One Book Lit The Fuse
From my teenage years through my late 20s I viewed books as boring and unnecessary. That’s what school taught me.
But then, thanks to my wife, in my late 20s and early 30s, I was introduced to the magic of books you choose on your own. Within a few years, I was reading daily - fiction, non-fiction, self-help - anything I could get my hands on.
Early in Pathbreaker Parenting I highlight eleven anecdotes from my life that formed such a strong conviction on the position I take. One of those anecdotes references a book I stumbled across in my mid-30s called The World Is Flat, by Thomas Friedman.
“Friedman opened my eyes to the simultaneous explosion of the internet and globalization. The world wasn’t slowly evolving with tweaks in the margins—the world was rapidly changing with massive shifts everywhere you looked. I took away three conclusions that caused me to rethink how we would raise our daughters and what we would prioritize in their teen years.”
Every so often a book represents a seminal moment in your life and this was one. Back in 2006, Friedman accurately predicted what is happening today - from the volatility of global economies to job postings that get 100s of online applicants to the erosion of the lifelong ‘career’.
I listened. I hope you will too.