Cheat Codes for Real Life
Lutke: If you don't read books, you live a lifetime. If you read books, you live a thousand.
Books are the closest thing you'll ever come to finding cheat codes for real life. You can access the entire learnings of someone else's career in a few hours. I really think we need to shout this more from the rooftops. The one weird trick seems to be — just read books.
If you don't read books, you live a lifetime. If you read books, you live a thousand.
Switch Genres Every Three Books
Lutke: Make a habit of reading books and ideally change genre every three books or so — at least for one book. That alone will give you a range that you can draw on for basically everything you'll ever do.
Change genre every three books. That range lets you draw on it for everything you'll ever do.
Most Business Books Are Written by the Wrong People
Lutke: When I went from programmer to business, I got really dismayed with the quality of business books pretty quickly. Frankly, I think business books are largely written by the people who have time — not the people who actually build companies.
You read between the lines. If the person who started a company or the person writing the book is a salesperson, every problem can be solved with sales. If they're a marketer, clearly every problem can be solved with marketing. At least that I can take away as a trap to not fall into.
I was determined to not be the engineering-type founder who is going to see everything as an engineering problem.
Business books are written by people who have time — not people who build companies. Read between the lines.