10 Books That Changed My Perspective On Everything

April 23rd is a special day. In this day, all the book lovers around the globe celebrate the World Book Day. I feel extremely grateful to have read almost 200 books over the past three years. Not all the books are great but we learn something from them, even from the bad ones. In light of this occasion, I wanted to take the opportunity to share with you the top 10 books that have had a profound impact on my perspective regarding various aspects of life and business.

“The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment” by Eckhart Tolle

Key takeaway: Present is the only time you have control over

Imagine your life as a sand hourglass. The bottom represents your yesterday, the top represents your tomorrow, and the narrowest part in the middle is your now. Nobody can see the top, so nobody knows how much sand is left. The only time we truly live is now — the part of the hourglass where the sand is flowing down. It is the only time we have control over, yet we often spend our “nows” dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. To attain true happiness, one must learn to be present and live in the moment.

There is a reason why adrenaline-boosting activities like motorcycling or skydiving make us feel happy. It’s because in those moments, we are fully present, living in the now. When we are connected with our bodies, experiencing the world with our senses — seeing the sky, smelling the plants, feeling the textures of things — we are being fully present in the moment.

Problem is an illusion. Our reactions to problems may vary depending on the reasons behind them. Consider this scenario: You are a department head and one of your graphic designers, Alex, fails to show up for a crucial project without any notice. You feel furious. However, suddenly someone from the creative team informs you that Alex’s mother has messaged them, revealing that Alex was in a car accident. Your first reaction shifts to concern for his well-being, and the project becomes less important. The facts remain the same, Alex isn’t present at work anyway, but now you no longer retain negative feelings towards him. So why not make up a story for ourselves each time we face a problem without complete information?

“Black Box Thinking: Why Some People Never Learn from Their Mistakes But Some Do” by Matthew Syed

Key takeaway: Transparency improves

OK, I knew that feedback is important, learning from your mistakes is important, being transparent is good but… it literally stroke me when I read the parallels between aviation and medical industries given in this book. Did you know that the number of preventable fatalities in healthcare industry is the equivalent of two jumbo jets falling out of the sky every twenty-four hours?

In 2013, there were 36.4 million commercial flights worldwide carrying more than 3 billion passengers, according to the International Air Transport Association. Only 210 people died. For every one million flights on western-built jets there were 0.41 accidents — a rate of one accident per 2.4 million flights. In contract, it is reported that between 44,000 and 98,000 Americans die each year as a result of preventable medical errors. In the UK healthcare system the numbers are also alarming. A report by the National Audit Office in 2005 estimated that up to 34,000 people are killed per year due to human error. French healthcare put the number even higher, at 14 per cent.

Why? In the aviation industry, accidents used to happen frequently, but things have changed drastically thanks to the “black box thinking.” As we know, every airplane is equipped with a black box that records flight data, and when an airplane crashes, investigators conduct a thorough analysis to uncover the causes and learn from the mistakes. This has resulted in a decline of airplane accidents over time. However, the healthcare industry has not seen similar improvements. Unlike airplane crashes, medical mistakes often go unaddressed, and lessons learned are not systematically shared across the industry. When you have a “black box” in your organization you don’t narrate your mistakes, the facts speak.

“Psycho-Cybernetics, A New Way to Get More Living Out of Life” by Maxwell Maltz

Key takeaway: Our self-image shapes our life

“Men are disturbed not by the things that happen, but by their opinion of things that happen.” — Maxwell Maltz

Maxwell Maltz, an American cosmetic surgeon, was the first researcher and author to explain how self-image controls our ability to achieve any goal. As a plastic surgeon, Dr. Maltz realized even if people get plastic surgery to fix their physical appearance problems their feelings and attitudes remain the same. He then came across cybernetics — the actions and requirements of machines that allow them to complete tasks effectively. Maltz applied this concept to people, suggesting that our experiences are like machine programming, leading to specific outcomes and like programming a language we can change these experiences.

