In this book nook, let me share some thought provoking marketing and business books from my personal collection. These are my favorite, share-worthy marketing, creativity, innovation books from amongst the many many books I read across years. Each book here gave me something of value.
Among the favorites, I have mentioned a few major disappointments too (books that were supposed to be ‘must-read’ yet were anything but).
Either got me clarity on the way forward, gave me a new way to look at a current situation, helped me think of ideas in a different way, enhanced my creativity/ imagination, etc.
Give them a shot. They may reveal different things to you.
If you don’t want to read the entire book, you could read my notes and highlights from the respective links.
Only the Kindle editions have notes and highlights (of course). For those I read in hard copy, I can simply recommend the name here. You would have to do the heavy lifting of actually reading the book to mine its gold. But trust me, if the name is here, it will be worth the reading time and effort.
Jump right in
Books Read in 2021
Books Read in 2020
Books Read in 2019
Books Read in 2018
Readings from 2017
Readings from 2016
2021
Top
Never Split the Difference- Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on it- Chriss Voss, Tahl Raz
Click here to read all of my 232 highlights
My review
Read it!
Negotiation is needed in every relationship and life scenario- be it work or personal or leisure or anything in between.
And the book breaks it down for us, making it easy to digest and replicate.
Almost every sentence in the book was needed and worth highlighting. Not one superfluous or repetitive sentence or paragraph in the book (normally done to just increase the pages).
The Psychology of Money- Morgan Housel
Click here to read all of my 131 highlights
My review
This book came highly recommended by my siblings, various book lists, book forums etc. And it did not disappoint. It gives a simple explanation and way to view all things money. It puts things in perspective i.e. how much importance should be given to money and money making.
I especially loved the writing style and the choice of words. The author consistently hits the nail on its head. He spots such simple nuances about our thinking regarding money, success, expectations that they seem obvious and ‘aha!’ ish in hindsight.
Once you read the pointers, you wonder at its simplicity and obviousness.
The book is time well invested.
Small Data- Martin Lindstrom
Click here to read all of my 77 highlights
My review
The book is good but too too too long. It did not need those many pages to explain the concept. The concept is sound. It is interesting. It is intriguing till the first two or three case studies. Then it felt more like the author’s CV than a book I needed to read.
Maybe because it had been praised by such great authors like Malcolm Gladwell, Chip Heath etc, I had very high expectations of it. And the book did not live upto it. It’s biggest flaw was its length. Had it been 50% shorter, it would have had stronger impact, I think. Anyways you can read my highlights in the highlight section.
Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don’t Make Sense- Rory Sutherland
Click here to read all of my 108 highlights
Some highlights
RORY’S RULES OF ALCHEMY: The opposite of a good idea can also be a good idea. Don’t design for average. It doesn’t pay to be logical if everyone else is being logical. The nature of our attention affects the nature of our experience. A flower is simply a weed with an advertising budget. The problem with logic is that it kills off magic. A good guess which stands up to observation is still science. So is a lucky accident. Test counterintuitive things only because no one else will. Solving problems using rationality is like playing golf with only one club.
A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative– Roger Von Oech, George Willett (Hardcopy)
It’s a very old book about creative thinking. It shares very many techniques to hone creative thinking and get ideas get ideas always. Because the book is very old, some of the techniques mentioned have now become veyr popular and a bit commonplace. I am sure when the book first came out, each technique would have been unheard of.
These were actionable techniques, explained with enough examples and supporting arguments. The book makes for a handy checklist or thought starter when you are stuck for ideas and are struggling to get a fresh perspective at an existing problem.
Do read!
2020
Be Social: Building Brand YOU Online- Karthik Srinivasan
Click here to read all of my 38 highlights
Some highlights
‘Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You. It’s that simple—and that hard. And that inescapable.’ —Tom Peters, The Brand Called You
The Long Tail- Chris Anderson (Hardcopy)
I am sorry but this book is a chewing gum. The topic had enough meat for a long form blog post but if definitely did NOT have enough content to fill a book. There was unending repetition of the same concept over and over, using the same examples on a loop.
To give the author benefit of doubt, maybe when the book was published, it was a new concept and hence it became as popular as it did. There is definite merit in the concept and it does apply to any industry we can think of, especially in the digital age Even then, the concept is not complicated enough to justify writing a book.
