A (late) Summer reading list

Books to get you thinking

How has your summer been so far? Hopefully you’ll have had a chance to get away for a break. Are you the ‘leave work and don’t give it another thought’ type? Or maybe you find some of your best professional insights pop up, unbidden while you are chilling out with a mojito (or brewing up at the campsite/ visiting Peppa Pig World…. delete as appropriate)

Whichever club you are in, a holiday is for many of us pretty much the only time we get to actually sit down and read a book. Whether that means settling down with your Kindle, or a good old paperback, when the pressure’s off for a bit, it can be the best time to learn something new, ready for your return to work.

The question is, which are the books that will keep you turning the pages, not dozing off in your hammock? After a quick round the office survey (via Chatter poll of course), here are the top six books we’d recommend, and why.

• ‘The Goal’, by Eliyahu Goldratt – possibly the only known example of the ‘process change thriller’ genre. This is a creative romp through the complexities of operational performance improvement, told in fictional format (yes, really)

• If technology and innovation is your passion, “The Innovator’s Dilemma” by Clayton Christensen. Heralded as “a set of rules for capitalizing on the phenomenon of disruptive innovation”, anyone working at the forefront of tech today should take time to read this one.

• If you are going through change, Nobel Prize-winning Daniel Kahnemann’s bestseller ‘Thinking Fast & Slow”, will help you understand the way people react to upheaval. This book will give you an insight into how we all make decisions, and what we can do to think, and act, smarter.

• Considering an update of your marketing strategy? “Start with Why”, by Simon Sinek will revolutionise the way you approach the task. Showcasing what it is that sets amazing marketing apart from mediocre, this is a truly inspiring read. Best line in the whole book? “(Martin Luther King) gave the ‘I have a dream’ speech, not the ‘I have a plan’ speech”.

• For the data-curious, take a look at “Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work and Think” by Viktor Mayer-Schonberger. If you want to understand more about what the term ‘big data’ means, and how it applies to you and your organisation, then take a look.

• Finally, if you just like good old fashioned tales of the unexpected, then you just can’t go wrong with any of the Freakonomics books, by Stephen Levitt and Steven Dubner.

Happy (mind-expanding) holidays!