Bookworm Friday: 5 Book Recommendations from Tomasz Manugiewicz

In this series, we ask our William Hill colleagues to share their favourite book recommendations and tell us what specifically they learned from them. Today we present 5 recommendations from Tomasz Manugiewicz, Agile Coach in Gaming. On a daily basis, he supports technology leaders in creating a great working environment and assists teams in driving continuous improvements in software delivery in Gaming. You may also know him from many community events and conferences - he was speaking at Devoxx, AgileByExample, our DevOps meetup and many more!

Curious what are his 5 favourite recommendations? Have a read!

1. Laszlo Bock - Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead

Laszlo Bock led Google’s People Department for 10 years and now runs his own company called "Humu".
Although the book gives insight into Google’s world, I think that the "Humu" mission statement summarizes his book best: "Making work better everywhere through machine learning, science, and a little bit of love".

"Work Rules" sheds a light on the most important subject in every business – people. It explains how Google became a role model for other technological companies. Google's secret sauce combines the human aspect and technological focus - all driven by data research. This is the recipe for an effective company operating system. It can be achieved through the balance between creativity and the structure.

Personally I would summarize this in the following sentence: Treat Human as your gift and Technology as your resource.

2. Jenny Rogers - Coaching Skills: The Definitive Guide to Being a Coach

This book is a great guide for all of you who are interested in people development. Jenny Rogers, a well-known and very experienced executive coach shares her best practices on how to become an outstanding coach. In a very clear and practical way, she explains the basics of coaching, describes essential skills and key concepts as well as covers more advanced topics related to the psychology and neuroscience which are very useful in coaching.

In my opinion, this is also a good choice for leaders who may want to use some key coaching skills in their leadership practice. 

Coaching is an art and science. Roger's book will help you master both.

3. Carol Dweck - Mindset: New psychology of success

Have you ever wondered why you behave in a particular way when you face challenges?

Have you noticed similar thoughts that come to your mind each time you make a decision?

Have you observed the same patterns of your behaviour when dealing with conflict?

We all know that the way we perceive ourselves impacts our lives. But how does it work?

Great answers to this question can be found in a fantastic book "Mindset: new psychology of success" written by prof. Carol Dweck. She shares fascinating research explaining what motivates us and proving that our mindset really matters.

According to her, there are two types of different mindsets: 

1. Fixed mindset - we believe that our talents, abilities and intelligence are just fixed, we are born with a certain amount of them and we cannot change it.
2. Growth mindset - we think that our abilities can be developed throughout our lives. 

 Check out this book to learn whether you are closer to the fixed or growth mindset and how it may impact your professional and personal lives.

4. Jean M. Twenge - iGen: Today's Super - Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood and What That Means for the Rest of Us

Undoubtedly, you have heard some terms describing different generations like baby boomers, X generation, millennials. You have probably read some books or articles on how to deal with generational differences and thought that millennials are the last generation that has been discovered and described by scientists. 

Today I'd like to introduce you the iGen! These are people who were born after 1995 and this is the first generation that spent their entire adolescence with smartphones. In her great book "iGen", Jean M. Twenge characterizes this group of young people - your current or future co-workers, your children or family members. If you want to know more what they value most, how they perceive money, work or family, you should read the 'iGen". 

5. Michio Kaku - The future of the mind - The scientific quest to understand, enhance and empower the mind

This book is a great option for the long evenings in lockdown times. Michio Kaku is an American professor of theoretical physics in the City College of New York, futurist and science popularizer. In his book, Kaku dives into the rules of the human mind and tries to solve a riddle of human consciousness.

Although the future of the mind: has a futuristic flavour, an author presents also a scientific point of view. For me personally the most exciting parts were about artificial intelligence based on the silicon technology and the artificial consciousness based on the quantum theory.