What I'm Paying Attention To - January 2025
Many of you requested more content about things I'm reading, stories/companies I'm paying attention to, and examples of BREAK THE MOLD™ in real life.
So I figured I'd try out a different format this week by sharing some of those things. You can let me know if you'd like to see more of this format by voting in the poll at the bottom of this email.
Anyway, here's what I'm paying attention to right now.
📚 The ADW Bookshelf - What I'm Reading
My favorite type of books to read are leadership books written by experienced leaders who have led companies—books written by Founders or CEOs on their experiences and principles. Ultimately, I'm looking for anything that can give me an edge as a leader or challenge me to think differently.
Here's a few books I'm currently reading:
Four Seasons: The Story of a Business Philosophy by Isadore Sharp
Never Finished: Unshackle Your Mind and Win the War Within by David Goggins
The New Tycoons: Inside the Trillion Dollar Private Equity Industry That Owns Everything by Jason Kelly
The Founders: The Story of Paypal and Entrepreneurs that Shaped Silicon Valley by Jimmy Soni
Leadership Through Trust & Collaboration: Practical Tools for Today’s Results-Driven Leader by Jill Ratliff (who is a reader of these emails!)
Send me a reply if you've got a book recommendation or let me know if you've read one of these.
⛓️💥 Examples of BREAK THE MOLD™
BREAK THE MOLD™ is about approaching things in an entirely new way. It's about being willing to challenge traditional operating models and design new solutions from scratch. It's about proving that "the way we've always done things" is actually the best way... because what if it's not?
Here's an example of how Dick Fosbury was willing to BREAK THE MOLD™—and ended up changing an Olympic Event forever.
👀 Content That Caught My Attention
--> This case study article about e.l.f. Beauty's CEO Tarang Amin published in the HBR was excellent. I often talk about looking outside your own four walls and this is an example. Just because e.l.f. isn't a professional services firm doesn't mean there's not a lot to learn from their growth (because there is).
In case you missed it, I wrote an article breaking down this case study in the HBR. You can read it here.
--> This clip by Jocko Willink got me thinking... why do we force "doers" to become leaders of people? Not that they can't lead, but what if they aren't natural leaders? Are we doing a disservice by elevating them to manage other "doers"?
--> I've been thinking about this idea of "Just Do It" since I watched this LinkedIn video from Simon Sinek... I hear this phrase often within the firms I advise. If people aren't hitting goals or doing necessary actions, the response from leadership is they need to "just do it". While I understand the premise, I just don't think this applies to the business world.
Making sure team members do what we need them to do to execute strategy isn't about telling them to "just do it" - it's about giving them the right tools, collaborators, and instructions to get things done.
📝 Things I've Been Writing About
If you aren't already following me, I post daily on LinkedIn with reflections, stories, lessons, and observations on leadership, transformation, and scaling.
Here's some of the things I've been writing about recently:
That's it for this week.
With intention,
Alan D Whitman
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