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Getting Organized: Recommended Reading List

2014

A collection of books, blogs and articles recommended by Etsy Admin with you in mind.

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1 These recommendations only reflect individual opinions and not that of Etsy as a company.

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We love getting organized. Moreover, we want to help you succeed and reach your goals. Each one of these

recommendations are meant to help in one of the following ways:

• Boost confidence as a leader.

• Exposure to new leadership techniques for working with groups.

• Help with time management. • Open up to new theories, strategies and big picture thinking.

Enjoy!

RANDY J HUNT, CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Fun Facts I believe designers must be able to build what they design. I wrote Product Design for the Web. I once appeared as a contestant on the Nickelodeon game show Legends of the Hidden Temple.

Randy’s Recommendations • The Timeless Way of Building by Christopher Alexander • Managing Humans by Michael Lopp • Rework by Jason Fried • The Gift by Lewis Hyde • De Bono’s Thinking Course by Edward De Bono • More recommendations here.

LARA SWANSON, ENGINEERING MANAGER

Fun Fact I think that people should celebrate career achievements with donuts.

Lara’s Blog Recommendations • Strengths Finder Test - for knowing your top five strengths as they apply to your daily workday.

• Unclutterer - for general organizational habits.

• Only One Baby Can Cry At a Time - a series of visualizations that help make sense of daily

challenges, obstacles and human interactions.

NICKEY SKARSTAD, PRODUCT MANAGER

Fun Facts I love golden doodles and Doritos!

Nickey’s Recommendations • Getting things done by David Allen • Pomodoro Technique. Not a book, but this is a great time management strategy that helps

minimize distraction and churn out work, faster.

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MOISHE LETTVIN, ENGINEERING MANAGER

Fun Fact My 8-year-old daughter makes sculptures out of animal bones she finds while hiking & exploring near our

house. Here’s one example.

Moishe’s Recommendations • Slack by Tom DeMarco

• Marc Hedlund's blog post Unlearning

• Brian Eno & Peter Schmidt's Oblique Strategies

PALOMA MEDINA, LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

Fun Fact My most frequently asked question about my dog is “Is he real?”

Paloma’s Recommendations

• Start With the WHY? by Simon Sinek • Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg • It’s Not How Good You Are It’s How Good You Want To Be by Paul Arden • Multipliers by Liz Wiseman • Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher and William L. Ury

• Manage Your Day to Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind by Jocelyn K Glei

• The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures by Dan Roam

CHAD DICKERSON, ETSY’S CEO

Fun Fact I’m a sometime guitarist and sometime home brewer.

Chad’s Recommendations • Getting Things Done by David Allen

• Leadership and Solitude by William Deresiewicz

MORGAN EVANS, CULTURE AND ENGAGEMENT

Fun Fact I used to work as an artist’s apprentice at a neon sign shop in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Morgan’s Recommendations • Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life, One Conversation at a Time by Susan Scott

• Field Guide to Understanding Human Error by Sidney Dekker

• The Athena Doctrine: How Women (and Men Who Think Like Them) Will Rule the Future by John Gerzema

• The Missing Piece Meets the Big O by Shel Silverstein

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HEATHER JASSY, VP, MEMBER OPERATIONS

Fun Fact (and a little bit of encouragement) I believe strongly that the best "leadership training” you can do is self-work---learning yourself, your

triggers, your work style, how to trust your instincts, and how to stay calm when things are stressful. I'm

also convinced that a productivity system is absolutely essential for clearing the noise and freeing you up to

think big picture.

Heather’s Recommendations • The Four Agreements by Miguel Ruiz • Getting Things Done by David Allen • When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron • The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg • The Tao te Ching by Lao-Tzu

JOHN GOULAH, SENIOR ENGINEERING MANAGER

Fun Fact I’m expecting identical twin girls in November!

John’s Recommendations • Corner Office: Conversations about leadership and management, NY Times • 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

BRITTANY WILLIAMS, SENIOR PRODUCT MARKETING MANAGER

Fun Fact If you ever find yourself in Brooklyn during the summer, join me for a bike ride through the Brooklyn Bridge Park as the sunsets over the East River and the Statue of Liberty glimmers in the distance.

Brittany’s Recommendations • RSA – Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.

• Maximize Your Potential • Masters of Love • “In short, he has not dedicated his life to reaching a pre-defined goal, but he has rather chosen a

way of life he KNOWS he will enjoy. The goal is absolutely secondary: it is the functioning toward the goal which is important. And it seems almost ridiculous to say that a man MUST function in a pattern of his own choosing; for to let another man define your own goals is to give up one of the most meaningful aspects of life—the definitive act of will which makes a man an individual.” –

Hunter S. Thompson.