Traditional thinkers will tell you that “beach reads”
are realm of thrillers, mysteries and other lighter fare. While I love a good thriller,
I for one think sand between my toes should not limit my ability or desire to learn.
Here are a stack of my recommendations for business books to take along on your
next jaunt to a sandy stretch or wherever you choose to relax and unwind; some
might even give you inspiration for when you head back to the grind.
The
Obstacle Is The Way – Ryan Holiday (Portfolio Books)
I love the basic concept of this book and the fact that
I think anybody in business can relate to the idea putting maybe too much
effort into avoiding that issue, project, or report that stares at us from the
corner of the office. As much as we hope, wish, ignore or just generally try to
avoid it, it never really goes away and with the passing of time it starts to
loom even larger.
In The Obstacle
Is The Way, author Ryan Holiday shows us how to avoid the traps of fear,
frustration, confusion, helplessness and even anger and find our way to the
answer that more often than not is part and parcel of the issue that we are
stymied by. Simply put, you can’t avoid your way to success, but you can apply
the same principles have put into play by successful leaders stretching back to
the Roman Empire.
This is a great read for wherever you are in your
leadership career; just starting out on the leadership track, mid-cycle looking
to take that next step or a seasoned pro seeking new inspiration to fuel your
fire.
Mistakes
I Made at Work – Edited by Jessica Bacal (Plume Books)
I am always intrigued by trends or what I perceive as a
trend and their seems to be a noticeable movement in the business world to
celebrate…failure! Well maybe celebrate is a strong word, but recently there
have been a number of pretty solid books that at the very least highlight, the
opposite of success.
While not necessarily focusing on failure, Jessica Bacal
has done an admirable job of getting 25 women from widely varied fields with
equally diverse levels of success to sit down and talk on the record about some
of their less than stellar moments in the workplace in Mistakes I Made at Work. Along the way Bacal also avoids falling
into a rut of all too similar areas of business misadventure.
I found her approach of doing a brief set up of each of
the participants background/careers, followed by the subject putting things in
their own words and then wrapping the short essays with a handful of bullet
point takeaways to be easy to digest and an effective tools for sharing useful
information.
The
Elements of Journalism – Bill Kovach & Tom Rosenstiel (Three Rivers Press)
Certainly not a “traditional” business book, Bill Kovach
and Tom Rosenstiel are the authors of The
Elements of Journalism, what is widely considered one of the definitive treatises
on journalism. In this revised and updated third edition of the book Kovach and
Rosenstiel have accounted for the changing journalistic landscape to include
the exponential growth of social media.
With the rise of content marketing, native advertising
and business news operations, this makes for a great primer for those who are
approaching content development and production from a non-journalism
background. Re-reading this classic provided me with a handful of aha moments
that I can put to use in my own content marketing operation.
Essentialism
– The Disciplined Pursuit of Less – Greg McKeown (Brown Business Books)
If you’re old enough to remember The Ed Sullivan Show,
then you likely also remember the amazing talents of Erich Brenn, a regular on
the show, famous for his act where he kept a set of plates spinning on sticks.
(You can search YouTube if you’ve never seen it.) Anyone who is part of the current,
“do more with less approach” to business can probably relate to Mr. Brenn’s
often frantic, frenetic challenge to keep the plates spinning.
Now Greg McKeown, cited as a “leading essentialist”
offers up Essentialism – The Disciplined
Pursuit of Less, but don’t confuse this with a way to get more things done
in less time, or to better manage your calendar; it really boils down to a new
approach to thinking that focuses your efforts only on what truly matters.
Those essentials are where the wins are and are the things that produce your
highest level of satisfaction.
Imagine a world where all of the extraneous (for lack
of a better word) bullshit that so often bogs us down was cast out and your
energy could be focused on those essential elements. It’s an appealing thought,
but it possible to be within reach? That’s where the biggest challenge lies for
most of us.
Duct
Tape Selling – Think Like A Marketer – Sell Like a Superstar – John Jantsch
(Portfolio Books)
Does the thought of picking up the phone and making a
cold call leave you shaky and busting out in a cold sweat? Does trying to make
a sales script sound “natural” push you to the brink of your sanity? Then John
Jantsch may have the perfect solution to your woes in the form of Duct Tape Selling -Think Like A Marketer – Sell Like a Superstar.
Jantsch plays a high value on becoming a subject matter
expert and then connects the dots between developing and executing a platform
and converting that expertise into sales. While there are plenty of books
detailing content marketing and platform, Jantsch makes the missing connection
to actual conversion. Content without conversion is just more stuff and nobody is
looking for more stuff! This is truly where the rubber meets the road.
