The festive season is a great time to recharge and find inspiration for the year ahead. As our work commitments wind down and we begin preparations for the new year ahead, we have reached out to our mentoring team to get their best advice for what to read, watch and listen in preparation for 2022.
We’ve abbreviated the list so you can jump straight to the medium that inspires you most. You can find out more about our mentor group and their backgrounds HERE
Christmas Reading List
Claire recommends Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko, Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah
Gil recommends Radical Candor and The Happiest Man on Earth
Martin recommends A very old document – the journal of Watkin Tench, written in Sydney between 1788-1791.
Jim recommends Dickens “A Christmas Carol.” “I have read it, without fail, every year at Christmas for the last forty years. It never gets old, I always “see” something new. It as much as anything, a bit of Zen reflection on the journey that is life.”
Danica says she is enjoying rediscovering history and love classic works so her book this break is True History of the Kelly Gang
Simon will be revisiting a classic; Walden, by Henry David Thoreau.
Christmas Listening/Watching List
Claire recommends Scott Galloway and Kara Swisher’s Pivot – Vox Media
Ron says he will be watching the cricket!
Simon is looking forward to immersing in Consolations, by David Whyte.
Favourite Movie of 2021
Danica recommends My Octopus Teacher
Gil says “I didn’t watch too many movies this year though my wife and I are currently working our way through the series New Amsterdam”
Martin recommends “The Farewell” Not a 2021 movie, but one I watched this year and found thought-provoking:
Jim loved “Godzilla vs Kong” and Ron is 007 fan.
David saw a grand total on one movie in an actual theatre, but it was at least it was good…Blind Ambition he says is a beautiful story about a group of Zimbabwean refugees that competed at the world wine tasting awards.
Favourite Podcast / website / book from 2021
Gil recommends a16z and Wait But Why
Martin loved the five reflection questions after conducting a “tender conversation” recommended in “Listen” by Kathryn Mannix
Jim recommends “Klara and the Sun”
Ron recommends Talking to Strangers – Malcolm Gladwell or The revolt of the Public and the Crises of Authority – Martin Gurri
Danica enjoyed The Biggest Bluff – Maria Konnikova – how she learned to pay attention, master herself and capabilities and win.
Simon suggests Your Deceptive Mind: A Scientific Guide to Critical Thinking Skills – “in an era where misinformation is rife and increasingly harder to delineate from fact, critical thinking has become a skill as essential for a healthy life as brushing your teeth”.
Predictions and highlights for 2022
Danica thinks 2021 taught us to be careful of predictions and always to have contingencies! In 2022 she is very much looking forward to working with people in person again and valuing the connection from our lockdown experiences.
Ron says DeFi is going to get way more interesting.
David can’t wait for more in-person meetings/coffees/lunches/dinners/etc…His prediction is that we will be seeing and interacting with real, live people on a regular basis!
Claire predicts Ethereum will reach >AUD$8,000 and that she will be on the Amalfi Coast in September.
Gil predicts there will be less lockdowns, more individual responsibility. Less government support, more business interdependence/partnerships/M&A. Continued consumer tradeoffs between services and privacy. Easier shopping and the rise of one click transactions and passwordless commerce.
Martin is looking forward to attending some important family celebration events that were deferred from 2021.
Jim says on the bad news side, a global, “Aw shit” moment will occur, as the world experiences/realizes how dramatic the impacts of accelerated climate change will be, and that we have waited too long to arrest the worst of them. Good news, perhaps more a hope, is that climate change impacts and ongoing pandemic management will make all of us just a bit kinder and gentler in our interactions with each other.