A book a week for the rest of the year!
I have always found that challenges are a healthy way to stay motivated, and it’s been a long time since I have challenged myself. Starting a new role this year that has taken over and become my single focus has really detracted from my own personal development.
Reading has always been the best way to advance my skills and learn new topics that help me both professionally and personally. So, with that in mind, four weeks ago I set myself a challenge to read a book a week for the remainder of the year.
The problem with this, is that I have become incredibly time poor. To find a balance, I need to find ways to incorporate my goals into my regular activities, and picking up a hardcover book for 3-4 hours a day is simply not achievable.
Solution = Audio Books
Now, I understand an audiobook can be perceived as cheating, so before I embarked on my new challenge I needed to make sure I wasn’t cutting any corners. Almost serendipitously, a Reddit post asked this very question, and I was lead back to a 1981 research paper that analysed the effects ‘imagery plays in sentence understanding”, and to my surprise, the paper has quite a positive approach to my new best friend, the Audiobook. Take that haters!
Now in an effort to remain accountable to my goal, I will be posting reviews of the books I have read, along with my key takeaway, every 4 weeks.
Here is my first instalment:
Challenger Sale – Matthew Dixon & Brett Adamson
Sales is an ever-changing landscape, and IMO this is one of the most important books for modern day B2B sales people. My first induction into B2B sales process books was Neil Rackham, so it is only fitting that I followed it up with the Challenger Sale.
Personally, I found the Challenger approach to be a logical step for sales. Old methods of simply trying to please everyone can become troublesome and arduous. I like how it highlighted the fact that Challenger should choose their battles and focus on the projects where they can create the most impact, or drive the most change.
These days (especially in enterprise tech sales) it is imperative that we act as subject matter experts, not just in our own products but also in the customers vision and goals. Leading with a customer first approach to change is always going to win over the long term.
The Originals – Adam Grant
The Originals is by far, one of the best books I have read in a long time. Adam Grant has an unbelievable wealth of knowledge and how he shares it in this book keeps you turning page after page.
My key takeaway was to diversify and manage risks, maximising the opportunity for success by spreading out your risk-taking activities toward the areas that will count. Taking risks expose you to failure, and failure can be detrimental to your drive to achieve a goal. Diversifying risks helps manage our emotions through loses or failures and ultimately helps us improve overall.
This book has some incredible stories, from both successful and not-so successful ventures and is an entertaining read from start to finish. It also addresses some common misconceptions around our behaviours and what drives change. I lover every minute of it, huge thanks to Michelle Sandford for the recommendation.
Hit Refresh – Satya Nadella
Working internally at Microsoft, this book created some huge buzz, and I for one was keen to see whether it was just that; buzz, or was it to be a genuinely insightful book.
Personally, I found it lived up to the hype. Satya Nadella has made a strong impact on Microsoft in such a brief time, that you can’t help but wonder what it is about him that is driving this change. In Hit Refresh, Satya really does strip it all back, and make his motivations clear.
He shares some incredibly personal stories that outline his key drivers, and really makes it clear that he wants to be at the forefront of supercomputing, as well as highlighting the need. My favourite quote (more a quote of a quote) was “if you are not terrified by supercomputing, then you don’t understand it”.
I think the appointment of Satya was a dramatic change from the previous leadership and the early success can be measured in share price alone. Well worth the time to read the book.
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing – Al Ries and Jack Trout
Sales books are something that have become a staple for me throughout my career. They are a necessity to keep abreast of the changes within the industry and to help keep me relevant within my roles. The problem I have had recently is that I am no longer working in sales. My current role sees me working within the marketing department (something that has been met with its fair share of “imposter syndrome”).
This was my first venture into Marketing literature and in all honesty, it was a wonderful place to start (kudos to Emma Lo Russo for the recommendation).
Straight off the bat, the first law took me by surprise (“it’s better to be first than it is to be better”). I have always had the opinion that you can be late to the party if you have a better offer than everyone else, but this highlights the fact that to make your presence known it is best to be first to gain mindshare.
I was also taken aback to learn the 8th law: “In the long run, every market becomes a two horse race”. Whilst these may seem trivial to some, I felt as though it really challenged my mentality as a sales person; shifting from a “screw it, just do it” focus to “maybe we should think about this before we act”.
Next on my list
Currently patiently waiting on my Audible wish list is:
- Killing Marketing: How innovative businesses are turning marketing cost into profit
- The Google Story
- Crucial Confrontations
- Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
- Between the World and Me
- The Undoing Project
If you have any recommendations that you have feel free to pop them in the comments below and they will be added to my list!!!
Marketing @Persy Booths ? B2B Marketing | Growth | Brand
7 年look at you! well done ;) You should also look into "The Power of Habits" by Charles Duhigg and "How to Win Friends & Influence People" by Dale Carnegie