These are ten technology books that caught my eye in 2018. If you have not read them, add them to your reading list for the year ahead.
AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order
As the former President of Google China and now Chairman and CEO of one of China’s leading venture capital firms, few people are better positioned to speak to the rapid development of China’s AI ecosystem. In AI Superpowers, Dr. Lee compares the approaches China and the United States are taking to AI and shares his perspective on the implications for the global economy.
(see my interview with Kai-Fu Lee in Forbes)
Blitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies
As a co-founder of both PayPal and LinkedIn, and now a partner at Greylock Partners, Reid Hoffman is one of the most successful entrepreneurs and investors of our time. In his latest book, Blitzscaling, Reid draws from his experience scaling startups into billion-dollar businesses and offers a framework for igniting rapid growth.
What's Your Digital Business Model?: Six Questions to Help You Build the Next-Generation Enterprise
By Peter Weill and Stephanie Woerner
Based on years of research at MIT’s Center for Information Systems Research (CISR), Peter Weill and Stephanie Woerner have found that digitization is moving companies’ business models from value chains to digital ecosystems, and from fuzzy to clear understandings of end customer needs. What’s Your Digital Business Model? offers executives a clear roadmap for responding to digital change.
Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs
John Doerr was first introduced to the objectives and key results (OKR) framework while working for Intel. When John joined the venture capital firm KPCB, he brought OKRs with him and introduced the concept to his portfolio companies. In Measure What Matters, John shares the goal-setting system that has become central to the success of Google and other tech titans.
Connecting the Dots: Lessons for Leadership in a Startup World
John Chambers is a legendary CEO, having grown annual revenue from $70 million to $47 billion in his more than two decades at Cisco Systems. In his book, Connecting the Dots, John shares the lessons that transformed him from a dyslexic kid from West Virginia into a massively successful chief executive.
(see my interview with John Chambers in Forbes)
Driving Digital Strategy: A Guide to Reimagining Your Business
As the Edward W. Carter Professor of Business Administration and Chair of the General Management Program at Harvard Business School, Sunil Gupta spent over a decade studying digital transformations at Fortune 500 companies. In Driving Digital Strategy, Sunil shares tips and best practices by illustrating case studies from companies at the leading edge of digital.
(see my interview with Sunil Gupta in Forbes)
Leading Transformation: How to Take Charge of Your Company's Future
By Kyle Nel, Nathan Furr, and Thomas Zoega
As the former Executive Director of Lowe’s Innovation Lab, Kyle Nel used innovative processes like narrative-driven innovation and neuroscience-based monitoring to create one of the most successful corporate innovation labs. In Leading Transformation, Kyle and his co-authors reveal the process for envisioning the possible, breaking down resistance, and prototyping the future, and show how leading companies are applying these lessons.
(see my interview with Kyle Nel in Forbes)
Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence
What does artificial intelligence mean for your business? This is the question that Ajay Agarwal and his co-authors tackle in Prediction Machines. In short, the Rotman School of Management professors argue that advances in AI equate to a cost reduction in prediction. With this frame, they offer practical advice to business leaders on how to navigate the rapid change.
Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
Bill Gates declared this his favorite book of all time. Harvard psychologist and author, Steven Pinker, analyzes recent data on homicide, war, poverty, pollution and more and comes to conclusion that we are doing better on each front and on many others compared to just 30 years ago. He notes, "We will never have a perfect world, and it would be dangerous to seek one. But there's no limit to the betterments we can attain if we continue to apply knowledge to enhance human flourishing." In a year that included so much providing reasons to feel a bit pessimistic, this is a good pick-me-up…with data to back it up. Though not technically a technology book, technology is at the root of many of the changes for the better.
Hello World: How to be Human in the Age of the Machine
British mathematician Hannah Fry is one of the best STEM explainers and popularizers today. In Hello World, Hannah shares a vision for the not-too-distant future when major societal decisions are made by algorithms, and what that means for the world we live in.
Thanks to Brandon Metzger for his help in aggregating this list.
Peter High is President of Metis Strategy, a business and IT advisory firm. His latest book is Implementing World Class IT Strategy. He is also the author of World Class IT: Why Businesses Succeed When IT Triumphs. Peter moderates the Forum on World Class IT podcast series. He speaks at conferences around the world. Follow him on Twitter @PeterAHigh.
