhions who charge hard at their goals and never give up. And above all, not to follow the cows of life who drift aimlessly and suck purpose and joy out of the journey. I give it often to people I think would love or need it.
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a “favorite failure” of yours?
I failed selection for the British SAS on my first attempt, and it ripped my heart out at the time. I had never given so much for anything and to fall short was soul-destroying. But I went back and tried a second time and eventually passed. Four out of 120 will generally make it, and they often say the best soldiers pass the second time. I like that. It tells me that tenacity matters more than talent, and in life, that is certainly true.
Excellence is the next five minutes…. Forget the long term. Make the next five minutes rock!
Tom Peters is a co-author of In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies, which is often referred to as “the best business book ever.” Sixteen books and more than 30 years later, he’s still at the forefront of the “management guru” industry he helped invent. As CNN has said, “While most business gurus milk the same mantra for all it’s worth, the one-man brand called Tom Peters is still reinventing himself.” His most recent book is The Little BIG Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence. Tom’s bedrock belief is: “Execution is strategy—it’s all about the people and the doing, not the talking and the theory.” Tom has given more than 2,500 speeches, and his speech and writing materials are available for free at tompeters.com.
What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?
Susan Cain‘s book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, Frank Partnoy’s Wait: The Art and Science of Delay, Linda Kaplan-Thaler’s The Power of Nice: How to Conquer the Business World with Kindness and The Power of Small: Why Little Things Make All the Difference, and Cathy O’Neil’s Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy.
Cain’s book embarrassed me. It suggests that most of us undervalue introverts and, thus, effectively take a pass on about 40 percent of the population. In particular, introverts tend to be more thoughtful and deliberate. And it’s not that they don’t like people—in fact, they tend to have deeper relationships with fewer people relative to extroverts.
