What We Are Reading- Executive Vice President Edition

Every month we share content that we are reading. This month, we dive into the books that our Executive Vice President, Matt Fratzke, has been reading. 

Harry S. Truman said it best, “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” 

Independent learning is something that we do not take lightly here at In Time Tec. Reading is a simple way for our employees to expand their knowledge, build their expertise, and contribute to their growth while becoming leaders. 

Here is a closer look at the specific authors and content that Matt has been reading:

Atomic Habits by James Clear. Offers a guide to break bad behaviors and adopt good ones in four steps, showing you how small, incremental, everyday routines compound and add up to massive, positive change over time.

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth. Combines passion (a deep, enduring knowledge of what you want) and perseverance (hard work and resilience). It's about moving in a direction with consistency and endurance, like having a clear inner compass that guides all your decisions and actions.

Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box by Steve Carlson. Discusses two concepts – “In the Box” and “Out of the Box”. Uses an entertaining story about an executive facing challenges at work and at home to expose the precise psychological processes that conceal our true motivations and intentions from us and trap us in a “box” of endless self-justification. Most importantly, the book shows us the way out. 

Nonviolent Communication: Create Your Life, Your Relationships, and Your World in Harmony with Your Values by Marshall Rosenberg PhD. Encourages communicating honestly and receiving empathetically, a way of communicating that “leads us to give from the heart.” Underneath each aspect of nonviolent communication is four key components: observations, feelings, needs, and requests.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. Spans the whole of human history, from the very first humans to walk the earth to the radical breakthroughs of the Cognitive, Agricultural and Scientific Revolutions. Explores how the currents of history have shaped our human societies, the animals and plants around us, and even our personalities.

The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals by Sean Covey, Chris McChesney, Jim Huling. Offers a simple, repeatable, and proven formula for executing your most important strategic priorities in the midst of the whirlwind.

The Speed of Trust by Steven M. R. Covey. Offers an unprecedented and eminently practical look at exactly how trust functions in every transaction and every relationship—from the most personal to the broadest, most indirect interaction.

The Surrender Experiment: My Journey into Life’s Perfection by Michael A. Singer. Explains how everyday life, doing business in the world, and spiritual practice can be synchronized to carry us into the heart of life's unimaginable perfection.

Tribal Leadership Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization by Dave Logan, John King, Halee Fischer-Wright. Explains how to leverage the natural phenomenon of human tribes to upgrade any organizational culture and improve effectiveness, engagement, job satisfaction, and expectations of future successes. See our blog post here.

Unfu*k Yourself: Get Out of Your Head and into Your Life by Gary John Bishop. Guides you in how to deal with divorce, loss, failure, health, workplace woes, and will give you the power back in tackling life and teach you how to deal with your problems by taking responsibility.