SELBEY LABS BOOKS OF THE MONTH JULY

‘The Problem with Change’ by Ashley Goodall

Change and innovation are the cornerstones of dynamic and modern business - or so we are told. Whether it’s a merger or re-org; a new process, policy, or IT “solution”, change has become the ultimate easy button for leaders who pursue it with abandon and thereby unleash an endless torrent of disruption on employees. The result is life in the blender: a perpetual state of upheaval, uncertainty, and unease. Yes, companies need to grow, innovate, and adapt to changing needs. But stressed-out employees rarely go the extra mile, chaos rarely produces agility or speed, and it’s hard innovate or grow while bleeding talent to turnover and quiet quitting. This is how change stymies the very progress that it seeks. Drawing on decades spent leading HR operations at Deloitte and Cisco, Ashley Goodall explores the essential nature of human performance and offers a radical new alternative to the constant turbulence that defines corporate life.

‘Good Chaps’ by Simon Kuper

In this book, the FT’s Simon Kuper explains how, the 'Good Chaps' theory holds that those who rise to power in the UK can be trusted to follow the rules and do the right thing. They're good chaps, after all. Yet Britain appears to have been taken over by bad chaps, and politics is awash with financial scandals, donors who have practically bought shares in political parties, and a shameless contempt for the rules. The author exposes how corruption took control of public life, and asks: how can we get politicians to behave like good chaps again?

‘How the world ran out of everything’ by Peter Goodman

How does the wealthiest country on earth run out of protective gear in the middle of a public health catastrophe? How do its parents find themselves unable to locate crucially needed infant formula? How do its largest companies spend billions of dollars making cars that no one can drive for a lack of chips? In an extraordinary journey to understand the worldwide supply chain, The New York Times’s Global Economics Correspondent exposing both the fascinating pathways of manufacturing and transportation that bring products to your doorstep, and the ruthless business logic that has left local communities at the mercy of a complex and fragile network for their basic necessities - and why our global supply chain has become perpetually on the brink of collapse.

‘How AI thinks’ by Nigel Toon

Those who understand how AI thinks are about to win big… We are used to thinking of computers as being a step up from calculators - but up to now they haven't been able to think in ways that are intuitive or respond to questions as a human might. All that has changed, dramatically. We stand at the brink of a historic change that will disrupt society and at the same time create enormous opportunities for those who understand how AI thinks. Nigel Toon shows how we train AI to train itself, so that it can paint images that have never existed before or converse in any language. In doing so he reveals the strange and fascinating ways that humans think, too, as we learn how to live in a world shared by machine intelligences of our own creation.

‘The New World Economy’ by Koen De Leus

The future is uncertain, but for one thing: the global economy is in disarray. Investors, companies and governments must rethink their approach in light of raging inflation, the ongoing climate crisis and an ageing population. In addition, they have to deal with the highest mountain of debt ever accrued in peacetime, disruptive innovations and the effects of multi-globalisation. So much is happening simultaneously, making it difficult to distinguish the big waves from the small hypes. Which economic developments are here to stay and which are transient? How will interest rates evolve? Which emerging countries will become tomorrow's global powers? Which sectors offer the most opportunities? Macroeconomist Koen De Leus and market strategist Philippe Gijsels take a deep dive into the inner workings of our economy, and identify the five major trends that will dominate our lives and our money over the next 30 years.

‘Cultures of Growth’ by Mary C Murphy

In her multi-million-copy bestseller Mindset Carol Dweck coined the terms ‘fixed’ and ‘growth’ mindset, transforming our view of individual success. In a fixed mindset, talent and intelligence are viewed as predetermined traits, while in a growth mindset, talent and intelligence can be nurtured. In Cultures of Growth, award-winning social psychologist Mary C. Murphy argues that mindset transcends individuals. Drawing on compelling examples from her work with Fortune 500 companies, startups and schools, she shows how we can all create a growth mindset culture. Murphy’s original decade-long research reveals that organisations and teams more geared toward growth inspire deeper learning, spark collaboration, spur innovation, and build trust necessary for risk-taking and inclusion. They are also less likely to cheat, cut corners, or steal each other’s ideas. And they’re more likely to achieve top results.

