We believe that in order to keep up with the ever transitional world, we need to keep up with change and learn as much as we can. Here are our best picks for the month of May!

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Can’t Hurt Me

David Goggins

David Goggins is a great example of someone who has taken charge of his life. He had the odds stacked against him. His father was a ruthless abuser. When Goggins was in grade school, his mother ultimately left him, bringing Goggins with her to southern Indiana, where they relied on government aid to get by. He struggled in school and eventually passed by duplicating the homework and test answers of other students. He knew what it was like to be a victim of prejudice. When he received a wake-up call in the shape of a failed military admission exam, he was on the verge of becoming just another tragic statistic. He had a strong desire to join the Air Force. This is the start of a remarkable cycle of encountering huge challenges and figuring out how to conquer them, mostly via a mix of hard effort, goal setting, risk-taking, discipline, and mental mastery.

• Don’t let fear and disappointment hold you back from reaching your full potential
• With a lot of hard work, anyone can be successful

Chatter

Ethan Cross

Ethan Kross, a renowned psychologist, analyses the silent conversations we hold with ourselves in Chatter. Kross explores how these conversations impact our lives, work, and relationships by combining innovative behavioral and brain research from his own lab with real-world case studies—from a pitcher who forgets how to pitch to a Harvard undergrad navigating her double life as a spy. He warns that succumbing to negative and confusing self-talk—what he refers to as “chatter”—can wreak havoc on our health, depress our spirits, strain our social relationships, and lead us to crumble under pressure. Chatter is a book that offers us the ability to alter the most essential conversation we have every day: the one we have with ourselves. It is brilliantly reasoned, well researched, and filled with captivating tales.

• To reduce chatter we need to meet both our emotional and cognitive needs
• Engaging with the outside world helps us reduce chatter

Storyworthy

Matthew Dicks

The book, written by an award-winning storyteller, instructs readers on how to tell stories using very precise strategies. He walks the reader through brainstorming exercises, removing extraneous components, figuring out the essential 5 seconds of a tale (including some surprise movie ideas), how to conclude, how to pace, and everything else. The book, written by an award-winning storyteller, instructs readers on how to tell stories using very precise strategies. He walks the reader through brainstorming exercises, removing extraneous components, figuring out the essential 5 seconds of a tale (including some surprise movie ideas), how to conclude, how to pace, and everything else.

• There are some critical do’s and dont’s for immersing the audience in your story
• At its heart, every good story is about a 5 second moment

SuperFounders

Ali Tamaseb

Super Founders (2021) examines the factors that contribute to the success of billion-dollar businesses. It debunks the plethora of myths surrounding tech unicorns and explains what it takes to succeed in Silicon Valley after crunching over 30,000 data points. Tamaseb is an articulate and powerful advocate for the complicated world of startup culture, and his education, experience, and connections all play a role in this. Many books in this genre are cautionary stories, but Tamaseb weaves together an exciting mix of history, statistics, philosophy, economics, and intelligent interviews with key entrepreneurs and investors to create a story that is less tech history and more roadmap for the power players to come.

• A successful idea needs to be backed by need and by passion
• Sometimes the counterintuitive move pays off

Gates of Europe: A history of Ukraine

Serhii Plokhy

Plokhy has a unique capacity to untangle the hundreds of trends, forces, and actors scavenging this area and measure them in clear, compact chunks. Ukraine’s past has always been contentious, but it has never been more so than now. Plokhy moves through the material with elegance and ease. He follows the territory’s history as it passed through the hands of various people and governmental organizations, including the Vikings, the Byzantine Empire, the Mongols, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and eventually, an independent Ukraine.

Paid Attention

Fairs Yakob

In an age of ad-blockers, dwindling attention spans, and massive customer options, how can you get people interested in your brand? Paid Attention (2015) examines the rapidly shifting media ecosystem and proposes success techniques that go beyond banner placement and pop-ups. It includes a solid model for influencing human behavior as well as toolkits that give best practices about brand behavior and successful communication. It includes real-world examples of advertising campaigns from Google, Sony, and Old Spice.

