The one great thing about writing a book, it accelerates your reading. Besides the poring over thousands of pages of facts and figures, I read books to feed theory. You have to have a theory and it has to be solid. Nothing really changes but the circumstances and the context.
So, I go back and read the biz-classics. All of ’em. Review my cliff and tags to brush up on the book.
Now, I’m reading a slew of contemporary works related to my subject (social responsibility, futurism, sustainability) as well. Together, they inform me. Who knows, maybe I’ll come up with a way for you to “save the world at work”.
I suggest you do it for your life too. You don’t need to write a book to start being a biz-bookworm. Readers are leaders.
When I was at Yahoo, I fed myself a steady stream of books in a self-paced crash course on the future. Here’s the newsblast: it is a fast paced race. As my friend Karl Meisenbach of HD.net says, “if you aren’t reading, you aren’t keeping up.”
Here are three classic books that I’ve recently reread. And they were right.
The Dream Society by Rolf Jensen — People will buy a story when they choose products and services. They will attempt/demand/expect meaning from daily purchases.
The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christenson — The incumbents don’t have a value for disruptive changes, which happen all the time. If you ask your best Customers what they want, and then follow their advice, you’ll eventually go out of business, tragically.
The Experience Economy by Joseph Pine and Jim Gilmore– There has been a value progression to experience as the highest economic offering. Companies that stage an experience using products as props, and services as a stage–will demand the highest price for their goods and do well.
Read these threes, they will change your life.
