One of the books I’ve read in 2022 which fascinated me the most was 𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗘 by David Epstein.

David argues that you are likely to become more successful (to be defined in your own way) if you sample widely, experiment and take detours, and allow different interests and focus areas to find room in your career - thus to develop what he calls “range”.

He argues that when you 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲, your experiences and proficiencies you’ve gained in different fields will make you a much stronger expert than a ‘narrow’ specialist. He then gives a wide range of examples: From elite athletes such as Roger Federer who’ve played different sports before focusing on “their” discipline they became successful in, to scientists with the broadest imaginable interests to top musicians who play a number of instruments. 🎸 🎹

He also gives a number of interesting tips for better learning practices (“𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞”, “𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭”) and career planning.

I really like in particular how he challenges the widely popular idea of having life goals and long-term career plans. He advocates instead thinking in smaller cycles and catering for the many different talents that lie in you:

“𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐈 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰? 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭?”

He calls it “𝐅𝐥𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬” 💞 - really applicable for someone like me - I love to reinvent myself. I'm currently flirting with my “based-in-Germany working for the government in a hyper-generalist position” self. And so curious to see how this develops into and how long this cycle will be!

The title itself was so thought-provoking for me that I needed to read the book, and I was finally able to finish it on this beautiful spring weekend. William MacAskill is a Scottish philosopher and author. I first came across him when making myself familiar with the “Effective altruism” movement - he is one of the founders.

Personally, although I’m trying my best to leave this place with a positive impact, I had never thought about it that way: Do I owe the future?!? Or do I owe my child who’s going to live in that future?

Macaskill makes a point for ↪ 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐦 - the idea that positively influencing the longterm future is a key moral priority of our time ❗

It’s about taking seriously just how high the stakes are. That with our actions - and this is not only with regards to climate change, but also for example AI - will largely define the values that will govern our children’s children’s children’s future. This thought may sound intuitive for those innovators and change makers that are already doing the best they can to shape future outcome - but living in our bubble we have to accept that this is still not a mainstream view…”The challenges we face are enormous”, Macaskill writes, “but so is the influence we have!”

The book is not an easy read, especially the first two thirds, but looks at interesting topics, for example how the 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 came about - was this merely, as many say, an economically driven change process or was it contingent? How did Western societies like Britain or France change their opinion about owning slaves? Who acted first? Government or people?

The last part of the book gives concrete examples of how we can act, and what are the most effective ways to….

I’m still hearing many pitches, presentations and keynotes that are way too technical and packed with facts & figures.

What we need to keep in mind is: Our brain is a lazy thing - it doesn’t like to listen to numbers. It doesn’t like to listen to complicated things - as a result it shuts down.

What our brains love, what it therefore memorizes and what leads to the release of “happiness-hormones” (such as oxytocin) is:

𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦!

Stories that inspire, that entertain, that surprise, stories that shock. Stories with a proper beginning, climax and end.

It should be noted some of the world’s best storytellers are not born like that - they’re made. You can watch them on stage at TedTalks and they’re sure to deliver stories that make you hang on their lips - and transport wisdom and meaning through them

Therefore I can highly, highly recommend Carmine Gallo's 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿'𝘀 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁.

It takes you behind the curtains of some of the best TedTalks and explains how you can learn - and use the craft of storytelling to convey your message!

I've been wanting to learn more about OKR's as -admittedly- I've never worked in an organization that has implemented them. Hence I was so happy to stumble across the book visiting Christian Tors and Jana Marie Backhaus-Tors in Swakop.

"𝗠𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀" really is a Tech-history book: John Doerr started his career at Intel Corporation in the 70's, and was taught OKRs by noone less than the legendary Andy Grove. When moving to Kleiner Perkins and becoming one of the first investors of Google, he impemented them there.

The foreword is by Larry Page - I mean what more can I say ;-)

You learn why John holds the opinion that "micromanagement is mismanagement", how OKRs can support great leadership, how to design and effectively implement them and how they help to support a company culture that -as John writes - "high five's small, innovative ideas!"

