Here we have a round of all non-fiction! The first three of these are ones that I read for work - which has been an unexpected perk of this new job. The company has a book study every quarter or so and go through a book together, which I like because I think it speaks to a company culture of being open to learn. Bonus points that these are books that I would probably not have picked up on my own.
The Myth of Multi-Tasking by Dave Crenshaw
This was a fascinating read for me, who admittedly has always proclaimed myself to be a multi-tasker, as if it were a great thing. I still think that there is a certain type of positive energy that is really useful to me when I do several things at once, which builds on itself and keeps me moving, but I agree with the premise of this book that people can't really multi-task; what they are doing when do many things at once is "switch-tasking". The author makes a distinction between "switch-tasking" and "background-tasking" - the latter being when you do something that takes up your main form of concentration, while you do something that takes up less focus, like watching a movie, listening to podcast, etc. This concept has made me think more carefully about which activities I switch-task and which ones I need to make sure I fully focus on. I think this has applications in creative work too in ways that I'm still thinking about.
The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann
This is the book study that we are doing now. I love the concept of this book, which talks about how the secret to business success is giving. It is written like an allegory, with the main character being guided by a "Chairman" who introduces him to principles like "Your worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment." and "Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people's interests first." It's a shift in mindset when it comes to the business world, and potentially a really effective one.
StoryBrand by Donald Miller
Do you guys remember Donald Miller? I've read nearly all his books, but didn't know that he wrote another one about marketing until a few months ago. Apparently, Donald Miller is now helping businesses clarify their marketing messages through his company, StoryBrand, which uses the seven elements of storytelling to grow their business. I'm a believer in the concept that the elements of storytelling naturally resonates with people, so I was really interested to see how Miller has fleshed this out for his business. A lot of things I knew, but I also learned a lot of things reading this one and are in the process of implementing these strategies for our own.
The Child Whisperer by Carol Tuttle
I picked this up based on a couple of recommendations. Carol Tuttle talks about working with children based on Energy Profiling, which is an assessment tool that considers body language, communication, learning proceses, personality, physical characteristics, etc to provide parents with understanding about how their children see the world and need to express themselves. It's all about learning your child's true nature and speaking to that as your parent them according to their individual needs. Looking at the movement and tendencies of your child makes a lot of sense to me, but i was a little wary of the parts where she also uses physical characteristics to categorize into types. There may be something to that, but i'm just wary of assigning traits based on physical appearance....sniffs of eugenics. Anyways, it's good for the way it highlights the differences between children in detail. Consistency is key, but also i realized over the past year that I can't use the exact same parenting style for my two kids. I figured out what "types" my kids were (Type 3 and Type 2 I think) and found the tips for each type when dealing with various situations really helpful.
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