Feldman's Faves: August 16, 2021

Good morning BL5 – I hope many of you are taking advantage of this gorgeous summer we are having and getting outside as much as you can. It is a short window up here in the Great White North, so enjoy…..

No theme this week, just interesting stuff.

What Strange Paradise – By: Omar El Akkad –We all remember “the photo” of the young boy washing up on the shore following a harrowing journey in an effort to escape from Syria. This latest book from El Akkad follows his hugely successful debut novel entitled American War. In What Strange Paradise, the author tells the story of a young boy from Syria who ends up washed up on the beach in an unnamed Mediterranean island. Following this initial encounter the book is split into BEFORE and AFTER chapters that alternate throughout. The BEFORE part describes the escape from Syria, the smuggling into Egypt and the experience on the rickety boat that is Amir’s supposed path to a better life. The AFTER part is a bit of a thriller where Amir is helped by a local girl (from the island where his boat landed) named Vanna as the authorities try to arrest Amir and put him in the “pen” with the rest of the immigrants that find themselves on the island. This story is beautifully written with intricate detail and, especially in the BEFORE part, provides a really good description of what these poor people experience in an effort to escape a civil war, constant danger and a life of misery. It also shows how different people react and behave under extreme pressure (e.g., while on the boat, a pregnant woman shares her only food with Amir while at the same time another passenger steals the socks from a passenger that died while on board – contrasting examples for sure). Sadly, the book also shows that the life these refugees find AFTER, is not what they’ve been sold by the smugglers who profit from their misfortune. This is yet another eye opening story of what is happening in our world today that I found very sad but important to understand. Here is a review from the NYT - https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/20/books/review/what-strange-paradise-omar-el-akkad.html

Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman - Netflix’s Reed Hastings: Why culture matters – The Netflix “Culture Deck” is legendary. Every employee that joins the company needs to read it and decide if the Netflix culture works for them. Reed Hastings has many great ideas in there but my favourite is that a company with a good culture is like a winning team and not a family. The former involves everyone working together for a common goal and making sure everyone plays their role, whereas the latter involves unconditional love. While I absolutely and unconditionally love Neill May, I do think this is team analogy is the right one for Goodmans. Here is an excerpt from the PODCAST itself: “You need a strong culture to build a company that will scale beyond the early days of start up. And strong company cultures only emerge when every employee feels they own the culture from day one. Here's how Reed Hastings did it – and made Netflix culture (and its “culture deck”) famous in the process”: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/masters-of-scale-with-reid-hoffman/id1227971746?i=1000530850265

Thank you for your ongoing engagement and participation.

And remember to stay safe, stay healthy and to docket daily.

Jon