In life, some of us are perpetually successful, others seem to fail continually. What is important to know that our experiences and beliefs — success or failure, good or bad — shape our self-image, which in turn guides our behaviors and outcomes. True happiness and success come from achieving a positive self-image that aligns with our beliefs and values. External changes alone, such as plastic surgery or positive thinking, will not lead to lasting change.

“Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl

Key takeaway: Hope dies last

Listening to this audiobook has deeply touched me. This heartbreaking yet transformative masterwork is about Frankl’s story who shares his experiences in Nazi concentration camps.

He begins his description of life in Nazi concentration camps with the premise that life in the camps represents a provisional existence. Is there any point in searching for meaning for one’s life in such a hopeless place? Apparently yes.

Despite the unimaginable hardships he faced, Frankl believed that meaning could be found in our work, relationships, and values. His words, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances,” resonated deeply with me. It was a powerful reminder that even in the midst of extreme adversity, we have the power to choose our attitude towards life.

Hope dies last — this powerful realization transforms your perspective on life and inspires you to approach life with a renewed sense of purpose.

“Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World and Why Things Are Better Than You Think” by Hans Rosling

Key takeaway: The world is not that fucked up

The world is collapsing. Population growth is at the edge of massive disaster. The level of hunger and malnutrition is beyond the bar. There will be no fresh water in 20 years. New pandemic will kill half of the world population…

There are a lot of misconceptions about the numbers of global development thanks to media and our deep-seated biases. We tend to notice negative news much faster than the positive one. We exaggerate bad things. We apply individual cases to much larger groups unproportionally. We ignore the overall trajectory but look for peaks of events. Why? Fear blocks facts!

After reading this book my perspective on global development has shifted 180 degree. Guess what, the world is not that fucked up. In fact, we have positive improvements in many many areas related to global issues, such as legal slavery, oil spills, children dying, death penalty, plane crash deaths, child labor, ozone depletion and hunger.

“Low-income countries are much more developed than most people think. And vastly fewer people live in them. The idea of a divided world with a majority stuck in misery and deprivation is an illusion. A complete misconception. Simply wrong.” — Hans Rosling

In his book Hans Rosling presents ten “instincts” that often lead to misconceptions about global issues. These include the Gap Instinct, the Negativity Instinct, the Generalization Instinct, the Single Perspective Instinct, the Blame Instinct etc. By recognizing these instincts and learning to overcome them, readers can become more factful and better understand the world around them.

“A Chess Story” by Stefan Zweig

Key takeaway: Scarcity is the mother of invention

A fictional character Mirko Czentovic is a prodigy with no obvious qualities apart from his talent for chess. While being on the board of same passenger liner traveling from New York to Buenos Aires, the narrator plays chess with his wife, hoping to draw Czentovic’s attention and engage him in a game. After a couple of tries, finally he succeeds and Czentovic plays against them only to win every passenger who engaged the game. When they were about to lose a second game a passenger named Dr B. prevents them from blundering and guides the party to a draw. Everyone is shocked by the fact that how an ordinary passenger was able to save the game against the world champion?!

When Dr B. tells his story to the narrator everything becomes clear. He was a lawyer who managed the assets of the Austrian nobility and church. He was arrested by the Gestapo, who hoped to extract information from Dr B. in order to steal the assets. The Gestapo kept Dr B. imprisoned in a hotel, in total isolation, where he had nothing other than a book about chess which he was able to steal from a stranger’s coat while waiting for one of the Gestapo’s interrogations. Having absolutely nothing other than empty walls and a book that contained a collection of 150 masters’ chess games, he absorbed total content of the book and mastered every single move in it. He was so immersed himself in the game that he began to play against himself, developing the ability to separate his psyche into two personas.

Anyways, the rest of the story is not important for declaring my key takeaway from the book: scarcity is the mother of invention. Since then, I firmly believe that, you can master everything — playing piano, learning German, writing code, drawing portrait and anything you can imagine as a tough task — by isolating yourself from distractions and having a laser focus.

