In my job, I am always wanting other people to make the choices that I want them to to. Whether that’s:

• Wanting users of my software to click on the accept or upgrade button
• Wanting stakeholders to make the feature choice we want to make things more flexible
• Wanting the engineering team to push through a challenge in time for the release

And it’s the same in my personal life, as there’s always:

• Wanting my wife to find the right list of tasks to be done at the weekend
• Wanting my children to select the right food option at dinner…

Author of the massive product management book Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love, Marty Cagan is a wise voice in the world of product management.

Before founding the Silicon Valley Product Group to pursue his interests in helping others create successful products through his writing, speaking, advising and coaching, he served as an executive responsible for defining and building products for some of the most successful companies in the world, including Hewlett-Packard, Netscape Communications, and eBay.

In his mission to support others make successful products, Marty has a number of key books that he recommends.

The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers

Ben Horowitz

Ben…

Any parent will tell you that trying to get their children to tidy up after themselves is “a challenge”. Despite repeated requests, it often feels like you’re banging your head against a brick wall.

The same applies with other areas of our lives:

• If you’re in charge of town cleanliness and the residents insist on their freedom to express themselves by throwing McDonalds cartons on the ground.
• If you’re the Government needing to collect taxes, but getting people to complete their tax paperwork at any point except in the week leading up to the deadline is a massive frustration.
• If…

Bruce Daisley is a best selling author and technology leader from the UK, having spent 12 years running Twitter in Europe and previously YouTube in the UK.

He has become regarded as one the most respected thought leaders on the subject of workplace culture and the future of work. .

His book on improving workplace culture, The Joy of Work, was the Sunday Times number one business bestseller in spring 2019.

He now hosts an immensely successful podcast all about the world of work, where he interviews experts and shares his views on how we should really be spending our…

I once worked in a business where a large proportion of the customers (and I’m talking north of 80% of our customers) paid their monthly subscription as a payment direct from their business bank account which THE BANK instigated on our behalf, rather than the customer managing their payment themselves.

This was because our service was packaged as part of the deal for having a business bank account with that particular bank. It was a great position to be as a service provider as your revenues were virtually guaranteed.

That was until the day when the bank said, “we’re not…

LinkedIn has 740 million members, across 200 countries, and is often the go to place for recruiters to find their next important hire.

Given those numbers, the chances are that you’ve already got a LinkedIn profile, but is it really working hard enough to help your career growth?

It’s available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, so if you can get it in tip-top shape, then it will be out helping to find you the role of your dreams, even when you’re in bed dreaming of it.

How can LinkedIn help you find your next great opportunity?

Your perfect profile can be viewed by recruiters

LinkedIn…

The “knowledge economy” refers to an economy built around ideas and intellectual capital — from software to patents — and which is typically driven by technology, and we’re in the midst of a major transition in this direction.

In his book Deep Work author Cal Newport writes of being in the knowledge economy and says “If you can’t learn, you can’t thrive”, and it’s so true.

The pace of advancement is such that information, approaches, products, and technologies that were groundbreaking just a few years ago have been superseded, which means there are no opportunities for us to rest on…

I know many people who don’t plan their careers.

I know people who have been employed by the same business since they were sixteen and do not ever look like they’ll leave.

I know others who will jump ship at the first shiny new opportunity that crosses their path.

My wife has had five jobs in her entire life and I’m approaching twenty.

We all deal with the world of work differently, but one thing for sure is that I’ve been my most happy and most secure when I’ve put some thought into what it was I wanted to be…