business – Migo Aguado

Bullets, Basketballs, and Boardrooms

Three different authors from different domains present leadership lessons drawn from three disciplines—military, business, and sports—showing how principles from each domain reinforce one another. From the military perspective, the book emphasizes discipline, prioritization, contingency planning, and preparation before crises occur. Leaders are encouraged to train rigorously, anticipate scenarios through tools like wargaming, and understand that in high-pressure situations people fall back on their level of preparation rather than improvising new skills. These lessons highlight the importance of structure, foresight, and consistent training as foundations for effective leadership.

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World

Growing up, I was exposed to Wyeth’s successful marketing campaign for their formula milk, Promil. The Promil kids seemed to have become a benchmark of an entire generation in having a head start and are expected to be successful in their respective fields. Some kids, now all grown-up, have chosen a path different from how they were depicted in the television commercials, albeit still thriving in their own right. While I don’t know what transpired during their teenage years, the Promil kids might have the chance to do other endeavors, termed the “sampling period” by American Journalist David Epstein in his book Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World (2019).

Our Iceberg Is Melting

E-books have been my preferred book format since I got my first Kindle a few years ago. However, I still have many unread paperbacks at home, and I randomly choose a title to read inside a sauna. One title intrigued me not because of its title but because of its material–it’s glossy and could be water-resistant, perfect for probable wet conditions inside a humid place. Little did I know that I already encountered the author in one of my courses back in graduate school: John Kotter. Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions (2006) is a book by management gurus Holger Rathgeber and John Kotter that transforms Kotter’s Eight Step Process of Successful Change into a visual, compelling, and engaging fable. According to the authors, fables can be powerful because they can take intimidating subjects to more discussable and memorable formats. True enough, the book did not contain any frameworks you can find in business school case rooms. Instead, you can find highly visual and entertaining illustrations of the characters in the fable: penguins.