I hate not finishing a book. I try my level best to finish a book, however boring or repetitive but this once, I gave up 3/4th way in. Because I learned something of value within the first two chapters. Rest were redundant repeats.
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking- Malcolm Gladwell (Hardcopy)
This book is put on most must read lists- for marketing, for business, as self help. It was good but not wow. There are now so many books which follow a similar format- picking up learnings from many many psychology researches and piecing it together as a whole.
I have read multiple such books like Influence by Robert Cialdini or Mindset by Carol Dweck by Hence, they have sort of lost their appeal and appear a bit formulaic. I expected Blink to tell me how to think and how to take care of unconscious prejudices/ stereotypes that influence our decision without us realising. But it doesn’t. It keeps giving example after example proving that yes we make decisions with unconscious / sub conscious input too. But doesn’t arrive at the way to handle that.
Hence, a bit of an anticlimatic read.
Non-Obvious: How to Think Different, Curate Ideas & Predict The Future- Rohit Bhargava
Click here to read my 25 highlights from the book
Some highlights
The most powerful trends offer predictions for the short-term future based on observing the present. And knowing the short-term future is more valuable than you may think.
It is tempting to see expertise as a prerequisite to being good at curating trends, but there is also a predictable drawback: blind spots. Quite simply, the more you know about a particular topic, the more difficult it becomes to think outside your expertise and broaden your view.
2019
Digital Disruption: Unleashing the Next Wave of Innovation- James McQuivey, Josh Bernoff
Click here to read my 55 highlights from the book
The start of the book contained useful matter but thereafter when they tried introducing proprietory models- it felt like a force fit, trying to create a model for the sake of longevity. The self created models were barely any different from existing marketing models. So the latter half of the book was highly ok. You can read the highlights here. Like the examples given in the first half of the book. Good companies, good innovations.
Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time- Keith Ferrazzi (Hardcopy)
I picked up this book to strengthen my weakness of not networking. And it does have useful tips that can work for anyone. But majority of the advice I felt was not something I could apply, especially not in India. Concepts like joining various groups based on interests and passions- there aren’t that many groups in India.
The fact that the author himself is a marketing consultant like me made his work…more
Principles: Life and Work- Ray Dalio
Click here to read my 126 highlights from the book
Though the book is very well received and very popular, I found it extremely tedious. It basically says the same 5-10 points over and over and over again. Those points are interesting and they make sense the first time they are explained. They don’t need constant repetition.
You can read my highlights for the points I liked and found useful and worth considering.
Idea Man- Paul Allen (Hardcopy)
I read the book thinking it will probably contain ideas for technology or businesses. It partly does but not ideas for the future but what ideas he had given in the past and what was the response to them.
It is sort of a resume of Paul Allen- Key Responsibility Areas handled, ….more
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life- Mark Manson (Hardcopy)
The title was intriguing and the book had featured on many a recommendation lists. The book made a few valid points, gave food for thought. But that was only in 50% of the book. The rest was sort of repetitive. The concept I loved was…more
Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers- Geoffrey A. Moore, Regis McKenna (Hardcopy)
Read this book. You will thank me and everyone else who has given it such phenomenal ratings. Though the book is an old book, though the examples mentioned in it are not as relevant today, though the book was meant for marketing high tech products, it is relevant and thought provoking for every entrepreneur and marketer. Even a B2C marketer has…more
The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right- Atul Gawande(Hardcopy)
This was a book on a lot of recommended book lists. Its name is self explanatory. The best part about the book was the way it was written- cases were interesting and varied and it moved at a fast pace. Finished reading it in a few hours. But the not so great part? ……more
Nuts!- Kevin Freiberg, Jackie Freiberg, Tom Peters (Hardcopy)
The entire book is about the culture at Southwest Airlines- the what, why and how of it. Reading about the importance given to fun, humor and “being your quirky self” at the airlines made me really sad because they are not present in India. If only!! I would have done whatever it took to work there. Because…more
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less- Greg McKeown
Click here to read my highlights from the book
I had big hopes for this book based on the description and title. But it was a let down. The book did not add anything new to the concept shared by The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan and Charles Duhigg’s The Power Of Habit. Not just the concept but even the examples used throughout were rehashed from other books like Robert Greene’s Mastery. Maybe for someone who hasn’t read these books, this book may be thought provoking.