• Good advertising offers customers something of value in exchange for their attention
• As long as your advertising strategy reflects the changing media landscape, the future will be bright

Building a Storybrand

Donald Miller

Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller is one of those books that is so densely filled with excellent information that you’ll want to refer to it again and again. Miller’s StoryBrand 7 architecture presents brilliant marketing messages and implementation approaches. Because the majority of the advice is ageless and is based on the psychology of how people perceive and react to our offers via narrative, you’ll be able to apply it indefinitely. That makes the few months to a year it may take to completely integrate all components of the Framework into your marketing strategy well worth it.

• Customers do not take action unless they are challenged to do so
• Never assume that people can understand how your brand can change their lives

The Cactus and Snowflake at work

Devora Zack

The Cactus and Snowflake at Work (2021) takes a fresh look at workplace dynamics. It proposes that everyone is either a Cactus or a Snowflake and that our personality types influence how we think, feel, behave, and collaborate. Knowing your personality type – and how to cope with others of different personalities – can help you achieve professional success.  The strictly analytical and the profoundly empathetic may meet in the middle and integrate their abilities, as this humorous and deep workplace handbook demonstrates. Readers will learn how merging with their polar opposites allows them to be their most authentic selves.

• There are two personality types: Cactus and Snowflake. Get to know your Cactus and Snowflake colleagues
• Leading a mix of Cacti and Snowflakes takes strategy

Toxic Positivity

Whitney Goodman

According to Goodman, society is trapped in a loop of “toxic positivity,” in which emotional suffering is disregarded by a knee-jerk optimism response that shames and silences negativity. Anyone who has felt emotionally invalidated is more likely to react in the same way to the misery of others, continuing the cycle. Toxic Positivity is an eye-opening examination of Western society’s positivity culture. It explains how toxic positivity hurts individuals and communities, as well as practical solutions for ourselves and others.

• Forcing people to be positive actually makes them unhappy
• To dismantle oppressive societal structures, we need to challenge the culture of toxic positivity

From Strength to Strength

Arthur C. Brooks

Arthur C. Brooks, a social scientist with appointments at Harvard’s Business and Kennedy schools as well as a columnist for The Atlantic, has written a new book that provides both a diagnosis of the phenomenon and, more importantly, a roadmap for “strivers” with the ambition of Goldman Sachs partners to find fulfillment in middle age and beyond. The fundamental issue, according to the book, is that our talents will inevitably deteriorate. From Strength to Strength is a guide to prospering in your latter years. It is jam-packed with helpful advice that encourages readers to quit concentrating on previous accomplishments and focus on the present.

• Success often means knowing when to walk away
• Shake your reliance on worldly success and rewards to find true fulfillment

24/6 – The power of unplugging one day a week

Tiffany Shlain

Tiffany Shlain’s 24/6 is a straightforward and much-needed addition to our increasing number of self-help books that can help us cope with our new sedentary lifestyle. She recommends that we all take a technological Shabbat once a week, a restorative 24 hours that will remind us not just why we are fortunate to have technology in the first place, but also why it is so necessary to take a regular break from it. It gives a brief history of rest and discusses why you need it as well as how taking a break may help you be more successful, creative, and have better relationships.

• Whether you’re focused or daydreaming, don’t let your screens distract you.
• We need to rethink our use of technology and prepare for the future

Kotler on Marketing

Phillip Kotler

Philip Kotler’s marketing textbooks have been considered the bible of marketing since 1969 since he has offered sharp and useful guidance on how to build, win, and dominate markets. He has merged the wisdom of his blockbuster textbooks and internationally known seminars into one practical all-in-one book, which covers all there is to know about marketing. Kotler addresses every aspect of marketing in a simple, basic manner, from determining what customers want and need in order to establish brand equity to retaining loyal long-term customers.

