Book Club – 2020 Edition

For the last two years, I have set a goal of reading 20+ books annually—and with the extra time I have been logging behind the wheel, my audio book subscriptions have been put to good use. Throughout 2020, I focused on books that could help me in specific areas, like starting my new job off on the right foot and ways to measure my team members’ progress. I learned how Bill and Melinda Gates use their means to solve some of the world’s biggest problems and how a Navy Seal brought justice to the world’s most infamous terrorist. Each book I have read has taught me something new and allowed me to think about the world a little differently.

I enjoyed each and every one on my 2020 list but here were my top five favorites:

• The Starfish & The Spider by Ori Brahman and Rod Beckstrom
• The Operator by Robert O’Neil
• Culture Code by Dan Coyle
• The First 90 Days by Michael Watkins
• The Dichotomy of Leadership: Balancing the Challenges of Extreme Ownership to Lead and Win by Jocko Willink & Leif Babin

Here is a complete list of what I read this year:

1. Tribe by Sebastian Junger
2. Think Like a Rocket Scientist by Onan Varol
3. The Operator by Robert O’Neil
4. The Starfish & The Spider by Ori Brahman and Rod Beckstrom
5. White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo and Michael Eric
6. Ca$hvertising by Drew Eric Whitman
7. Places and Names by Elliott Ackerman
8. Leadership In The Shadows by SGM Kyle Lamb
9. Becoming by Michelle Obama
10. The Ranch by Sean Liscom
11. Creative Calling by Chase Jarvis
12. Break Shot by James Taylor
13. Dark Days of the After by Ryan Schow
14. Son of The Morning Star by Evan S. Connell
15. It’s Your Ship by Captain D. Michael Abrashoff
16. Educated by Tara Westover
17. The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates
18. Culture Code by Dan Coyle
19. The Extinction Cycle by Nicholas Sansbury Smith
20. The First 90 Days by Michael Watkins
21. Tell Me Lies by J.P. Pomare
22. Say Nothing, A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keffe
23. The Dichotomy of Leadership: Balancing the Challenges of Extreme Ownership to Lead and Win by Jocko Willink & Leif Babin
24. Ego Free Leadership: Ending the Unconscious Habits that Hijack Your Business by Brandon Black and Shaybe Hughes
25. Great by Choice by Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen

Let me know what I should add to next years list!

Michael