Book Club Aha’s — Vol. 11

The FRAKXION Book Club gets together to dig into a book, build on each other’s interpretations, and pull out the aha’s that actually change how we work.

For this round, we spent our time with two reads on the price of ambition and what separates great CEOs from good ones — and by the end, our discussion board was covered in sticky notes.

How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis is different from any other book on the subject, because Dennis isn’t selling snake oil, investment tips, or motivational claptrap — he wants to help people embrace entrepreneurship and share the lessons he learned the hard way.

CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest by Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra is an insight-packed leadership book from McKinsey & Company that reveals how the best CEOs think and act, based on interviews with elite leaders from Netflix, JPMorgan Chase, General Motors, Sony, and more.

How to Get Rich
– Fear of failure keeps people average.
– Not everyone should be an entrepreneur.
– Most people want comfort; very few are willing to pay the price for real wealth.
– Comfort is the enemy.
– Be prepared to sacrifice. Time, balance, and sometimes relationships. There’s a real cost.

CEO Excellence
– People value what they contribute to by 5x.
– Make big moves early and often.
– Act like an outsider.
– Manage for the whole.
– Kill as much as you create.
– Be an exceptional futurist.
– Seeding: starting something new, or acquisition.
– Nurturing: building up an existing business with more resources and assets.
– Pruning: reallocating resources from, or closing, anything not bearing fruit.
– Harvesting: selling or spinning off whole businesses.

We’re diving into two books on positioning and the kind of leadership that builds real trust.

1. Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It by April Dunford

You know your product is awesome, but does anybody else? Forget everything you thought you knew about positioning — it isn’t about following trends, comparing yourself to the competition, or trying to attract the widest customer base. Positioning guru and tech executive April Dunford breaks down what it actually is.

2. Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek

Imagine a world where almost everyone wakes up inspired to go to work, feels trusted and valued during the day, then returns home feeling fulfilled. Simon Sinek noticed in his travels that great leaders create environments where people naturally work together to do remarkable things — some teams trust each other so deeply they’d put their lives on the line for one another.

Want to read along with us? Join the FRAKXION Book Club anytime — just email hello@frakxion.com and we’ll get you the current pick and details on our next discussion, plus access to our Miro board for reflection along the way.

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