Business & Management

Image by Biljana Jovanovic from Pixabay

This post is a review of the book “Big Breaches” by Neil Daswani and Moudy Elbayadi. I received the book via the NetGalley site, and this book is awesome! Thank you to #NetGalley!

Normally I am very selective about the books I request on the site – it has to pique my interest first! For this book, the description was compelling, and seemed useful for someone like me who works in in the risk management IT space! Happy to say the book exceeded expectations on all counts – this post is a gist of the ‘Whys’! 🙂

[Note – a modified version of this post is also posted on my Medium blog here.]

Did You See The News?

With the recent news about the Colonial pipeline breach and ensuing gas shortage nightmares, everyone is (or should be) concerned about cybersecurity. Whether you work in IT or not! Data breaches have become as common as excessive rains in Mumbai, India – Experian, Facebook, Target! Ugh!

This book offers detailed insight into the how and why, in an easy manner targeting non-technical folks and the general public!

Data Breaches Affect Everyone!

NetGalley Cover — Screenshot from Author’s Dashboard

Data breaches affect everyone, not just gullible senior citizens or folks posting a zillion social media posts!

Preventing such breaches is hard, almost akin to the Border Security Police (BSP) work! BSP personnel have thousands of points to monitor — illegal tunnels, airport passengers, rogue shipments at ports, etc. increasing the odds of failure! Terrorists only have to find a single vulnerability to get in — an overlooked mine, overpower a tired soldier or bribe a single person! Similarly, banks and large corporations have to work tirelessly to keep their digital assets secure — the task is Herculean, thankless and often feels like an uphill (and losing) battle! I worked in credit card fraud analytics and risk management and can personally vouch at the inventive ways cyber criminals attack our orgs!

This book brings explains such incidents in a masterful storytelling method!

AI investments, anyone?

Image from Pixabay

Loved the discussion on investments in information security companies and startups!

Artificial intelligence and machine learning tools are already used for identifying money laundering activities, preventing credit card fraud, and securing digital data related to consumers. Many types of software tools are used for compliance (think GDPR data laws and similar federal regulations). However, as more companies start to use cloud-based vendors and services, tools in this space “cybersecurity cloud services” will also start to mature and become ubiquitous. Perhaps even mandatory!

So I can totally imagine the stocks of those companies soaring as the Zoom stock did once the pandemic started! Money-makers of the future! (This is just a thought, not a guarantee! Not doling out investment advice in any shape or form!) This section on cybersecurity markets and investments is a fascinating read!

Astute readers may even come away with ideas for products (or startups) that fit those niches. I know I have been bursting with ideas that I plan to validate soon!

Conclusion

Must read for anyone who works in IT or financial firms — whether you work in cybersecurity or not!

Amazon book link here.

Read more

Reading Lists 2021
Best Books to Read in 2021

Happy New Year! Looking to crush your reading goals in 2021? Well, here are some amazing books that will make you healthy, wealthy and wise!

For easy selection, these book lists are segmented into broad themes like personal development, marketing, etc. Last year’s reading list is very much relevant although I have added a new theme this year “Money”.

New Books not on the previous lists:

#1. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant. [Personal Development]

#2. Think like a Rocket scientist. [Personal Development]

#3. 12 months to 1Million Dollar [Money]

#4. Think and Grow Rich [Money]

#5. How I Built This. [Personal Development]

#6. Hype Yourself. [Marketing]

#7. Invested [Money]

#8. Hooked [Marketing & Entrepreneurship]

Top 25 Books:

Here is the list from 2020 – http://greatnewreads.com/top-25-books-2020/.

Top 25 Best Books for 2020

For Writers:

If you are an author, you should definitely look up these books on writing and author promotion. https://medium.com/self-publish-world/best-books-on-marketing-for-indie-authors-810b3ff09fc3

Books on Leadership:

  • Books for Young Professionals – Link here.
  • Executive Leadership and Management – Link here.

Creativity and Innovation 

Want to add more creativity to your life or spark innovation in your team? Use ideas from these brilliant books.

Reading Habits:

Want to speed up your reading, content retention or just want to find more time to read more? These links will help.

Read more

How I Built This by Guy Raz
How I Built This by Guy Raz

The only book you need to read if you own a business or dream of starting a business.

Guy Raz has interviewed hundreds of brilliant and successful CEOs, serial entrepreneurs, and silicon valley giants on his podcast “How I Built This”. This book (of the same name) is a condensed and distilled version of the pearls of wisdom gathered from all those interviews. Consider it a crash course on entrepreneurship or a startup Bootcamp in a book.

