My favorite failure is every time I ever ate it onstage as a comedian. Because I woke up the next day and the world hadn’t ended.
Patton Oswalt is a standup comedian, actor, voice artist, and writer. For at least two years, I listed to his third comedy special, My Weakness Is Strong, on repeat in my car. I highly suggest tracks 8 and 9, “Rats” and “Orgy,” respectively. He is also known for roles including Spence Olchin in the sitcom The King of Queens; Remy (voice) in the film Ratatouille; and playing multiple identical brothers, the Koenigs, on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Patton has won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special and a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album for his Netflix standup special Patton Oswalt: Talking for Clapping. Patton is the author of the New York Times bestseller Silver Screen Fiend: Learning About Life from an Addiction to Film and Zombie Spaceship Wasteland: A Book by Patton Oswalt.
What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why?
The book I think I’ve given the most as a gift is Garret Keizer’s The Enigma of Anger. It’s an amazing meditation—but then again, so is everything Garret writes—on the dangers and benefits of blowing your stack. It’s gotten me through some moments when I could have easily eaten myself alive with rage. And, I suspect, it was a safety net for some of my more, ahem, passionate friends.
What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last six months (or in recent memory)?
ChicoBags, these reusable shopping bags for groceries. You throw a bunch in the back of your car. They’re super-sturdy, they’re cheap, and they’re great for carrying everything. Nice heft and balance, too. If you fill one with cans of chili you have a nice, medieval-style mace.
I’ve only ever had one house motto: “Fuck you, pay me.” … Things like “exposure,” or “reaching new audiences,” or having a “great experience” are all well and good, but they don’t pay the rent or put food on the table. Know your worth.
Veronica Belmont is a bot-obsessed product manager in San Francisco. She works for Growbot, helping to make sure employees get the recognition they deserve on their teams. She also helps to admin Botwiki.org and Botmakers.org, a huge community of bot creators and enthusiasts. As a writer, producer, and speaker, her primary goal has been to educate audiences of all types about how technology can enhance their lives. Through the years, her love of innovation has led to advising many startups on product, communications, and marketing, including Goodreads (acquired by Amazon), about.me (acquired by AOL), DailyDrip, SoundTracking (acquired by Rhapsody), Milk (acquired by Google), WeGame (acquired by Tagged), Forge, Chic CEO, and more. She is also a podcaster and hosts IRL for Mozilla and Sword & Laser.
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?
10% Happier by Dan Harris made me totally rethink mindfulness and meditation. For me, it was always something that “other people do,” but Dan’s experience of suffering from anxiety and panic attacks (especially on-camera, which used to be my career) struck home in a major way. Plus, since he comes to it from the perspective of a skeptic, I wasn’t worried that I was being sold to or recruited in some way! Just a great way to take stock of your thoughts and mood.
Neil Strauss is an eight-time New York Times best-selling author. His books, The Game and Rules of the Game, for which he went undercover in a secret society of pickup artists, made him an international celebrity and an accidental hero to men around the world. In his follow-up book, The Truth: An Uncomfortable Book About Relationships, Strauss dives deep into the worlds of sex addiction, nonmonogamy, infidelity, and intimacy, and explores the hidden forces that cause people to choose each other, stay together, and break up. He most recently co-authored with Kevin Hart the instant #1 New York Times bestseller I Can’t Make This Up: Life Lessons.
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 book that’s most influenced me is James Joyce’s Ulysses. I read it in senior year of high school, and it awakened me to the power and possibilities of language. It’s hypertext before hypertext existed. I reread it every three years, and each time it’s a different book.
The book I’ve given most as a gift is Under Saturn’s Shadow by James Hollis, a Jungian analyst. I’ve underlined ideas on every single page. The thrust of the book, in his words: “Men’s lives are as much governed by role expectations as are the lives of women. And the corollary is that those roles do not support, confirm, or resonate to the needs of men’s souls.”
Whenever there is any doubt, there is no doubt. —David Mamet, Ronin
Max Levchin is the co-founder and CEO of Affirm, which uses modern technology to reimagine and rebuild core components of financial infrastructure from the ground up. Previously, Max co-founded and was first chief technology officer of PayPal (acquired by eBay for $1.5 billion). He then helped start Yelp as its first investor and served as chairman for 11 years. Max also founded and was CEO of Slide, which Google acquired for $182 million. MIT Technology Review named him “Innovator of the Year” in 2002, when he was 26 years old.
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 Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov (translated by Pevear, et al.), which is I think is one of the finest works of fiction of the last century. It’s a fairly short novel, remarkable in its exceptional depth, exploring everything from fundamentals of Christian philosophy to the fantastical (and hilarious) satire of soul-corrupting 20th-century Soviet socialism. I usually buy M&M in batches of five or ten and give as gifts to new friends. There are always a few copies on my desk at work, just in case someone wants to borrow one.
