Top Book Recommendations For Your Holiday
Are you looking for some holiday reading?
Summer is here and we all know what that means: spending time with the family, having fun outside and relaxation. But also, more time to read, learn and expand our horizons to think differently and learn new and better ways of doing things.
That’s why I’d like to share with you my top picks for this year so far.
Enjoy the reading!
Trusted Leader by David Horsager
A lack of trust is your biggest expense, says Wall Street Journal bestselling author David Horsager. Without trust, transactions cannot occur. Without trust, influence is destroyed. Without trust, leaders lose their people. Trust can be either your most vulnerable weakness or your greatest asset. Horsager introduces readers to his Eight Pillars of Trust through the journey of a senior leader who thought success was certain. Follow CEO Ethan Parker as he discovers the power of trust and how to apply it amid the complexities of leadership, change, and culture transformation. The Eight Pillars of Trust (Clarity, Compassion, Character, Competency, Commitment, Connection, Contribution, and Consistency) are based on Horsager’s original research and extensive experience working with Fortune 500 companies and top government agencies around the globe. In addition to the business parable, this book is rich in practical advice for implementing each of the Eight Pillars. You will learn strategies to increase alignment, overcome attrition, and get absolutely clear on executing your top priorities. Horsager offers a road map for how to become the most trusted expert in your industry.
The CEO Test By Adam Bryant & Kevin Sharer
These guys haven’t just written another book on leadership. What they really have done is put together a book – The CEO Test, which is, if you want to be the best as a leader, top of your game, not the table stakes, then these are the seven hardest things that the best leaders in the world managed to get good at.
The CEO Test is the authoritative, no-nonsense insider’s guide to navigating the toughest challenges of leadership, written by two global heavy hitters – Adam Bryant and Kevin Sharer.
Building A Story Brand by Donald Miller
Donald Miller’s StoryBrand process is a proven solution to the struggle business leaders face when talking about their businesses. This revolutionary method for connecting with customers provides listeners with the ultimate competitive advantage, revealing the secret for helping their customers understand the compelling benefits of using their products, ideas, or services. Building a StoryBrand does this by teaching listeners the seven universal story points all humans respond to, the real reason customers make purchases, how to simplify a brand message so people understand it, and how to create the most effective messaging for websites, brochures, and social media. Whether you are the marketing director of a multibillion-dollar company, the owner of a small business, a politician running for office, or the lead singer of a rock band, Building a StoryBrand will forever transform the way you talk about who you are, what you do, and the unique value you bring to your customers.
Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits!
Take the mystery out of small business finance with this no-frills guide to understanding the numbers that will guide your business out of any financial black hole. Author Greg Crabtree, a successful accountant, small business advisor, and popular presenter, shows you how to use your firm’s key financial indicators as a basis for smart business decisions as you grow your firm from startup to $5 million (and, more!) in annual revenue. Jargon free, and presented in an easy-to-follow, step-by-step format, with plenty of real-world examples, Crabtree’s down-to-earth discussion highlights the most common financial errors committed by small businesses, and how to avoid them.
Simple Numbers 2.0
Looking for an investment opportunity with the capacity for long term high yields? Put your business to work for you! Greg Crabtree demystifies common accounting and reveals the growth potential going unnoticed in your balance sheets. Learn how to make decisions based on data you already have to guide your business to be its best, most profitable self. Building on the principles of his first book, Greg shows you how to dive deep into your data and locate the numbers you need to identify hidden opportunities for maximum return on investment.
The Hard Work Myth
Entrepreneurs are working harder than ever, with almost half working 50 hours a week or more, swapping quality time with our families for long hours in our offices. The problem is, it isn’t working. Despite the sacrifices, less than a third of businesses started today will survive long enough to see their 10th birthday. In The Hard Work Myth, you’ll discover why working harder is a waste of time and learn the simple but high impact techniques used by some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs to achieve more, without working harder About the author: Barnaby Lashbrooke is on a mission to destroy the myth that working hard is the key to success. Why? Barnaby has built two multi-million dollar businesses, with more than $32 million in total sales, all whilst working less than 35 hours per week and he believes if he can do it, you can too.
The Startup Way by Eric Ries
With his million-copy bestseller The Lean Startup, Eric Ries launched a global movement. Concepts like minimal viable product, A/B testing and ‘pivoting’ changed the language of business. Now he turns his attention to companies of all sizes – and shows how the startup ethos can breathe new life into even the largest and most bureaucratic organisation. In this groundbreaking new book, he draws on inside stories of transformations at multinationals like General Electric and Toyota, titans like Amazon and Facebook, and tech upstarts like Airbnb and Twilio. He lays out a new framework for entrepreneurial management: a comprehensive approach that kick starts innovation and delivers sustained growth, even in highly uncertain environments. The Startup Way is an essential read for leaders, managers and entrepreneurs at any level. It’s a revolutionary approach to incubating great ideas, turning all teams into startups, and inspiring everyone to think like an entrepreneur.
What’s Your Problem? by Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg
Are you solving the right problems? Have you or your colleagues ever worked hard on something, only to find out you were focusing on the wrong problem entirely? Most people have. In a survey, 85 percent of companies said they often struggle to solve the right problems. The consequences are severe: Leaders fight the wrong strategic battles. Teams spend their energy on low-impact work. Startups build products that nobody wants. Organizations implement “solutions” that somehow make things worse, not better. Everywhere you look, the waste is staggering. As Peter Drucker pointed out, there’s nothing more dangerous than the right answer to the wrong question. There is a way to do better. The key is reframing, a crucial, underutilized skill that you can master with the help of this book. Using real-world stories and unforgettable examples like “the slow elevator problem,” author Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg offers a simple, three-step method – Frame, Reframe, Move Forward – that anyone can use to start solving the right problems.
Just Work by Kim Scott
From Kim Scott, author of the revolutionary New York Times bestseller Radical Candor, comes Just Work: Get Sh*t Done, Fast & Fair – how we can recognize, attack, and eliminate workplace injustice – and transform our careers and organizations in the process. We – all of us – consistently exclude, underestimate, and underutilize huge numbers of people in the workforce even as we include, overestimate, and promote others, often beyond their level of competence. Not only is this immoral and unjust, it’s bad for business. Just Work is the solution. Just Work is Kim Scott’s new book, revealing a practical framework for both respecting everyone’s individuality and collaborating effectively. This is the essential guide leaders and their employees need to create more just workplaces and establish new norms of collaboration and respect.
Marketing Made Simple by Donald Miller
Based on Building a StoryBrand by New York Times bestselling author Don Miller, this checklist is a strategic and actionable guide to applying the StoryBrand framework to any brand and an essential part of any marketing professional’s tool kit. Every day, brands lose millions of dollars simply because they do not have a clear message that tells consumers who they are and what value they will add to their customers’ lives. To solve this dilemma, Don Miller wrote Building a StoryBrand, which has become the quintessential guide for anyone looking to craft or strengthen their brand’s message. Now, Don is taking it a step further with this five-part checklist that helps marketing professionals and business owners apply the StoryBrand messaging framework across key customer touchpoints to effectively develop, strengthen, and communicate their brand’s story to the marketplace.
Written by business growth coach Dominic Monkhouse. Find out more about his work here. Read his book, ‘F**k Plan B’ here