My 2022 in Review

I started writing year end reviews while back you can read 2019, 2020 and 2021 in those posts. I have listed usually the books and trainings that I liked during the year.

Book Recommendations

Reading books and applying my learnings into real life is been an essential of part of my life and success. I have read many books in 2022 and bested my record of 2021. I read and listen to many books, here is the list of the books that I like and I do recommend. Please share with me your list as I am building my list for next year.

1. Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment. From the best-selling author of Thinking, Fast and Slow, the co-author of Nudge, comes Noise, a revolutionary exploration of why people make bad judgments, and how to control both noise and cognitive bias
2. Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration. Creativity, Inc. is a manual for anyone who strives for originality and the first-ever all-access trip into the nerve center of Pixar Animation — into the meetings, postmortems, and “Braintrust” sessions where some of the most successful films in history are made
3. Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. Nick Bostrom lays the foundation for understanding the future of humanity and intelligent life
4. Bold: How to Go Big, Make Bank, and Better the World. Bold is a radical, how-to guide for using exponential technologies, moonshot thinking, and crowd-powered tools to create extraordinary wealth
5. 48 Laws of Power. Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this piercing work distills 3,000 years of the history of power into 48 well-explicated laws
6. SuperBetter: A Revolutionary Approach to Getting Stronger, Happier, Braver and More Resilient — Powered by the Science of Games. An innovative guide to living gamefully, based on the program that has already helped nearly half a million people achieve remarkable personal growth. In 2009, internationally renowned game designer Jane McGonigal suffered a severe concussion
7. The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate — Discoveries from a Secret World. How do trees live? Do they feel pain or have awareness of their surroundings? Research is now suggesting trees are capable of much more than we have ever known
8. Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work. The authors of the best-selling Bold and The Rise of Superman explore altered states of consciousness and how they can ignite passion, fuel creativity, and accelerate problem solving
9. Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked. Welcome to the age of behavioral addiction — an age in which half of the American population is addicted to at least one behavior. We obsess over our emails, Instagram likes, and Facebook feeds; we binge on TV episodes and YouTube videos; we work longer hours each year
10. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry. How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? There’s no better guide through these questions than astrophysicist and best-selling author Neil deGrasse Tyson
11. How Asia Works: Success and Failure in the World’s Most Dynamic Region. Impressive in scope, How Asia Works is essential listening for anyone interested in a region that will shape the future of the world
12. The Order of Time. A concise, elegant exploration of time from the author of the international best seller, Seven Brief Lessons on Physics
13. Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. Brené Brown has spent the past two decades studying the emotions and experiences that give us meaning. She found that leaders all ask the same question: How do you cultivate braver leaders and how do you embed the value of courage in your culture? Dare to Lead answers this
14. The Infinite Game. How do we play to succeed in the game we’re in? In this revelatory new audiobook, Simon Sinek offers a framework for leading with an infinite mindset
15. The Laws of Human Nature. Robert Greene is a master guide, distilling wisdom and philosophy into essential texts for seekers of power, understanding, and mastery. Now he turns to the most important subject of all — understanding people’s drives and motivations, even when they are unconscious of them themselves
16. The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness. In The Psychology of Money, award-winning author Morgan Housel shares 19 short stories exploring the strange ways people think about money and teaches you how to make better sense of one of life’s most important topics
17. The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World. Your personal goals need a long-term strategy. It’s no secret that we’re pushed to the limit
18. Good Economics for Hard Times: Better Answers to Our Biggest Problems. The winners of the Nobel Prize show how economics, when done right, can help us solve the thorniest social and political problems of our day
19. As I became a father needed to read: No-Drama Discipline: The Whole-Brain Way to Calm the Chaos and Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind. The pioneering experts Tina Payne Bryson and Daniel J. Siegel now explore the ultimate child-raising challenge: discipline
20. Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed or Fail. Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order examines history’s most turbulent economic and political periods to reveal why the times ahead will likely be radically different from those we’ve experienced in our lifetimes
21. The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety. Drawing from Eastern philosophy and religion, Watts argues that it is only by acknowledging what we do not and cannot know that we can find something truly worth knowing
22. The Platform Delusion: Who Wins and Who Loses in the Age of Tech Titans. The Platform Delusion demystifies the success of the biggest digital companies in sectors from retail to media to software to hardware, offering listeners what those companies don’t want everyone else to know
23. Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life. Lucidly and beautifully written, Peace Is Every Step contains commentaries, meditations, personal anecdotes, and stories from Nhat Hanh’s experiences
24. How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking. With the tools of mathematics in hand, you can understand the world in a deeper, more meaningful way. How Not to Be Wrong will show you how
25. The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload. he Organized Mind shows how to navigate the churning flood of information in the twenty-first century with the same neuroscientific perspective
26. Lifespan: Why We Age — and Why We Don’t Have To. This paradigm-shifting audiobook shows how almost everything we think we know about aging is wrong, offers a front-row seat to the amazing global effort to slow, stop, and reverse aging, and calls listeners to consider a future where aging can be treated
27. Burn: New Research Blows the Lid Off How We Really Burn Calories, Lose Weight, and Stay Healthy. We burn 2,000 calories a day. And if we exercise and cut carbs, we’ll lose more weight. Right? Wrong. In this paradigm-shifting book, Herman Pontzer reveals for the first time how human metabolism really works so that we can finally manage our weight and improve our health
28. The Innovation Ultimatum: How Six Strategic Technologies Will Reshape Every Business in the 2020s. Author Steve Brown shares his insights to help leaders take full advantage of the next wave of digital transformation and describes compelling examples of how businesses are already embracing new technologies to optimize operations, create new value, and serve customers in new ways
29. The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance
30. Brick by Brick: How LEGO Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry
31. Emotion by Design: Creative Leadership Lessons from a Life at Nike
32. Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain
33. The 5AM Club: Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life. Now, in this life-changing guide, handcrafted by the author over a rigorous four-year period, you will discover the early-rising habit that has helped so many accomplish epic results while upgrading their happiness, helpfulness, and feelings of aliveness
34. Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making
35. The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain. Use your head. That’s what we tell ourselves when facing a tricky problem or a difficult project. But a growing body of research indicates that we’ve got it exactly backwards. What we need to do is think outside the brain
36. 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
37. Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders
38. Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life
39. Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard (I wish I read this book in early 2021, if you are leading a big transformation in your firm, highly recommended)
40. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
41. The Art of Thinking Clearly
42. Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day
43. Radical Candor: Fully Revised & Updated Edition: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity
44. Fortitude: American Resilience in the Era of Outrage
45. Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?
46. The Practice: Shipping Creative Work
47. Greenlights.
48. What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence. From Blackstone chairman, CEO, and co-founder Stephen A. Schwarzman, a long-awaited book that uses impactful episodes from Schwarzman’s life to show listeners how to build, transform, and lead thriving organizations.
49. Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World. The retired four-star general and and best-selling author of My Share of the Task shares a powerful new leadership model. Former General Stanley McChrystal held a key position for much of the War on Terror, as head of the Joint Special Operations Command
50. Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less.
51. Mastery
52. The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph
53. Contagious: Why Things Catch On
54. The Power of Vulnerability: Teachings of Authenticity, Connection, and Courage
55. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
56. Endure: How to Work Hard, Outlast, and Keep Hammering
57. Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy
58. The Magic of Thinking Big
59. How to Win Friends & Influence People
60. How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence
61. The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
62. Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
63. Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear
64. The Steal Like an Artist Audio Trilogy: How to Be Creative, Show Your Work, and Keep Going
65. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness
66. How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease
67. Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges
68. Man’s Search for Meaning
69. Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business
70. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking
71. Limitless: Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster, and Unlock Your Exceptional Life
72. Data Management at Scale
73. Infonomics
74. the economics of data, analytics, and digital transformation

