Tag: self-improvement

Book: Dr. Sandi Mann “Why Do I Feel Like an Imposter?”

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I’m 45 years old. And I’ve achieved nothing.

Even though many people around me say I’m a successful and competent leader. But they just don’t get it—I’ve just been lucky.

…Those could have easily been my words. And to be honest, I’ve definitely had moments like that, especially during the harder times. But this is exactly how many people feel—and scientists have even come up with a name for it: imposter syndrome.

At some point, people start to believe that they don’t deserve the praise or reputation they’ve earned. In their own minds, their achievements feel like occasional flukes—definitely not the result of their own talent or hard work. And this feeling is only becoming more common. Studies show that up to 70% of people now experience imposter syndrome to some degree, including both adults and teenagers.

Technically, “imposter syndrome” isn’t classified as a mental disorder—it’s not considered an illness. And when the majority of people seem to be dealing with it, it’s hard to say whether it even counts as a deviation from the norm.

Sandi Mann’s book Why Do I Feel Like an Imposter? explores this exact phenomenon. And while the Russian edition’s subtitle promises to help you “stop downplaying your success and constantly proving your worth to yourself and others,” the truth is this book likely won’t solve the problem for those dealing with this mindset. The original subtitle is a bit different: “How to understand and cope with imposter syndrome”.

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Book: Alex Krol “The Theory of Castes and Roles”

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Alex (Alexey) Krol describes himself as an “entrepreneur, author, lecturer, and film producer.” Judging by his LinkedIn profile, he has had an impressive career, managing multiple companies before stepping back to take on roles at lower levels. Along the way, he also worked in game development.

Recently, he has been focusing more on writing and designing concepts, particularly in the fields of gaming and NFT mechanics.

However, I only learned about his professional journey after reading his book The Theory of Castes and Roles, which is what I want to talk about here. The book has received quite high ratings across various popular bookstores and review platforms. Moreover, several of my acquaintances spoke about it with great enthusiasm. While I take online reviews with a grain of salt (even though I write them myself), recommendations from people I know usually carry more weight—though, of course, tastes may differ.

The book itself is quite short and presents a theory developed by Alex Krol himself. The core idea is simple: in this world, resources are limited, and not everyone will have enough. You are either in the role of a “slave” (at the lowest level) or you secure a place among the powerful elite, with all the accompanying benefits—high salaries, yachts, villas, and so on. But between these two extremes, there are many intermediate positions that largely determine who you are and what you are worth.

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Book: Konstantin Borisov “How a Good Developer Can Avoid Becoming a Bad Manager”

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One of the best books I read last year was a relatively short but incredibly useful guide by Konstantin Borisov on conducting interviews—“To Hire or Not to Hire? Or How to Interview a Developer.” I now recommend it to everyone, whether they are conducting interviews themselves or preparing to be interviewed. It gives you a much clearer understanding of what a potential employer is like and whether they are worth considering.

But Konstantin Borisov also wrote another book—“How a Good Developer Can Avoid Becoming a Bad Manager.” The topic may not seem obvious at first, but it’s actually incredibly relevant. In the IT industry, it’s well known that top specialists often get promoted simply because they excel at their tasks. One day, you’re a great developer, the next, you’re mentoring a couple of interns. Before you know it, you’re made a lead developer, then given a team to manage, and suddenly—you’re a manager.

I went through a similar path myself, though for a long time, I tried to balance both roles. I loved mentoring specialists and building teams, but at the same time, I still wanted to be a hands-on developer. Eventually, I realized that trying to do both was making me worse at each, and I finally made the decision to fully transition into management.

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Reading Results of 2021

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The main theme of my blog is books, so I decided to write about the best ones I’ve read this year and would recommend.

I’ve read 78 books, but the number isn’t as impressive as it seems because it includes several short children’s books that I read with my younger kids before bed. Still, there are many great books I can recommend.

As for fiction, I didn’t read much this year, and most of it consisted of well-known works that I either finally decided to read or was revisiting. I’ll highlight just one:

  • Britt-Marie Was Here — a wonderful novel by one of the best contemporary authors, Richard Backman. I savor each of his books and wait a long time before picking up the next one.

And the most delightful part: this year, I received the first review of my own book (only in Russian) — Graphomaniacs Don’t Cry.

Book: Ray Dalio “Principles: Life and Work”

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Ray Dalio is a highly prominent figure in the world of venture investing. The company he founded, Bridgewater, ranks among the top ten largest private hedge funds globally. Ray Dalio is also known for his management approach, based on meritocracy and algorithms. His entire life and work are imbued with a set of principles and methods he has developed over many years and tested in real-world scenarios. Frequently sharing his ideas at conferences, Dalio has stepped away from direct management of the company but aims to make his accumulated knowledge—the fruit of decades of reflection—accessible to others. This led him to write the book Principles, where he outlines his views on life and management.

As an individual, he has greatly influenced other notable figures. For instance, the Russian edition of this book opens with an introduction by Herman Gref, Chairman of the Board at Sberbank of Russia. Additionally, the cover features a quote from Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft.

The book Principles: Life and Work spent quite some time on my “to-read soon” list, even though I wouldn’t consider myself an ardent follower of this manager. However, I’ve heard plenty of praise about him from acquaintances. While reading the book, I got the impression that opinions about Ray as a person and his work are quite polarized. Some practically idolize him, while others see him as tedious and excessively overhyped. What’s my take? Let’s dive in.

