I’m fascinated by the software as a service (SaaS) business model and how it’s enabling a new breed of company to build innovative products, create categories, rewrite go-to-market playbooks and achieve unprecedented growth.

Recently, I’ve been evaluating what’s most important to me, namely family, friends, health and work, and how I can do better at each. But I’ve not just been thinking, I’ve been doing too as I seek to achieve work-life blend.

I commute for 90 minutes each day, which adds up to seven and a half hours each week, and a staggering 360 hours a year. This is time that I could be doing something (anything) productive. Before I start, this is certainly not a complaint about my commute. I love where I live in Sandycove and enjoy my journey along the south Dublin coastline, especially on a warm, sunny or clear day.

On the flight to Seattle for the festive period I read A Technique for Producing Ideas by James Webb Young. The author, one of the original ad men of the 50s and 60s and contemporary of David Ogilvy, shares the processes he employed to create ideas throughout his glittering career. As its name suggests the book contains creativity lessons and techniques readers can follow, regardless of their role, title or industry to become more creative.

On the flight home from INBOUND 16 I read Managing Oneself by renowned management consultant and academic Peter F. Drucker. Drucker is rightly considered the founder of modern management and many of his prescient ideas on management theory and practice, such as decentralisation, the rise of the knowledge worker and outsourcing have come to pass.