Hegarty on Advertising- John Hegarty (Hardcopy)
From the first page onwards, the book had me nodding. I have nodded at almost every other page in the book because what was described on the page, made perfect sense, in a simple yet significant way. The book is filled with stories, anecdotes, campaigns and wise words. So many quotes from the book are…more
2018
Travelling to Infinity- Jane Hawking (Hardcopy)
Even though this book is not a business or marketing book per se, it is a book about a phenomenally famous man Dr. Stephen Hawking. It is worth reading, even if only to get a glimpse into what all goes into making a person great- personally and professionally. You can read my review here.
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business-Charles Duhigg (Hardcopy)
Thought of reading the book from marketing point of view. For effective advertising and marketing, the consumption habits of people have to be targeted. I liked more than half the book. The last few chapters didn’t seem relevant to me as a marketer. They were about social movement.
I loved the entire episode of Alcom company and how one small organizational habit transformed the entire organization. There were just a few company related examples. The science behind the book was partly new for me …more
Call of the Mall: The Geography of Shopping-Paco Underhill (Hardcopy)
Recently, I got a project on Shopper Marketing. Its a very interesting field of marketing. In college, i had read Paco Underhill’s Why We Buy. Had loved it. It was eye opening. So thought, lets brush up on shopper marketing by reading the same author’s latest work. Hence, this book.
The book may have worked well when launched but in today’s world, reading about malls is akin to reading historical fiction. It is a walk down memory lane (even if not your own memory). Things like this used to exist but they barely register now. In today’s times of ecommerce madness, offline shopping is suffering in general, including malls….More
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die- Chip Heath, Dan Heath (Hardcopy)
My Review
The book is filled with anecdotes, stories and examples. That makes for an easy read. Yet the stories convey the core message of what makes ideas stick. They have suggested a framework to help anyone improve their communication and ideas. It explains HOW to make ideas stick. Clubbing this book with Jonah Berger’s Contagious which explains the WHY of virality makes for a complete education on virality of ideas. The SUCCESs framework recapped at the end is a handy reference tool. The book is a must read for any communicator/ marketer for sure.
Contagious: Why Things Catch On – Jonah Berger (Hardcopy)
My Review
I had taken the Viral Marketing MOOC conducted by Jonah Berger. It was based on Stepps principle that Contagious is built on. It was good that he wrote it down in book format because it makes for better referencing. I cannot keep revisiting the MOOC lectures but I can keep browsing through the book as and when I need to.
Content wise, to the point, no faff and every point mentioned was supported by scientific evidence. As a marketer, the book was invaluable . It helped sharpen certain thoughts a …more
Make Your Mark- Jocelyn K. Glei (Hardcopy)
The book was super generic and the information given was common knowledge. Nothing new, nothing different. Very boring. Felt like it was compiled from a dozen existing and old marketing and entrepreneurship books. Not at all worth spending on. You can simply read noteworthy passages from my notes and highlights here.
The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution (Hardcopy) Walter Isaacson
My Review
When you start reading the book, it feels heavy and for a non-technical person like me, it went over my head- because it was too technical- the initial chapters were about mathematicians, followed by chapters on programmers and transistor etc. The people parts of these chapters were good though.
Then as you proceed further into the book, things start becoming less technical. Or maybe because you start moving closer to the technologies we use currently, they were easier to understand.
Through all …more
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow- Yuval Noah Harari, Andreas Wirthensohn (Hardcopy)
After reading Homo Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, I thought this book started out as a rehash of Homo Sapiens. but as it progressed, it turned out to be as interesting as Homo Sapiens. intriguing. gave a very different way to look at the fast paced developments taking place all around us.
For both the books by this author, one thing that amazed me was the depth of research he did to put together these two. outstanding tomes.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind- Yuval Noah Harari (Hardcopy)
My Review
Though this page lists marketing and business books, this book Sapiens deserves special mention because it completely changes your perspective about the most fundamental things like family, humans, religions etc. Change in perspective will have a rub off effect on all aspects of your life- personal or professional. Hence, this book makes it to this list.
