Celebrating World Book Day - what would you recommend?

April 23rd is World Book Day.  

On this annual celebration of books and authors, I thought this community forum would be a great place to share our own recommendations of the great books we are reading, favorite books from the past, what book has had most impact on your life, etc.

To kick things off, here’s some book reviews from our key speakers at Unfold 23:
 

Richard Valtr, Founder, Mews:

“Artificial Intelligence Guide for Thinking Humans by Melanie Mitchell. It's very readable and it gives you a really good insight into both the history of artificial intelligence and essentially where most of the world is.

With all the fuss and hype around ChatGPT, it's important for most people to understand how some of these large language models have come to dominate our thinking about AI. Most people have the mindset of it being like Skynet and it's going to do all of its thinking for us, whereas what people are missing is the idea of how working with a system like this can be a huge enabler.

I’ve also just started How the Future Works, which has a great intro by Stuart Butterfield, the founder of Slack. It gives an excellent outline of what the future of work is going to be and how people are going to think about working by the later part of this century. Basically, a huge decoupling between where you work and how you work; how you think about your life and how you organize it around yourself rather than an office you have to travel to.”

Matthijs Welle, CEO, Mews:

“The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath. It's all about creating these very special moments that make life memorable. Most of our biggest life moments are early on, and then you have marriage, maybe kids and then death. There are these huge gaps in between where you don't have anything memorable happening and you need to make sure that you create these moments.

I love this book. Every time I read a few pages, I had to take down notes because it was so inspiring.”
 

Klaus Kohlmayr, Chief Evangelist and Development Officer at IDeaS:

“There are three books I really love. They’ve helped me think differently, engage across organizations, build strong leadership teams, and develop strategic focus:

• The Leadership Pipeline by Ram Charan, Stephen Drotter, and Jim Noel 
• First, break all the rules by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman
• Tribal Leadership by Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright”
  
   

Stuart Greif, Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy, Innovation & Operating Officer at Forbes Travel Guide:
“Some of the best insights or thoughts on my business strategy came from reading information on nature, science, evolution and adaptive theory. Microsoft CEO Satya would often say: “Be a learn it all, not a know it all.” What a great quote. 

I highly recommend the PhocusWright’s 2022 interview with Frederic Lalonde, CEO of Hopper. They understand what the Chinese companies have pioneered when it comes to social commerce and how powerful it is. And what they've discovered is how to engage customers when they are not traveling using innovative loyalty programs. So instead of missing opportunities to engage their guests when they are not traveling, hotel groups can organize local events, such as yoga classes or cooking workshops with their chefs.  

I also highly recommend hertelier. Emily Goldfischer is doing an amazing job with that platform and it’s exciting to see the next generation of women leaders and diverse teams come up. That's going to be transformational for our industry in a very positive and complementary way, so be sure to check out hertelier. “


Thibault Catala, Founder of Catala Consulting, and Co-Founder of Vertell Asset Management and COO of a new, Mews-powered lifestyle brand, Faern Resorts

“I’m a big bookworm and some of the best books I’ve read recently are The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni, Mindset by Carol Dweck and The Power of Persuasion by Robert Levine. And on a more fun note, the whole Dune saga by Frank Herbert. 

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team is a great read for anyone looking to improve their leadership and team building skills. Mindset is a game-changer when it comes to understanding the power of our thoughts and beliefs. The Power of Persuasion is a fascinating read that teaches us how to influence and persuade others effectively (also very relevant when it comes to neuropricing, neuromarketing – and neurorevenuemanagement?). And as for Dune, well, it's a classic sci-fi series and my all-time favorite books. They captured my imagination and kept me hooked from start to finish. “

Naomi Heaton, CEO and Founder at The Other House, London Central Portfolio (LCP):
“I’d thoroughly recommend French Exit and Undermajordomo Minor, both by the hugely talented contemporary author Patrick deWitt.”