The librarian at my school would have called me a “book worm.”
I was often seen walking the bookshelves in my school uniform with gray shorts and long socks looking for the next book about pirates, adventure and science fiction. I thought there was something wrong with me. Hiding inside while the sun shone outside.
But I finally realized that I had good company. Charlie Munger, the sidekick of Warren Buffet was lovingly called by his family and sometimes by Warren as “A book with two legs sticking out.”
Originally, “bookworm” referred to insects that eat books — such as beetles, silverfish, or moth larvae that burrow through pages and bindings and can be traced back to the 1580s. By the 17th century, the term evolved to describe people who read obsessively. That is me.
In the interest of encouraging lifetime learning and long form reading in a world where a 15 second video now seems a long time and a gold fish has a longer attention span than humans, here is what I am reading this week.
by Pascal Bornet (Author), Jochen Wirtz (Author), Thomas H. Davenport (Author), David De Cremer (Author), & 6 more
First, let’s get clear on what Agentic artificial intelligence is before your eyes start bleeding and you think this will be a geek fest reserved for tech people that speak in strange languages and think acronyms are cool.
Agentic AI refers to AI systems that can act autonomously on behalf of a user or organization to achieve specific goals, without needing constant human input. It takes initiative, makes decisions, and completes multi-step tasks with minimal supervision.
I thought this would be a technical, dry read. But I was surprised by how they wove in both the positive possibilities of Agentic AI for humanity and the staggering business opportunities — along with the reality that this niche of AI will break many current business models.
Sam Altman said that he believes that one day there will be a one person, one billion dollar unicorn created and run by one person. And Agentic AI will be the ecosystem of AI agents that will enable this to be achieved.
If you want to see the future before it arrives then read this book. I had so many ideas that my pen melted and my brain caught fire!
Compounding knowledge is one thing but Agentic AI will enable us to have exponential intelligence and scale our effort.
Top tip: Read the intro to get context and then skim the next 255 pages to get to the start of the good stuff in chapter 8 which is about how to use Agentic AI for Business.
PS: I think he needs a more brutal editor.
by Todd Rose (Author), Ogi Ogas (Author)
This book poses an unlikely question. Is the accepted strategy of creating plans and setting goals the path to success or is pursuing fulfillment the answer?
I discovered goal setting as a keen young salesperson in a computer company when I was in my twenties. It seemed to work and I had all my goals written down. But after a while it seemed that it lost its superpowers to change my life for the better.
A few decades later I realized that life was almost unplannable as random events disrupted and destroyed the promised linear goal achieving process to arrive at the promised land. In looking back I have come to the conclusion that pursuing fulfillment by following what fascinated me was a better way.
In the Dark Horse Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, bestselling author and acclaimed thought leader Todd Rose and neuroscientist Ogi Ogas studied women and men who achieved impressive success even though nobody saw them coming.
Dark horses blaze their own trail to a life of happiness and prosperity. Yet what is so remarkable is that hidden inside their seemingly one-of-a-kind journeys are practical principles for achieving success that work for anyone, no matter who you are or what you hope to achieve.
In Dark Horse, Rose and Ogas show how the four elements of the dark horse mindset empower you to consistently make the right choices that fit your unique interests, abilities, and circumstances and will guide you to a life of passion, purpose, and achievement.
The Dark Horse Covenant: – “If you let me do what I want to do, I will be exceptional at it.”
I would add one more thing “If you’re fascinated by something, motivation and discipline will appear from the depths of your being”.