What to Charge: Pricing Strategies for Freelancers and Consultants– Laurie Lewis
Some of my favorite lines (click here to read the rest)
When you call on your colleagues to learn the going rate for an upcoming job, you might try one of these conversation starters: “I’m talking to a client about [type of job]. Have you done anything like that recently?” [After loosening up the consultant, add the next line.] “Would you mind telling me how much you charged?” “I have the possibility of [describe work]. Do you know the typical rates for this kind of job?” “A client has asked me to do [type of work]. Do you know anyone who’s done this sort of job who might be willing to talk to me, especially about rates?”
negotiation involves distinct steps, and what is on the table differs at each stage: Stage 1: dollars—Talk about how much money you will receive. This is what the client expects when discussing the consultant’s fee. If you feel there is wiggle-room in your initial price, you may offer a lower price at this stage should the client balk. Stage 2: the job description—If the client simply cannot come up with the money you feel is appropriate, try to alter the parameters of the job. Useful negotiating points at this stage include the timetable or schedule, the size of the job, the number of times …more
Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg
Some of my favorite lines (click here to read the rest)
“I want to apply to work with you at Facebook,” she said. “So I thought about calling you and telling you all of the things I’m good at and all of the things I like to do. Then I figured that everyone was doing that. So instead, I want to ask you: What is your biggest problem, and how can I solve it?”
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance (Hardcopy)
My Review
The book is less a biography, more a chronicle of two unique companies- SpaceX and Tesla. It is fairly detailed in the founding stories and successes and failures of the two companies. Also in the role Elon Musk plays in both.
Elon Musk comes across as Steve Jobs version 2.0. He is as driven, as focused, as insensitive, as visionary as Jobs. Having read Steve Jobs’ biography too, the comparisons are inevitable.
But reading the book, I came away with a sense of hope for the future, knowing there …more
The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss
Some of my favorite lines (click here to read the rest)
The DEAL of deal making is also an acronym for the process of becoming a member of the New Rich. The steps and strategies can be used with incredible results—whether you are an employee or an entrepreneur. Can you do everything I’ve done with a boss? No. Can you use the same principles to double your income, cut your hours in half, or at least double the usual vacation time? Most definitely.
Disrupt!: 100 Lessons in Business Innovation, by James Bidwell
A year later, fashion retailer Nordstrom made dedicated areas of their bricks-and-mortar stores designated Pinterest sections, which included some of the most pinned products from the Nordstrom Pinterest page that week.
Another great example comes from S-Oil. The South Korean petroleum provider’s ‘Here’ campaign chose a simple solution to one of the biggest problems faced in modern cities: finding a parking space. Hi-tech solutions to the issue include Germany’s ParkTag app, which uses smartphone-enabled crowdsourcing to create a map of free parking spots to be shared among friends. But S-Oil sought a solution not reliant on smartphones or sensor systems, and joined with Korea-based advertising agency Cheil to tackle the issue – with balloons.
Bright yellow arrow-shaped balloons were placed in the middle of parking bays, tethered to the ground by a piece of string. The arrows were boldly emblazoned with the word ‘HERE’, to indicate a free space. When a car drove into the spot, the string was pulled under the vehicle, drawing the balloon down. When it left, the balloon floated back up again, instantly alerting those nearby that the space was being vacated
My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional for Hire- Michelle Goodman (Hardcopy)
There were so many places in the book that I said ‘true that’!!!!! it was very relatable and hence, helpful. Nicely written- with a good dose of humor. It covers all the steps that a person, specifically a lady, would need to cover when venturing into the freelance waters. There are many books on this topic. But this was fun to read and helpful too. The content was not clutter breaking but covered…More
The 48 Laws of Power- Robert Greene (Hardcopy)
I read half the book. I couldn’t proceed because i found it too negative. power need not come only if you manipulate, lie, cheat, betray. there are other ways to get power too. I completely disagree with 48 laws because each law and examples therein were too black, extreme.
2017
The Medium is the Massage-Marshall McLuhan, Quentin Fiore, Jerome Agel (Hardcopy)
This was supposed to be one of the ‘all time marketing greats, all marketers should read’ kind of a book. I thought the book would about how the medium should be used to convey the communication message. A marketing book from media perspective but it was not that at all. it turned out to be a social and media history of human civilization. hardly any connect with marketing and advertising. the book should be classified under sociology or history, not marketing.
Differentiate or Die- Jack Trout
One way of overcoming the mind’s natural stinginess when it comes to accepting new information is to work hard at presenting your message as important news. Too many advertisements try to entertain or be clever. In so doing they often overlook the news factor in their story. The Starch research people can demonstrate that headlines that contain news score better in readership than those that don’t. Unfortunately, most creative people see this kind of thinking as old news. What they should be focused on is the need to dramatize that selling message or news. If people think you’ve got an …more
Better and Faster: The Proven Path to Unstoppable Ideas, by Jeremy Gutsche
These are the three hunter instincts—insatiability, curiosity, and willingness to destroy.