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Book: Babaykin “F*ck You Money”

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I won’t lie—the first book by Babaykin, Retired at 35, didn’t really appeal to me. However, intrigued by the topic and the titles, I bought both of the author’s books at once. Even though I wasn’t too impressed with the first one, I decided to read the second to understand why both books have such high ratings and so many positive reviews.

If the first book was about how to retire at 35, the second delves deeper into the F.I.R.E. movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early) and provides a closer look at the lifestyle of these early retirees.

Indeed, the main impression from the book is that it’s more about the author’s worldview and lifestyle. Personally, I didn’t find much practical value, especially since much of it feels like a verbose rehashing of the first book. There’s nothing particularly new here—just the same stories told in different words.

Moreover, the book lacks clear structure. The blog-like nature is very evident: individual chapters feel like blog posts written at very different times. This approach inevitably leads to repetition. While that’s understandable in a blog, it doesn’t work as well for a book. A book requires some structure—a logical progression through which the author conveys the core idea they set out to share.

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Book: Konstantin Borisov “To Hire or Not to Hire? Or How to Interview a Developer”

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In our turbulent times, people change jobs much more frequently than they did in the relatively recent past. In the 1950s-60s in the US, many people would join a company for life—it was the norm. In the USSR, with its system, there were often entire dynasties working at the same place. Working at the same job for life was almost a family tradition for many—grandfather at the factory, father in the same place, and the grandson destined to follow.

The “family” approach to building a team has many advantages, and I must admit, I often grow attached to a team myself. However, modern careers are all about constant job changes and constant interviews. These days, every manager seems to pride themselves on the number of interviews they’ve conducted. It’s strange that the quality of these interviews is discussed far less often, even though it’s much more important (after all, conducting interviews is just part of a manager’s job in a growing company).

I’ve come across numerous articles and books on topics like “how to write the perfect resume” or “how to ace an interview” (including a book I previously mentioned, Résumé for a Million by my former colleagues). However, there’s far less information about how to conduct interviews properly. Personal experience shows that not everyone is good at it (since I go through various interviews quite often, and it helps me stay sharp).

And then, unexpectedly, I stumbled upon the book To Hire or Not to Hire? by Konstantin Borisov. It’s relatively short, but once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down. It’s honestly one of the best management books I’ve read in recent years. Practically no fluff—everything is to the point, with clear arguments. The book primarily focuses on how to interview developers in the IT industry, but most of the material is applicable to any interview and isn’t specifically tied to IT. I’m not sure where the author works, but the company is certainly lucky to have such an interviewer.

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Book: Babaykin “Retired at 35”

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Another book by yet another popular blogger. Lately, I find myself reading more and more of these. On the other hand, it’s always interesting to see what people like and why. Although this case is a bit different. I have no idea who this Babaykin guy is. He claims to talk a lot about investments and be well-connected in various circles… but a quick search didn’t bring up this so-called “famous blogger,” so I couldn’t figure out what the book is based on (probably just bad at searching). Unlike Alexey Markov, whose book Hoolinomics was clearly grounded in his blog and who pops up instantly in search results. And then there’s the fact that the author is hiding behind a pseudonym, which I always find odd. Maybe he just doesn’t want attention (even though he talks quite a lot about his personal life).

But that’s beside the point. I wasn’t that interested in the blog anyway, given that there’s already a book. Plus, the rating seems pretty high.

The title of the book is intriguing in itself. Everyone’s lazy these days, no one wants to work, and sitting idle at 35 while feeling like a millionaire is the ultimate dream for most ordinary people. I’ll buy the book, read it, and become just like that! (Sounds a bit like some pitches I heard back in the ’90s.)

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Book: Patrick Lencioni “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”

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I’ve already written about Patrick Lencioni and my introduction to his books two years ago, so there’s no need to repeat myself. In that same review, I mentioned that the first book of his I read was the bestseller The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, written in his favorite genre—a business novel. To briefly remind you what that genre is: the book is presented as a work of fiction, but it addresses a specific business problem, and throughout the narrative, it shows how the fictional characters solve that problem. At the end, the author usually summarizes the key points in a more straightforward, business-like manner.

Recently, during a discussion, I found myself referring to several of Patrick’s ideas from this book. I decided to open it again to find the exact quotes, and the book immediately pulled me in. I read it over just two or three evenings before bed, even though I was already familiar with the content. However, I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting the concepts, applying them to my own experience and the realities of several of my clients (as I now work as a management and process consultant). I think I may have appreciated the book even more this time than when I first read it.

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Book: Constantine Koptelov “Order in Chaos”

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Sometimes even I fall for advertising, especially when it’s promoted in a reputable community. A few weeks ago, I came across an invitation to a free webinar on strategic sessions in a remote setting. It’s clear that the topic of remote work is being exploited by just about everyone these days, but I’m genuinely interested in the subject of strategic planning in general (and this is a good moment to remind everyone of the excellent book Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt). At the same time, I’ve spent many years building workflows with remote teams. So, this webinar touched on two areas of interest for me.

The webinar was hosted by Constantine Koptelov, someone I hadn’t heard of before. However, the hour-long presentation flew by almost unnoticed. I took several notes during the session and became so intrigued by the topic that I immediately purchased Constantine’s book, Order in Chaos: Objective and Key Results (OKR), which I’ll tell you about today.

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