‘The Crisis of Culture’ by Oliver Roy

Are we confronting a new culture―global, online, individualistic? Or is our existing concept of culture in crisis, as explicit, normative systems replace implicit, social values? Olivier Roy’s new book explains today’s fractures via the extension of individual political and sexual freedoms from the 1960s. For Roy, twentieth-century youth culture disconnected traditional political protest from class, region or ethnicity, fashioning an identity premised on repudiation rather than inheritance of shared history or values. Having spread across generations under neoliberalism and the internet, youth culture is now individualised, ersatz. Without a shared culture, everything becomes an explicit code of how to speak and act, often online. Identities are now defined by socially fragmenting personal traits, creating affinity-based sub-cultures seeking safe spaces: universities for the left, gated communities and hard borders for the right. Increased left- and right-wing references to ‘identity’ fail to confront this deeper crisis of culture and community. Our only option, Roy argues, is to restore social bonds at the grassroots or citizenship level.

‘The 15-Minute City’ by Carlos Moreno

In this book, a fresh and innovative perspective on urban issues and creating sustainable cities, human city pioneer and international scientific advisor Carlos Moreno delivers an exciting and insightful discussion of the deceptively simple and revolutionary idea that everyday destinations like schools, stores, and offices should only be a short walk or bike ride away from home. This book tells the story of an idea that spread from city to city, describing a new way of looking at living that addresses many of the most intractable challenges of our time. Deeply committed to science, progress, and creativity, Moreno presents an essential and timely resource in The 15-Minute City, which will prove invaluable to anyone with an interest in modern and innovative approaches to consistently challenging urban issues that have bedeviled policy makers and city residents since the invention of the car.

‘The Song of Significance’ by Seth Godin

"Humans aren't a resource to be bought, used and discarded - they are the point of the workplace, the life essence of innovation, growth and success." From the bestselling author of Purple Cow and This Is Marketing comes an urgent manifesto for leaders facing unprecedented challenges in a rapidly-changing workplace. The workplace has undergone a massive shift. Remote work and economic instability have depressed innovation and left us disconnected and disengaged. Paychecks no longer buy loyalty, happiness, and effort. Quiet quitting runs rampant, and people show up without truly showing up. Alarmed managers are doubling down on keystroke surveillance, productivity tracking and back-to-the-office mandates, when what they should be doing is the opposite - affording employees the dignity necessary to inject purpose and motivation into their work. In The Song of Significance, legendary author and business thinker Seth Godin posits a new view of what industry leaders must do now…

‘Money & Promises’ by Paolo Zannoni

In the twelfth-century, Pisa was a powerhouse of global trade, a city that stood at the centre of Medieval Europe. But Pisa had a problem. It was running out of coins. In the face of a looming financial crisis, the city's rulers and its moneylenders forged a deal that laid the foundations of the modern state and of present-day banking. In Money and Promises, the distinguished banker and scholar Paolo Zannoni examines the extraordinary relationship between states and banks. He draws upon seven case studies: the republic of twelfth-century Pisa, seventeenth-century Venice, the early years of the Bank of England, Imperial Spain, the Kingdom of Naples, the nascent USA during the American Revolution, and Bolshevik Russia in 1917-21. Spanning a multitude of countries, political systems and historical eras, Zannoni shows that at the heart of our institutions lies an intricate exchange of debt and promises that has shaped the modern world. Featuring pioneering research and original insights, this authoritative yet accessible book explores the vital relationship upon which our financial and political systems still depend.

‘The Road to Freedom’ by Joseph Stiglitz

This book is a major reappraisal, c/o a Nobel-prizewinning economist, of the relationship between capitalism and freedom. Despite its manifest failures, the narrative of neoliberalism retains its grip on the public mind and the policies of governments all over the world. By this narrative, less regulation and more ‘animal spirits’ capitalism produces not only greater prosperity, but more freedom for individuals in society - and is therefore morally better. But, in The Road to Freedom Stiglitz asks, whose freedom are we – should we be – thinking about? What happens when one person’s freedom comes at the expense of another’s? Should the freedoms of corporations be allowed to impinge upon those of individuals in the ways they now do? Taking on giants of neoliberalism such as Hayek and Friedman and examining how public opinion is formed, Stiglitz reclaims the language of freedom from the right to show that far from ‘free’ – unregulated – markets promoting growth and enterprise, they in fact reduce it, lessening economic opportunities for majorities and siphoning wealth from the many to the few – both individuals and countries.