• Research is crucial to identifying and evaluating marketing opportunities
• Make your product more appealing by positioning it more uniquely

My Life in Full

Indra Nooyi

Indra Nooyi, the former CEO of PepsiCo, has written a memoir titled My Life in Full. She reflects on her ascent to prominence and the balancing act she had to pull off while trying to fit in time with her family. Nooyi explains how she met the individuals who influenced her to think differently and how they filled in the gaps in her knowledge in her famous autobiography. In lists of must-have leadership skills, the humility to confess ignorance is often overlooked. This book serves as a reminder of the importance of being a learner and listener.

• Nooyi reflects on the difficulties women face in the workplace and the work she has done to reduce them
• Nooyi believes that real societal change is needed to allow women to prosper in the workplace

Why design matters?

Debbie Millman

Debbie Millman sits with some of the greatest creative minds of all times to unleash how their creative minds impacted the people around them. Prominent creators like Paula Scher, Alison Bechdel, or Seth Godin, all of them had setbacks in their careers and lives, but what kept them moving was their courage to generously persist and confront their biggest fears that gets them from doing what they love. Popular photojournalist Brandon Stanton feared walking up to strangers and talking to them. But he mastered this by walking around the streets of New York everyday and practice talking to strangers, finally mastering the skill. And now he is the man behind the very popular and adored Humans of New York.

• Persistence and continual learning is the key to unlock your creative minds.
• Stay true to yourself to develop your own sense of style and creativity.

Twelve and a Half

Gary Vaynerchuk

American dancer Isadora Duncan had once said, “To awaken human emotion is the highest level of art.” As we dance in our wave of emotions every day, Vaynerchuk’s Twelve and a Half analyzes different human emotions to solve problems in business and life. The author lists down 12 important emotions: gratitude, self-awareness, accountability, optimism, empathy, kindness, tenacity, curiosity, patience, conviction, humility, and ambition. Vaynerchuk mentions that his success lies in leveraging these traits in varying proportions, depending on the situation. He also gives practical exercises for readers to develop and strengthen these soft skills to become successful in their journey of life.

• Emotional intelligence is your most important tool for success in life and business.

Magic Words

Tim David

Being around other people whether you like it or not, is the reality of our lives. Be it at your workplace, your school, or even for your vacation, you need to build meaningful connections with people, for them to work with you on what you want. Tim David’s Magic Words is here to help. The most important word when you are trying to get someone on your side of the battle is “Yes”, and the word you should avoid the most is “No.” A study found that the success rate increased from 18 to 32 percent when a group of salespeople triggered people to say yes. Tim also introduces us to the magic of using ‘Because.’ (Are you now wondering the reason behind it? This is exactly why!) People often wants to know the reasons and ‘because’ often catches their attention and serves their curiosity! There are few other magic words like “Help” to make someone feel important and the word “Thanks” often important in the business world keeps the other person happy, feel valued, and motivated.

• Words merely won’t help. The essence of getting things done also lies in building and nurturing relations.
• Capture attention by calling a person’s name, because humans are designed to pay attention to their names.

Get Different

Mike Michalowicz

The recent years have seen entrepreneurial spirit going high, and has become a way of life and perspectives for many. Mike Michalowicz’s Get Different has what it takes to set your business apart from the competition. Human minds tend to ignore anything that doesn’t bring them to be an opportunity or warn them of a threat. This phenomenon is called habituation and this is where marketers need to take action.

• Identify and sort your list of existing customers and potential clients base before coming up with a marketing plan.

The Adaptation Advantage

Heather E. McGowan and Chris Shipley

Should we worry about robots taking over? As workplaces are rapidly changing with newer technology, there’s a good reason to worry about tech stealing our jobs. But setbacks are part of lives, and as humans, we need to develop an agile mindset at an individual and business level. There are four stages towards this: explore to improve, experiment with new ideas, execute your ideas to practice, and expand your practice optimistically. And all these phases require leadership, a skillset unique to humans.

• Don’t define yourself by the ‘work’ you do. This thought could limit your options.
• Apart from financials, focus on the culture and capacity for the growth of your organization.

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