Here are 6 books I liked reading recently. They cover the gamut of careers, happiness, creativity, business and much more.
Rebel Talent by Francesca Gino – I really enjoyed this book. This makes you think differently. The tag line is why it pays to break the rules at work and life. Some of the suggestions are to seek out the new, encourage constructive dissent, have open conversations and find freedom from constraints.
An Audience of One by Srinivas Rao – I loved this book. It is simple to read and basic point is to create for creations sake. The point is don’t write to build a following. Instead write to satisfy your curiosity and then if you get a following great. Also, your environments play a role in your creativity. Practice solitude, remove all unnecessary newsletters, make fewer decisions and live by your own values. There is a lot of good stuff in this book which I enjoyed.
The Meaning Revolution by Fred Kofman – While the subject matter has been well covered by many books I still enjoyed the way the book was organized and presented. Find a cause larger than yourself and if you are a leader help your team find the bigger meaning in their work. This obviously increases satisfaction and engagement. Another suggestion is to die before you die. Understand your mortality and remove anything that is not aligned to where you want to end up at the end. This was a wonderful book and makes you think about what you want your leadership to stand for.
Getting Back to Happy by Marc Chernoff and Angel Chernoff – This was a very practical book on happiness. I think at a deep level all of us know what makes us happy and it is just a reminder. Of course, the usual stuff needed to be happy are first to be disciplined. The other suggestion is to have a morning routine like exercising, meditation and reading. The other key is to be grateful for everything you have. Look at your calendar and remove all the things that are there now. Once you do that decide what you want to put back. Learn to say no and don’t overextend yourself. I have also come up with my A to Z of Happiness. Check it out here 26 Tips to be at your Happiest.
The Creative Curve by Allen Gannett – This is an excellent book on how creativity works. I have got really interested in the subject of creativity for the last 4 years and this is one of the better books. Whenever we someone who has achieved a lot especially in the arts we think it is due to innate talent. However, creativity is a process. He mentions four laws of the creative curve. They are consumption, Imitation, Creative Communities and Iterations. One thing is a lot of creative people read voraciously. For example, even before J K Rowling became famous she was a wide reader and that helped her writing. Informative book with lots of examples that can inspire us on our creative journey.
Growth IQ by Tiffani Bova – This is an excellent book on how you can increase the top line in the business. It all starts with the customer experience. One of the examples is how Howard Schultz turned around Starbucks. One of the things he did was to shut down 7100 stores for 3 and half hours and train the baristas on making the espresso coffee better. This is just one example of willing to even lose millions of dollars just to ensure the customer experience is world class. There are so many other examples that I can go as far as to say this is one of the best business books of the year.
Check out these books and they are pretty good for you to have an even greater 2018.
The views expressed here are my own and do not represent my organization.