The 9 books every CEO must read, How a self-retreat can change your life & 20 top AI tools
2 April 2023 Newsletter
“In today’s rush, we all think too much, seek too much, want too much and forget about the joy of just being.” — Eckhart Tolle
Hope you’re Thriving!
It’s been a productive week with a couple of leadership team workshops and a presentation to a group in Canada & the USA about my book Onboarded.
The highlight of the presentation was a delegate saying, “This seems too good to be true!”.
On another note, I’ve realised I’ve had email problems for the past month. If you’ve emailed me in reply to this newsletter and I haven’t replied as I usually would, my apologies. Please resend through the contact us page on our website, and I will get back to you.
For almost ten years, every year, I’ve travelled to the USA on a ‘think week’. This idea was drawn from a twice-annual excursion that Bill Gates used to undertake, heading to an isolated cabin twice per year for a week to read and think. But with the pandemic and everything related to that, it’s been on pause until this week, when I was able to spend a couple of days on a self-retreat.
How a Self-Retreat Can Change Your Life
Apart from the fact that it’s been a few years, one of the reasons I went on self-retreat was the article below that I recently read.
From the article:
“To regain control of our chaotic life, it’s vital to regularly step back and make time for ourselves. To disconnect from all external demands and distractions to focus on introspection, reflection, self-care and joy.
I call this a self-retreat. At its core, it’s an opportunity to intentionally take time out of a busy everyday life. That can mean disconnecting from technology, engaging in self-reflection, spending time in nature, practicing yoga, meditation or going for a long walk.
Taking time out of a busy life to reflect on the big questions can be challenging. But for me, a game-changer was when I started doing regular one-day self-retreats, 1–2 times per year. I would book a hotel room, bring along a pen, paper, music, and running gear. I’d decide on a couple of questions to deeply reflect on during the retreat, such as “What is my purpose?”, “What are my biggest fears?”, “What are my objectives for the next 3 months?”.
The insights I gained from these retreats repeatedly have been mind-blowing. They have helped me identify and work on underlying issues in my life, and initiate drastic changes in my life. Examples include moving abroad multiple times, quitting my 6-figure job, and running an Ultramarathon.”
Read the article here: The Transformative Power of One Day: How a Self-Retreat Can Change Your Life
Vale Gordon Moore
Gordon Moore was an American businessman, engineer, and the co-founder and emeritus chairman of Intel Corporation who passed away last week, 24 March 2023.
In 1965 he proposed Moore’s law which posits that the number of transistors in an integrated circuit doubles about every two years. Interestingly, Moore’s Law has become the primary growth target for chip manufacturers to maintain over time.
This speaks to the power of goal setting. If you set goals, you’re likely to strive to achieve them.
Onboarded for Managers
On page 147 of Onboarded, I wrote:
“I also have another book Onboarded for managers which is a short, easy-to-read guide that you can provide to your team members to understand how and why to implement the principles and tools in this book.”
This past week on retreat, I’ve continued writing the Onboarded for Managers book, and it’s coming together nicely. I will keep you updated as it progresses.
At this point, it might be released by the end of 2023.
20 AI Tools
Artificial Intelligence is growing and changing so quickly that it’s hard to keep up.
Here’s a list of 20 tools I found this past week.
Some of these could be useful for you.
For example, the last one on the list Summarize.Tech took 6 seconds to analyse this week’s Growth Whisperers podcast (see below) from YouTube about the nine books every CEO must read, and it wrote the following summary:
“On the Growth Whisperers Podcast, the hosts Brad Giles and Kevin Lawrence highlighted nine essential books that every CEO should read. They begin by suggesting their own texts, such as Scaling Up and Onboarded, and then go on to recommend works by Jim Collins, Brad Smart, and William Thorndike.
The hosts also discuss books that focus on employee retention, such as The Seven Hidden Reasons Employees Leave, and touch on the importance of recognising one’s own ego in Ego is the Enemy. Lastly, they offer Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich as a bonus book for CEOs to read.”
Pause AI
AI is new and exciting, and moving fast.
But. There are risks.
This week a group of more than 1,100 notable signatories, including Elon Musk & Steve Wozniak (Apple co-founder), signed an open letter asking ‘all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months’.
The letter argues that there is a “level of planning and management” that is “not happening,” and that instead, in recent months, unnamed “AI labs” have been “locked in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one – not even their creators – can understand, predict, or reliably control.”
It then calls on “all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.”
Read the letter here: Pause Giant AI Experiments: An Open Letter
The Only Keyboard You’ll Need
This Week on The Growth Whisperers Podcast
The 9 books every CEO must read
Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers. – Harry S. Truman.
As leaders, we are avid learners and readers. And some of the best insights come from getting different perspectives whether it be from biographies of great leaders from the past or present or research that relates to our industries or completely divergent learning that enhance our perspectives of the world.
Aside from travel, reading is one of the most impactful things we can spend time on to enhance the quality of our thinking and leadership. We all have favourites, but these 9 books are constantly at the top of our lists and the lists of the CEO’s and Executives we work with.
In this episode, we discuss the 9 books that every CEO (and Executive) must read.
Episode 155 of The Growth Whisperers
Listen to The Growth Whisperers
Or watch it on YouTube
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Keep Thriving!
Brad Giles