Next, not a book, but a movie. I’ve watched the Kurosawa classic Seven Samurai more than 100 times (really), and used to give DVD copies of the Criterion Collection remaster to young CEOs I mentored. I love the movie (and am generally a bit of a Japanophile), but I recommend it to new managers and CEOs especially because it is fundamentally about leadership: A small band of courageous leaders risks everything to organize a ragtag group in a fight for its life. Sound familiar? To me, this timeless story is a near-perfect metaphor for startups. What would Kambei Shimada do?
You have to lift off the back foot while taking a step forward, or you will not be able to move ahead.
Richa Chadha is an award-winning Indian actress who works in Hindi films. She made her debut in the comedy Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, and her major breakthrough was a supporting role in the film noir gangster saga Gangs of Wasseypur. Richa’s role as the bellicose and extremely foul-tongued wife of a gangster earned her a Filmfare award (India’s equivalent of an Oscar). In 2015, Richa made her debut in a leading role with the drama Masaan, which received a standing ovation when screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
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?
The book I give out the most is Autobiography of a Yogi (by Paramahansa Yogananda). It reminds me that human beings are the only species that have become conditioned to doubt survival. Plants grow, trusting nature to provide nutrition; animals thrive in the wild despite dangerous conditions. This book reminded me to have faith at a low point in my life, hence I share it as widely as possible to pull others out of their misery.
I was greatly influenced by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in my formative years. I still live my life wide-eyed in childlike wonder. Even though it was heavy for me at 15, I was greatly impacted by Salman Rushdie’s Shame. It made me kinder. Naomi Klein’s No Logo made me reassess consumerism and greed.
We can’t control the fact that bad things are going to happen, but it’s how we react to them that really matters.
Dustin Moskovitz is the co-founder of Asana, which helps you track your team’s work and manage projects. Prior to Asana, Dustin co-founded Facebook and was a key leader within the technical staff, first in the position of CTO and then later as VP of engineering. He is also the co-founder of Good Ventures, a philanthropic foundation whose mission is to help humanity thrive.
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 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership by Jim Dethmer and Diana Chapman. Though most people will typically blame other people or circumstances in their life when they are unhappy, Buddhists believe that we are the cause of our own suffering. We can’t control the fact that bad things are going to happen, but it’s how we react to them that really matters, and that we can learn to control. Even if you don’t accept that this is true in all cases, giving it consideration in moments of unhappiness or anxiety will often give you a new perspective and allow you to relax your grip on a negative story. This book is an approachable manual for how to do that tactically, and the lessons it teaches have transformed the way I engage with difficult situations and thus reduced the suffering I experience in big and small ways. Though it is written with leaders in mind, I find myself recommending it to everyone, and we give it to every new employee at Asana.
Jesse Williams is an activist, actor, entrepreneur, and former high school teacher. He plays Dr. Jackson Avery on ABC’s hit series Grey’s Anatomy and has appeared in films such as The Butler, The Cabin in the Woods, and Band Aid. He is the co-founder of the Ebroji company and Ebroji mobile app, a popular cultural language and GIF keyboard. He’s also a partner and board member of Scholly, a mobile app that has directly connected students to more than $70 million in unclaimed scholarships. He executive-produced the documentary Stay Woke: The Black Lives Matter Movement. Jesse co-hosts the sports and culture-themed podcast Open Run on Lebron James’ and Maverick Carter’s Uninterrupted network. He is founder of the production company farWord Inc. and the executive producer of “Question Bridge: Black Males,” a series of transmedia art installations. Jesse gained international attention for his 2016 BET Humanitarian Award acceptance speech.
What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are three books that have greatly influenced your life?
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond: This text helped rid me of the nagging incompleteness in my understood connection between the successes and failings of ancient and modern civilizations. Power needs tools and circumstance. Neither need be earned.
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole: At the time in my life that I cracked this book open, it brought me tremendous, dare I say, glee! It was f*cking funny, vivid, and adventurous. Sometimes that’s what we need.
You can be a juicy ripe peach and there’ll still be someone who doesn’t like peaches.
Dita Von Teese is the biggest name in burlesque in the world since Gypsy Rose Lee (born 1911). Dita is credited with bringing the art form back into the spotlight. She is renowned for her iconic martini glass act and dazzling haute-couture striptease costumes adorned with hundreds of thousands of Swarovski crystals. This “Burlesque Superheroine” (Vanity Fair) is the performer of choice at high-profile events for designers such as Marc Jacobs, Christian Louboutin, Louis Vuitton, Chopard, and Cartier. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Your Beauty Mark: The Ultimate Guide to Eccentric Glamour and has a namesake lingerie collection available internationally at prominent retailers.
If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it, what would it say and why?
“You can be a juicy ripe peach and there’ll still be someone who doesn’t like peaches.” This is a quote that my friend’s great-grandmother told to her, and she told it to me, and I’ve always loved it. In the public eye as a burlesque star, I’ve been called both brilliant and stupid, ugly and beautiful in equal measures. I’ve strived to let insults fall off me like water off a swan’s back. Personally, I find that most things that are universally accepted are mediocre and boring.