Cloud Journeys

I started writing a series of articles on cloud transformation and adoption, you can find them here:

Transforming another Bank

After great results that team created for my previous employer (Techcom) it was time for me to move back home to my family despite the great time I had with team and I miss them often. After few months of negotiations, finally in May 2022 we came to terms with HDBank.

Very quickly we launched our 0-fee (freemium banking) and waived all unnecessary barriers for customers to become a digitally active user. Then we started working on 1'Click Banking model. To be empathic with customers, we must discover what they might need, and offer it to them at the right time. As part of our “Empathic Banking” strategy, I explained how, through financial services, we can bring meaningful and impactful touches to our customers. By converging customer data with the micro-moments in their lives, we can discover these potential moment triggers. These opportunities are unlimited if we know where to look.

We have taken the 1'Click Banking into following products and challenged ourselves significantly, kudos to all teams from all divisions we won’t have ever achieved such results without you:

• Term Deposits
• Debit & Credit Cards
• Banca
• Bills & Top-ups
• Buy Now Pay Later powered by our credit cards
• Integration with VietJet (SkyJoy) newly launched loyalty program

We have also launched our branch new system that covers:

• Customer onboarding
• as well as customer 360 view

We have also launched many great dashboards such as: Product Penetration, CASA, TD, Cash flow, Cards and many more.

I cannot disclose the numbers and impacts of our progress however we have nearly doubled or in few areas tripled our numbers in terms of new customers, active customers, transactions, logins and time to onboard.

To watch the videos follow at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/my-2022-review-chris-shayan/