To stay inspired, we’d perpetually hunt for ideas together, devouring hundreds of magazines and newspapers. Our living room table was a collage of media. We’d flip through copies of Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Time, Newsweek, Car & Driver, Automobile, Motor Trend, The Economist, Fast Company, Inc., Forbes, and National Geographic. We’d examine each new product, quizzing each other on whether it would be successful and how we might change it.
The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment’s Notice, by Todd Henry
Prolific + Brilliant + Healthy=producing great work consistently and in a sustainable way
Brilliance, on the other hand, is about rising to the occasion, seeing clearly and incisively to the core of the problem, and identifying great solutions quickly.
Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters- Richard Rumelt
A good strategy honestly acknowledges the challenges being faced and provides an approach to overcoming them. And the greater the challenge, the more a good strategy focuses and coordinates efforts to achieve a powerful competitive punch or problem-solving….
Brain Surfing: The Top Marketing Strategy Minds in the World, by Heather Lefevre
Some of my favorite lines (click here to read the rest)
The types of companies hiring strategists snowballed beyond agencies to include innovation consultancies, start-ups, and even the marketing departments on the client side.
The development of genuine expertise requires struggle, sacrifice, and honest, often painful self-assessment. There are no shortcuts. It will take you at least a decade to achieve expertise, and you will need to invest that time wisely, by engaging in “deliberate” practice—practice that focuses on tasks beyond your current level of competence and comfort. You will need a well-informed coach not only to guide you through deliberate practice but also to help you learn how to coach yourself. Above all, if you want to achieve top performance as a manager and a leader, you’ve got to forget the…
Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration, by Ed Catmull
Some of my favorite lines (click here to read the rest)
If you give a good idea to a mediocre team, they will screw it up. If you give a mediocre idea to a brilliant team, they will either fix it or throw it away and come up with something better. The takeaway here is worth repeating: Getting the team right is the necessary precursor to getting the ideas right. It is easy to say you want talented people, and you do, but the way those people interact with one another is the real key. Even the smartest people can form an ineffective team if they are mismatched. That means it is better to focus on how a team is performing, not on the talents of…
A Technique for Producing Ideas – the simple five-step formula anyone can use to be more creative in business and in life!, by James Webb Young
Some of my favorite lines (click here to read the rest)
An idea, I thought, has some of that mysterious quality which romance lends to tales of the sudden appearance of islands in the South Seas.
A book like Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class therefore becomes a better book about advertising than most books about advertising.
an idea is nothing more nor less than a new combination of elements. In advertising an idea, results from a new combination of specific knowledge about. products and people, will general knowledge about life and events.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad- Robert Kiyosaki (Hardcopy)
My review
I have forgotten the number of times I have recommended this book to friends and family. It is like a crash course in personal finance, explained in a manner that even school kids would understand. Though some of tax ideas may not work in India, use this book to get a clarity of financial concepts. Once you have that clarity, you can apply those concepts to any country, any business…. More
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion-Robert B. Cialdini (Hardcopy)
This book, combined with Contagious and Made to Stick, can be treated as a diploma in marketing. It explains the principles that are the foundation for communication, persuasion and influence i.e. the objective of any marketing effort. Marketers HAVE TO read this book. It will help build smarter, more effective ad campaigns, creative communication.
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success-Carol S. Dweck (Hardcopy)
My Review
Repetitive but the basic concept is good.
Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All- Tom Kelley, David Kelley (Hardcopy)
Design thinking is the new buzz word. Everyone from marketers to businessmen to creative people to managers are talking about Design Thinking and how it applies to every field. Well, Tom Kelly is the founder of IDEO, a design behemoth. I wanted to read the book purely because it was written by someone from that firm. The explanation is crisp. Relevant. With examples. Good to read.
Steve Jobs– Walter Isaacson (Hardcopy)
My Review
Walter Isaacson is a phenomenal biographer. Steve Jobs is the perfect subject. What a guy!!! You want to hate him. You want to admire him. You want to follow him. You want to shout at him. He inspires all these feelings when you read his biography. Steve Jobs the person was definitely not one of the good guys. Especially did not like what he did to Steve Wozniak. But Steve Jobs as a marketer is awe-inspiring. As a business person, he is legendary. He rightly deserves to be called a visionary. There is so much to learn from him. It was not enough to read the hard copy. I got a kindle version too for easy referencing.
