For the rest of the year, I would like to take a moment and thank the people who have had a significant impact on me as an individual.

The way they have lived their lives and their body of work has had an outsized impact on how I think about life in general and and work, in particular.

Some of these are contemporary thinkers and some of them are just a memory. Some of them are famous in their own rights and some of them are yet to be found by others. Some of them are young and some of them are old. Some of them are business leaders, some thought leaders, some sportsmen and some coaches. Some of them are artists and some spiritual leaders.

However, if we look deeply, all of them are like you and me, ordinary people who’ve had an extra-ordinary impact on me and potentially a lot of others. And once you get to know them, may be they will have a similar impact on you as well or maybe not, only time will tell.

The reason I am putting together this list and share what I have learnt from them, to thank them publicly for being a teacher and teaching me important lessons in life and in the hope that some of you might be inspired by their company and they can impact you and your life as they have impacted mine.

So, let’s get started.

12. Alistair Maclean

If there is one skill that has helped me continue to learn and develop my thinking, it is the ability to read long form content. I read a lot. If you have been following this series for the past 2 weeks, you would already know that I read a lot of content – blogs, articles and books.

This ability to read books was something that I developed in the 2nd year of my Bachelor’s degree. I remember that I was in the hostel to study with my friends and noticed that one of my friend was reading a novel, instead of reading the text book for the exam that he was supposed to be writing the next day. Being the good friend that I was, I promptly took the book away from him and handed him the text book.

My exam was a couple of days later. So, I decided to check out what was so interesting about the book that my friend was unable to put the book down, even though he had to prepare for his exams and was willing to let that slip so that he could finish reading the book. And I was hooked. The book that I read was “The Guns of Navarone“.

Up until that point, the only books that I read were the text books and when preparing for the competitions, books written by or about Swami Vivekananda. This was my first taste of a fiction novel. And I got hooked. I asked my friend where did he get hold of the book and he told me about a private lending library in the city. I took up the membership the next day.

And over the course of the next 60 days, I had read every single Alistair Maclean book that the library had in their collection, to the point that the librarian actually asked me if I actually read the books or just photo copied it to read later. Then I started reading other authors. I would pick an author and if I liked one of their books, I would them read every single one of their books that I could get hold of in the library.

I got obsessed about reading these books, so much so, that I would lie awake all night to read the books and sleep on my way to and from college. And at times during the classes in college and during the breaks. I went through the typical grind of reading and watching movies based on the books by Sydney Sheldon, Jeffrey Archer, Robin Cook, Michael Crichton, John Grisham, Colin Dexter, Colin Forbes and many more authors.

This ability to read long pieces of fictional work eventually led me to “The Goal” by Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt, which then completely changed the trajectory of my life. Since then, I slowly but steadily moved away from reading fiction to reading non-fiction and more and more business books, as I had by that time finished college and started work.

So, in a way, the impact that Alistair Maclean has had on me is significant. Not only did he entertain me with his books but also taught me to stay focused and learn how to pace my reading so that I would finish reading every book that I started to read.

A lot later, I sat down and watched some of those movies based on his book with my son. The Guns of Navarone, Where Eagles Dare, Ice Station Zebra are books and movies that I still look back and remember with a lot of joy.

In Conclusion:

Now that I have shared this here on my blog, I intend to go back and re-read some of his books and / or watch movies made based on his book. If you have not read any of his work, I strongly recommend that you pick one of his books, any one and start reading.

If you think that you find it difficult to read books, pick up one of his books, may I recommend, Where Eagles Dare or The Guns of Navarone. I am pretty sure that you will not only enjoy reading the book but also boost your confidence about starting and completing books.

Insanely Interesting People who Influenced me: #1 Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt.

Insanely Interesting People who Influenced me: #2 Paulo Coelho.

Insanely Interesting People who Influenced me: #3 Swami Vivekananda.

Insanely Interesting People who Influenced me: #4 Seth Godin.

Insanely Interesting People who Influenced me: #5 Porus Munshi.

Insanely Interesting People who Influenced me: #6 Srinivasa Chakravarthy.

Insanely Interesting People who Influenced me: #7 Dan Ariely.

Insanely Interesting People who Influenced me: #8 His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama.

Insanely Interesting People who Influenced me: #9 Matt Church.

Insanely Interesting People who Influenced me: #10 Clayton Christensen.

Insanely Interesting People who Influenced Me: #11 Zig Ziglar