Recommendation: The Amazon Echo (Game Changer)

Much like everyone else focused on disruption, we talk about Amazon A TON. It's unavoidable. And so a few weeks back we publicly dared you all to go down the Amazon rabbit hole with us, get an Echo, and try it out. So, we followed through. What happened? Well, now we listen to TuneIn Radio(Bloomberg, CNN) in the office all day, we control our Nest thermostat with our voices, we order Ubers, Domino's pizza, get CNBC news briefings, the weather, etc. There are hiccups as the software develops over time but "voice" is the next big thing. You won't be able to speak educatedly to your clients unless you've tried it. So, in the wise words of sagemaster Shia LaBeouf, "Just Do It". You can pick up the Echo here.

Invaluable Perspective: The Upstarts - Brad Stone

How'd we get so frikken brilliant? We read a ton. Going forward, we'll be sharing recommendations that you can stash in your pocket for the 1-2 weeks a year you actually take vacation. Our first recommendation is Brad Stone's "The Upstarts" about the rise of Airbnb and Uber. We didn't appreciate their wild histories. Obama O's? A battle in China? Travis Kalanick (referring to autonomous cars): "[C]ars are coming off the road....Our cities are going to be given back to us. Our time is going to be given back to us. And there's going to be a very, very different world in terms of how we experience our cities. We are just getting started." Get the book here.