Unusually Effective: 25 Unusual yet Effective Social Media Marketing Strategies for Creating an Irresistible brand, Ultimate Business Growth and Massive Profits, by Akshay Desai
Some of my favorite lines (click here to read the rest)
Families on the other hand tend to get together for a home cooked dinner or go out for one. A lot of bars, restaurants have discount offers especially for weekends, search a few in your locality and inform your followers about these discounts.
Unusual Strategy #4 #MondayMorning routine No one…including you, likes to be marketed to on a Monday morning but we all could use a little inspiration and motivation. A simple Google search will give you enough inspirational quotes and memes about Monday morning to share with your followers…and you will be surprised to see how many of these get retweeted and shared. When you do this, don’t forget to use relevant Hashtags like; #mondaymorning #mondaymotivation #monday #coffee #dayofpositivity #goodmorning
Becoming Digital: Strategies for Business and Personal Transformation, by Knowledge@Wharton
Some of my favorite lines (click here to read the rest)
Marriott’s “Travel Brilliantly” TV, digital, and mobile advertising campaign is a prime example of a hotel chain that reinvented the way it interacts with its guests to be relevant in the age of social media. The campaign asked guests to be co-creators of the lodging experience, by sending the company their ideas to make their stay better or sharing their travel adventures. When a traveler suggested that Marriott install “healthy” vending machines, the chain partnered with Farmer’s Fridge to dispense salads-in-a-jar. Marriott also lends its guests a GoPro camera so they can record and share…
Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine- Candace B. Pert (Hardcopy)
I like reading books on science, psychology etc. The title of the book piqued my interest. Started reading. Continued. Stopped only when it was done. Never once did i expect a science book to be so engrossing. It was very well written in an engaging manner, in a language even non-science folks can understand.
But as a marketer, what I found interesting was that if we think in a certain way, it can have an impact on our physical bodies. As they say, mind matters. But the reverse may also hold true. If we consciously undertake some physical act, it may trigger some specific emotion. Think laughter clubs. We force ourselves to laugh from the belly and it has an impact on our emotions. Can we as marketers use this understanding while designing customer activations? I wonder.
75 Ways to Help Your Brand Stand Out – Regina Regina Anaejionu
My Review
Good book. Not all 75 were useful or doable for me. But quite a few were. Happy with the book. The content in the book was useful enough to encourage me to sign up for a free online course offered by the author Regina. Even that was neat.
Big Data, Analytics, and the Future of Marketing & Sales- McKinsey Chief Marketing & Sales Officer Forum
Our new shopper is the mobile shopper “Today, 30 percent of our traffic is coming over a mobile device — mostly iPhones, iPads, Apple devices. On weekends, we watch nearly a quarter of our revenue move through mobile devices too. So that was a big change we didn’t anticipate. Those were people who were basically responding to the time-based nature of our selling. They’re jumping on the site from the sidelines of the soccer game on the weekend or from a meeting during the week. One of our top shoppers is a leading defibrillator implant surgeon. And she pops out for five minutes from the …more
2016
Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder- Arianna Huffington (Hardcopy)
Decent book. Not too great not too bad. If you have time and nothing better to do, you can read it. It is not worth making time for. Main takeaway- get a goodnight’s sleep. That is the most important and impactful activity for not just living but thriving.
49 Quick Ways to Market Your Business for Free: An Instant Guide to Marketing Success, by Sarah-Jane White
Some of my favorite lines (click here to read the rest)
05 Create very short presentations which carry very focused messages about your products and services and share them on the web. These are a great way to reach out to customers and in just a handful of slides deliver a short crisp message about your business. Need inspiration? Then why not start by taking one of your frequently asked questions and presenting the answer in a slideshow, then share. Remember to link back to your website and blog.
Edward De Bono is supposed to be an institution. His concepts like 6 thinking hats, lateral thinking etc are taught in B Schools. So I thought it was high time I read the marketing classic- Lateral Thinking. It was such an anti climax. I don’t think I even reached the end. It was very very boring. I thought maybe at the time of its release, its content would have been unheard of. Hence, it reached such popularity. But that is just giving it benefit of doubt. Even if it was pretty clutter breaking in its time, it is not a timeless classic. Because reading it in 2017, it sounds cliched, over rated, boring.
Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder- Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Hardcopy)
My review
I loved the concepts shared here. Each was supported by concrete facts and logic. I also absolutely loved the way words were used to convey complex ideas in a simple, easy to understand manner. Must read book!
Pinterest Power: Market Your Business, Sell Your Product, and Build Your Brand on the World’s Hottest Social Network- Jason Miles (Hardcopy)
Leading the Starbucks Way: 5 Principles for Connecting with Your Customers, Your Products and Your People- Joseph A. Michelli (Hardcopy)
Productivity for Creative People: How to Get Creative Work Done in an “Always on” World, by Mark McGuinness
Some of my favorite lines (click here to read the rest)
The Calendar Game Here is a simple game I invite coaching clients to play1 when they are struggling to put in consistent daily work on a project or practice on their art: Buy or make a monthly calendar and hang it somewhere prominent so you will see it every day. Each day you actually do your creative work (hours put in, word count, etc.) color that day red. The aim of the game is to turn the month red. Each time you skip a day, color that day blue.
Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative Genius- Michael Michalko (Hardcopy)
The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results- Gary Keller, Jay Papasan (Hardcopy)
My Review
My key takeaway from this book was the focus on just the one thing. Though this is a productivity book, it applies equally well to marketing and to every other sphere of life. Cut the voluminous amounts of crap and get down to the one thing that matters the most. It could be the one thing for that moment or for your entire life, doesn’t matter….More
Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think- Peter H. Diamandis, Steven Kotler (Hardcopy)
My Review
Most business books paint a bleak picture about the future. Movies are made, books are written expounding the doomsday scenario. This book is a loud, firm, affirmative answer to all the naysayers. It gives hope that not all is lost.
The book is based on reality, based on current research in science and assorted fields. The upcoming technologies highlighted are not light years away but…. More
Mastery- Robert Greene (Hardcopy)
The book is based on hardcore research into what results in mastery. It is proven that its not just your inherent talent that makes you a master. It is hard work. There are cases where hard work creates talent you were not born with. The most memorable takeaway for me from the book was the figure of 10,000 hours….More
T-Shirts and Suits: A Guide to the Business of Creativity, by David J. Parrish
Some of my favorite lines (click here to read the rest)
The most exciting creativity, I believe, is the alchemy of blending apparent opposites, what we often call ‘art’ and ‘science’, recognising that they are not opposites at all, from which we have to choose either/or in a binary fashion, but the yin and yang of a whole.
Successful creative enterprises need to have a creative product or service; they also need to invent a special and workable formula of all the essential ingredients of business.
The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users- Guy Kawasaki (Hardcopy)
My review
The book was highly ok. Barely any tips that were unheard of. More than half the content was rinse and repeat from a hundred other online resources. Better to take up some online course instead of turning to this book for help.
Outliers: The Story of Success- Malcolm Gladwell (Hardcopy)
My Review
The book was a mix of sorts- some of the concepts and examples shared were similar to what we would find in books like Mindset by Dr. Carol S. Dweck and Mastery by Robert Greene wherein we realise that the reason why some people far outdo the majority is because of their mindset, their hardwork, their attitude. More
The Dictionary of Corporate Bullshit: An A to Z Lexicon of Empty, Enraging, and Just Plain Stupid Office Talk- Lois Beckwith (Hardcopy)
As marketers, we often create communication for B2B customers. This book is a good reference of what NOT to say in the communication. It is a witty, sarcastic take on how corporate communication is convoluted, jargony and unnecessarily difficult. The best marketing is that which even a kid can understand. So steer clear of the terms mentioned in the book and similar and be simple and straightforward to have maximum impact in your marketing communication and campaigns.
When Did Ignorance Become a Point of View?- Scott Adams (Hardcopy)
Scott Adams, the king of sarcasm. This book needs no review, no intro. It is classic Dilbert. Love it.
The Joy of Work: Dilbert’s Guide to Finding Happiness at the Expense of Your Co-Workers (Dilbert: Business #4)-Scott Adams (Hardcopy)
If you are a Dilbert fan, which almost all 7 billion are, then read this. You cannot go wrong with any Dilbert book or rather any Scott Adams book.