2025 Retrospective

I spent a lot of my free time in 2025 learning about management through books, treating it as a skill not a title.

The books that I read are on leadership, motivation, feedback and communication. The biggest surprise for me was learning that good managers are not born leaders, they are built through practice, mistakes and reflection.

I had mentioned it before but Julie Zhou’s “The Making of a Manager” was easily the best book I read this year. It clarifies that management is all about creating clarity instead of control, giving context instead of micromanaging and owning outcomes while genuinely caring about people.

The rest of the books I read are a reminder that feedback is most effectively given when there is a safe environment, people are motivated when they realize that they are important, and a great leader will not win by being right but by being understood.

Not to forget communication is the key that ties everything together.

I am still learning, still getting things wrong, but definitely moving forward.

Onwards to 2026!