book / uses
The Splendid and the Vile
“Ooh, that's something that I think is very wrong to recency bias, right? It's like, what are some of the books you've read recently that you've enjoyed? But I would say there are a couple of books that stuck with me over the years. I think on the business side, where on the business side productivity side, it's a book called Essentialism. I forget the author's name. I think his last name is McKeown or something. And it's basically the book about cutting out the noise and finding a singular focus and doing that really well. It's a book that was a game changer for me at Grammarly being sort of new in my career, having really aggressive goals, not being scared to say no. Taking on a lot, just feel it thinking like, "Well, I'm only working 12 hours a day. There's 12 more left. I can do it." And then when you end up stepping into a leadership role, which happened for me, I mean, that happened prior to grounded, but really I was able to grow into that role at Grammarly. That book was incredible and I used it a lot. I pretty much got copies for everybody on the team, like 40 plus people. So that is a book I swear by. I read a lot outside of work and business. So I don't know if it's appropriate, but I'll say that. It's Frankl's, A Man's Search for Meaning is just a remarkable memoir on perseverance and I think that biggest takeaway is you can't control what's happening around you, but you can control your reaction to it. And then I'd say the book that I read recently, because I was very affected by the Russia invasion of Ukraine. I'm originally from Ukraine. I believe you are as well. So it hit very close to home and there have been a lot of references drawn between the President's Zelensky and his response in the war and Winston Churchill's response in 1941 when Hitler started marching through Europe. And so I read a book called I think The Splendid and the Vile by Eric Larson.”