“Boundless” by Henry King and Vala Afshar

This is resposted from a post on Linkedin

Completed “Boundless” by Henry King & Vala Afshar this weekend. I found this book because of my interest in Salesforce #AI initiatives and in general Smart Cities. While searching for info to see if Salesforce and Smart Cities would appear anywhere, I happened upon Vala Afshar, and in turn this book.

The book kicks off with reference to Shunryu Suzuki: ‘the beginner’s mind is the mid of compassion. When our mind is compassionate, it is boundless’ — which in some ways feels as if it is the soul of this book.

More concretely, the book covers principles for breaking down metaphorical silos — emphasizing interconnectedness, which with the help of technology, can serve as a boon for creativity and responsiveness. A general conclusion might be that interconnectedness blooms through compassion — because compassion or empathy helps you step outside yourself. My takeaway was the future will belong to those companies that can build strong network of relationships (like interconnected neurons in the brain), not just facilitate transactions.

In a more abstract sense, when we consider systems at large, it’s the systems where information flows like a river that will win over systems where data becomes trapped (and like stagnant water — a potential source for rot). Not only systems, but interactions between people.

In this slightly abstract perspective, it made sense to me why Afshar would be quoted in the context of smart cities — and calls me to a secondary re-read in order to find hidden gems.

From a larger perspective, as someone that works within the #salesforce ecosystem, I would consider this book a not-so-secret key to unlock greater understanding and perhaps even provide a roadmap for interaction with Salesforce as a company.

There are many anecdotes, case studies (I loved the one on Zara) and a general vision of the future which (for me at least) helps contextualize the idea of Salesforce Customer 360 and where it’s headed. One thing, that took me by surprise was the the V2MOM framework (which I am embarrassed to say), I had never heard of. It stands for vision, values, mission, objectives, and measures. If this is the first time you’re hearing of it, you might think of it as being akin to Google’s OKRs.

Last but not least, and perhaps the biggest reason you would want to read this book is if you have already read “Antifragile” by Nassim Taleb. In the same way that “Your Company is Your Castle” by Sandeep Chennakeshu feels like it answers Andy Grove’s “Only The Paranoid Survive” or “The Cold Start Problem” by Andrew Chen feels like it answers Parker & Alstyne’s “Platform Revolution”… Boundless feels as if it answers “Antifragile”, making those ideas actionable in a business setting.

In the meanwhile, looking forward to Clara Shih’s “The Social Business Imperative” to seek some additional context on what may shape the future of AI!