Whether you are still looking for a startup idea to call your own or looking to scale up your business or hunting for funding, this book will give you amazing ideas to accomplish all of them.

One of my school teachers used to say every student should possess an Oxford English Dictionary. In a similar vein, anyone who wants to succeed in business for their side hustle should have this book in their personal library. Even if you work in a company, the ideas in this book will help you take better ownership of your tasks and become an intrapreneur innovator!

This is a book you want to savor, read, refer, and re-read.

Running a business comes with many highs and lows. This book will keep you motivated throughout that roller coaster ride. Many entrepreneurs and freelancers find themselves lonely and unable to discuss their stressors with friends or family. Consider this book your escape hatch and therapist!

Unlike other books, which propagate various kinds of hustle “porn”, a single-method playbook that rarely works for anyone, this book has meaningful and practical techniques that can be applied by everyday hustlers trying to keep their idea afloat. The book presents multiple pathways to business success – like an entrepreneurial buffet. As the subtitle says, this book will present the reader with multiple paths to success. So choose your journey and launch yourself to success.

Last but not the least, shout out and thanks to Technical.ly and Philly Tech week for bringing in Guy to be the main speaker at the recent “Introduced” conference. Thanks to Guy Raz himself for giving away signed copies to the attendees of the conference!🙂

In summation, brilliant book! 5* rating.

Read more

Books on Creativity & Innovation

Feeling stuck or devoid of inspiration? A problem irritating you to no end? Stuck with writer’s block?

Creative inspiration is an ideal answer to all these problems. In today’s knowledge economy, innovative ideas and creativity are the new currency for career acceleration. Also, as more jobs get automated, soft skills combined with innovative thinking is the only way to remain relevant and valuable in the marketplace.

Creativity & Innovation Thinking – the only way to save your job from being made obsolete by Automation!

So here is a list of 7 superb books that will turbocharge your thinking and sharpen your creativity muscles:

1. Alchemy. Author = Rory Sutherland.
2. Creativity Inc. Author = Ed Catmull.
3. Design Thinking. Author = Tim Brown.
4. 131 Boredom Busters & Creativity Builders for Kids. Author = Jed Jurchenko.
5. The Accidental Creative. Author = Todd Henry.
6. Creative Careers. Author = Jeffrey Madoff.
7. Tools of the Titans. Author = Tim Ferris. Review here

Some of these books also feature on my list of Top 25 books to read this year. A modified version of this article was also posted on Medium.com under the title “Best Books on Creativity & Innovation“

Read more

Welcome to Day 05 of #BookReviewBlogChallenge. Today’s prompt is “Rebel”.

Shoutout to Niru from “Opinions of a Catty, BookLoving Couch Potato” for her witty review of “The Duke and I”. The book was a perfect fit for the theme, the review notes were heartfelt and Julia Quinn book covers themselves are so quirky and attractive!

For today’s challenge I went with a relatively safe choice – “Rebel Talent” by Harvard Business school Professor, Francesca Gino. This book explains why creative rebellion is essential to find joy at work and in life, using diverse examples like a Michelin star chef, the Head of animation studio Pixar and many more!

  • Title – Rebel Talent
  • Author – Francesca Gino

REVIEW SCORE = 4/5

The book uses the term “Rebel” to mean outlier and someone who shatters conventions, not necessarily mean or evil or aggressive. The author argues that rebel employees are critical to companies and help to raise the bar on innovation, thus contributing to profits and branding and shareholder value.

We all can agree that mindlessly following rules and policies and repeating mundane tasks does suck the satisfaction out of work and life! However, not many of us can gather courage to break the norm, or risk failure. The special few who do are the ones who reach spectacular success!

Note that the author is not suggesting that every employee start breaking rules. Rather the book shows how to balance social conventions and be rebellious for useful purposes. The book also has tips for managers to reign in rebellious employees just enough to maintain a healthy equilibrium between hellion and star performer.  

The book reminds me of a quote from Iris Apfel’s book “Fit in before you Step Out”.

The “Pygmalion effect” in the book and the anecdotes in the book were quite interesting. What I would have liked to see more steps to cultivate this mindset, especially for employees who have been conforming for too long. This was a bit lacking in the book.

Similar Works

  • Books – “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell, “What You Do is Who You Are” by Ben Horowitz. “Innovation and Entrepreneurship” by Peter Drucker. “It Doesn’t Have to be Crazy at Work” by Jason Fried and David Hansson. “The Remix: How to Lead and Succeed in a Multigenerational Workplace” by Lindsey Pollak.
  • Movies – Legally Blonde, Braveheart, Brave.
  • Genres – Organizational Culture, Workplace Behavior.

Until next time, Adieu and Happy Reading!

Read more