He shares loads of different OKR examples and therewith gives you a really good idea on how successful US companies are run...

Great read! 📖

I've finished this very entertaining book by Erin Meyer in less than a week. In "The Culture Map", the author explains how individual personality is being formed by the cultural system in which a person is raised - if we like it or not... While reading, I found myself nodding and smiling quite a bit when reflecting on my own, indeed often stereotypically German, behaviour in work life.

For people who are working in- or leading multicultural teams or -like me- dealing with partners all over the world, there are some proper eye openers in there and useful tips how to avoid misunderstandings. A great example is this conversation here:

𝐌𝐫 𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐳: 𝐈𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭.

𝐌𝐫 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐧: 𝐈 𝐬𝐞𝐞.

𝐌𝐫 𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐳: 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲?

𝐌𝐫 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐧: 𝐘𝐞𝐬 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐬𝐨.

𝐌𝐫 𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐳: 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩.

𝐌𝐫 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐧: 𝐘𝐞𝐬, 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐲.

𝐌𝐫 𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐳: 𝐈𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐲?

𝐌𝐫 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐧: 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐝𝐚𝐲.

𝐌𝐫 𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐳: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐞. 𝐈 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐢𝐭.

𝐌𝐫 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐧: 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐈 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠.

Do you think Mr Chen showed up on Sunday or not? For Mr Diaz it was of course clear he would ;-)

I found it really interesting to learn about patterns in work life, how we are 'culturally coined' when it comes for example to low-context vs high-context communication, being used to giving and receiving direct vs indirect (negative) feedback, top-down vs consensual decision making processes or relationship based vs task-based trust building.

Super interesting read!

PS. Important to note: The author analyses only those cultures that she has worked with, which is the Americas, Europe and Asia. Unfortunately Africa, the Arab world as well as Oceania are not being discussed : (

Now again, there are so many events taking place that it can be really hard to choose which one to go to. For organizers it's becoming more demanding to put together a great event that pulls the right crowd. And sadly, I'm again and again disappointed how non-strategic event organizers are thinking about the why, the who, the what and the how.

For anyone who's interested in learning more about how to host a fantastic event - no matter if this is a wedding, a 40th birthday party, a Startup pitch event or business anniversary: Please READ THIS BOOK.

It teaches you all about defining a meaningful purpose for your event, how to open or close doors on the basis of that purpose. What it means to be a great host and how you become one.

Priya Parker brought you many interesting examples - from Jeffersonian Dinner to the launch of the Obama administrations new "Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation to the global movement "Diner en Blanc".

Great read!! Thanks Alexander Broekman and Superconnectors for the nice present : )

Sometimes I forget to buy the one item I went to the supermarket for. 🤯

I forget the car keys upstairs in the apartment when I was going to drive somewhere. I forget when the 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐨 took place and it annoys me that I never know my 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 by heart when I have to fill out visa forms 😤 . I can never remember the meaning of the beautiful word 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐲. I check my train ticket about 15 times because I don’t remember the number of my seat.

Luckily when I started reading “𝐌𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐄𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐢𝐧” by Joshua Foer, he himself the owner of an 𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧, it turns out he has the same troubles!! Just like me!!! 💯 He’s right up there on the level of forgetting why he got up and went to the fridge…

Foer is journalist and is asked to write an article on 𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩s. He gets fascinated by the topic - and challenged to take part in the US Memory championship. In the book, he describes his journey until the finals and digs deep into the topic of remembering: From the days when it was really considered a 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭, to the day it got discredited, especially in modern times education. Until today, it hasn't been able to win the reputation it used to enjoy, back. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞? 𝐅𝐨𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐬.

𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞-𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤:

✨ As with everything in life, with the right techniques and enough training, your brain -working just like any other muscle- will improve. Stopping to challenge it properly (for example by replacing it with electronic aid or sticking to the same routines/tasks every day) will lower its performance.

✨ The brain best remembers things that are repeated, rhythmic, rhythmic, structured and above all, easily visualized.

