Leaders Read#122

👋 Hello everyone,

Winston Churchill said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

Here are a few resources you might have missed:

• Book notes: Stillness is The Key by Ryan Holiday

• Book notes: Practical Wisdom by Barry Schwartz

• All 206 Book notes for your enjoyment

• Catch-up: #1 - #121 Leaders Read Newsletters

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📚 Book Summary:

This week's book is "From Strength to Strength" by Arthur C. Brooks.

A thoughtful book for leaders who have been around long enough to notice a few more gray hairs—and who are starting to reflect on what the next chapter of their career could look like.

One of my favorite takeaways from the book is this:

"If you base your sense of self-worth on success, you tend to go from victory to victory to avoid feeling awful. That is pure homeostasis at work. The buzz from success is neutralized quickly, leaving a hangover feeling. Knowing you will be looking for the bump again very soon, your brain ultimately adjusts to a baseline feeling of anti-success. After a while, you need constant success hits just not to feel like a failure."

✅ Actionable advice:

Billy Oppenheimer tells this story, "One of the greatest tennis players of all time, Roger Federer won 103 singles titles in his career, the second most in the sport's history. He won 20 Grand Slam tournaments, including Wimbledon a record eight times. Between 2004 and 2008, he reigned as the world’s No. 1-ranked player for 237 consecutive weeks, a stretch of dominance unmatched in the history of professional tennis. “Now, I have a question for you,” Federer said in a 2024 Commencement speech. “What percentage of points do you think I won throughout my career?” He paused. “Only 54%,” he said. In other words, one of the most dominant athletes of all time lost nearly half of the points he played. “Whatever game you play in life,” Federer continued, “you’re going to lose—a point, a match, a season, a job…You want to become a master at overcoming hard moments. That is the sign of a champion. The best in the world are not the best because they win every point. It’s because they know they’ll lose—again and again—and have learned how to deal with it.”

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Have a great week!