“Tuesdays with Morrie” by Mitch Albom

Key takeaway: Love or perish

“Tuesdays with Morrie” is a heartwarming and thought-provoking memoir that describes Mitch’s reconnection with his dying college professor, Morrie Schwartz, who shares invaluable life lessons during their Tuesday meetings.

Through their conversations, Morrie shares his wisdom on topics such as love, forgiveness, and the importance of meaningful connections. This book changed my perspective on life by reminding me of the fleeting nature of time and the importance of prioritizing what truly matters. It taught me the value of empathy, compassion, and self-reflection. It inspired me to live with intention to cultivate meaningful relationships, appreciate the present moment, to be grateful for the people and experiences in my life, and to live with purpose.

At the end, as Morrie said, “The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.”

“Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less” by Greg McKeown

Key takeaway: Less is more

Less is more has always been my creative philosophy but this book brought that idea into my personal life as well. Think about this, in most cases reduction is addition. We cut useless calories from our diet and we feel energized. We stop overthinking on useless matters, we feel eased. We get rid of unimportant stuff, we get more space. When people asked Michelangelo how he created David he quoted “I created a vision of David in my mind and simply carved away everything that was not David.” This is so powerful.

Essentialism by Greg McKeown is not your typical productivity book. It’s not about maximizing efficiency or getting more things done in less time. Instead, it’s about doing the right things and making the most of your limited time and energy. It teaches you to say no to nonessentials and focus on what truly matters. Even at work, it’s better to make significant progress on a few critical tasks than to make a little progress on many tasks.

After reading Essentialism, my perspective on life shifted. It has helped me to see that many of the things that I thought were important, were actually just distractions. I learned to prioritize, say no to nonessentials, and focus on what truly matters and I started to feel more and more fulfilled.

“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Mark Haddon

Key takeaway: Empathy is something else

This is a story of a fifteen-year-old boy named Christopher Boone who is on the autism spectrum. Throughout the novel, Christopher is on a mission to solve the mystery of who killed his neighbor’s dog, but his investigation leads him to uncover a series of secrets and lies within his own family. Along the way, he faces numerous challenges and struggles to cope with the overwhelming emotions that arise from his discoveries

Christopher sees the world in a very literal way and takes everything at face value and this made me realize just how much we take things for granted. He is a highly intelligent and analytical thinker who is able to solve complex mathematical problems and remember vast amounts of information. He also has a unique way of viewing the world, seeing patterns and logic in everything around him. Reading his thought processes and interactions with others made me more aware of how important it is to be patient and understanding with people who may have different perspectives and experiences.

The book prompted me to reassess my understanding of empathy. What exactly does it mean to have empathy? Is it about putting yourself in another person’s shoes? I come across the most powerful explanation of empathy during one of emotional intelligence masterclass a few years ago. Empathy is not about feeling the same way if we were in the same situation. Rather, it is about establishing a connection to the other person’s experience as they perceive it. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” may be good advice, but it does not reflect empathy. Empathy entails treating others in the way they want to be treated.

“Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert T. Kiyosaki

Key takeaway: Don’t buy liabilities

Perhaps most of the readers already read this book and I hope they wouldn't argue is I say there is no book to match the simplicity yet productivity of Kiyosaki’s story of understanding basic principles of personal finance.

The book tells the story of Kiyosaki’s two fathers, his biological father, referred to as “poor dad,” and his best friend’s father, referred to as “rich dad.” Throughout the book, Kiyosaki shares lessons he learned from both fathers and how they shaped his views on money and financial independence.

One of the key takeaways from the book is the difference between assets and liabilities. Assets put money in your pocket, such as rental properties or stocks, while liabilities take money out of your pocket, such as a car or a mortgage. He emphasizes the importance of acquiring assets and minimizing liabilities as a way to build wealth and achieve financial freedom.

Maybe I read this book 10 years ago but I remember it was a real an eye-opener for me. It prompted me to cut unnecessary expenses, to save money and eventually to invest in my education which I’m immensely grateful for. Whether you’re just starting out on your financial journey or looking to take your finances to the next level, this book is a must-read.

By the way, here is the Top-10 books which I think every CMO should read. Enjoy!