“In our gross misunderstanding of the function of memory, we thought that memory was operated primarily by rote; you rammed it in until your head was stuffed with facts. What was not realized is that memory is primarily an imaginative process. The art and science of memory is about developing the capacity to quickly create images that link disparate ideas!”

✨I learned some of the tricks and techniques current memory champions (none of which have outstanding IQs by the way) use - for example on how to create a “memory palace” and how to “index” your brain. And if it’s currently just to recall my shopping list instead of taking it with me - helps to know how the brain works!

PS. In case you were wondering: After one year of an hour of training, 6 days a week, Foer indeed took part in the US Memory Championship. He won.nd packed with facts & figures.

What we need to keep in mind is: Our brain is a lazy thing - it doesn’t like to listen to numbers. It doesn’t like to listen to complicated things - as a result it shuts down.

What our brains love, what it therefore memorizes and what leads to the release of “happiness-hormones” (such as oxytocin) is:

𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦!

Stories that inspire, that entertain, that surprise, stories that shock. Stories with a proper beginning, climax and end.

It should be noted some of the world’s best storytellers are not born like that - they’re made. You can watch them on stage at TedTalks and they’re sure to deliver stories that make you hang on their lips - and transport wisdom and meaning through them

Therefore I can highly, highly recommend Carmine Gallo's 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿'𝘀 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁.

It takes you behind the curtains of some of the best TedTalks and explains how you can learn - and use the craft of storytelling to convey your message!

I'm usually not the greatest fan of the growing self-help book industry as I love to read my novels BUT James Clear's Atomic Habits was really a fantastic read with loads of good examples and practical tips and tricks. Highly recommended if you want to improve your daily routines bit by bit (without overdoing it) !

“Success is the product of daily habits — not once-in-a-lifetime transformations.”

So I'm currently re-reading Tim Marshall's seven (!) year old book "Prisoners of geography" and it's crazy how he gives an explanation for seemingly every single move the Russian government has been undertaking.

In the Russia chapter, Marshall first quotes Winston Churchill, who in 1939 famously said: "Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma... but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest."

According to Marshall, two geographic aspects govern Russian action

- the North European Plain - a comparatively easy territory to attack Russian land

- the need for a warm-water port

Marshall writes in 2015:

"As long as a pro-Russian government held sway in Kiev, the Russians could be confident that its buffer zone would remain intact and guard the North European Plan. Even a studiedly neutral Ukraine, which would promise not to join the EU or NATO and to uphold the lease Russia had on the warm-water port at Sevastopol in Crimea, would be acceptable. That Ukraine was reliant on Russia for energy also made its increasingly neutral stance acceptable, albeit irritating. But a pro-Western Ukraine with ambitions to join the two great Western alliances, and which threw into doubt Russia's access to its Black Sea port? A Ukraine that one day might even host a NATO naval base? That could not stand..."

If anyone hasn't read this book, I can only highly recommend it!

I keep having Henry Kissinger's words in my head, who doesn't get tired of highlighting that if you want to understand modern politics, you got to do your history lessons...

And then add the geographic component!

I’m still hearing many pitches, presentations and keynotes that are way too technical and packed with facts & figures.

What we need to keep in mind is: Our brain is a lazy thing - it doesn’t like to listen to numbers. It doesn’t like to listen to complicated things - as a result it shuts down.

What our brains love, what it therefore memorizes and what leads to the release of “happiness-hormones” (such as oxytocin) is:

𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦!

Stories that inspire, that entertain, that surprise, stories that shock. Stories with a proper beginning, climax and end.

It should be noted some of the world’s best storytellers are not born like that - they’re made. You can watch them on stage at TedTalks and they’re sure to deliver stories that make you hang on their lips - and transport wisdom and meaning through them

Therefore I can highly, highly recommend Carmine Gallo's 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿'𝘀 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁.

It takes you behind the curtains of some of the best TedTalks and explains how you can learn - and use the craft of storytelling to convey your message!