At NST, our team members are driven to redefine the role of PR by constantly exploring beyond the status quo to uncover new solutions, take calculated risks, educate themselves and advance their industry. What better way to explore, grow and stay on top of industry trends and hone your craft than by reading books that will grow one’s knowledge and skills as an expert communicator.
One of Warren Buffet’s rules to success is to go to bed a little smarter each day. He is famous for his voracious reading habit, spending up to 80% of his day reading. While that’s likely impossible for most of us to do, it is possible to read a few pages each day to expand our minds and stay on top this ever-changing industry.
Here are ten books, in no particular order, that are currently being read by some leading PR practitioners and currently on my reading list.
Your Strategy Needs a Strategy: You think you have a winning strategy, but do you? Executives are bombarded with bestselling ideas and best practices for achieving competitive advantage, but many of these ideas and practices contradict each other. Should you aim to be big or fast? Should you create a blue ocean, be adaptive, play to win—or forget about a sustainable competitive advantage altogether? This book offers a offered a practical tool for understanding which strategic approach to apply.
Think Again: In this book, the author weaves together research and storytelling to help us build the intellectual and emotional muscles we need to stay curious enough about the world to actually change it.
Who Not How: The world’s foremost entrepreneurial coach shows us how to make a mindset shift that opens the door to explosive growth and limitless possibility – in business and life.
Mindset: After decades of research, world-renowned Stanford University psychologist discovered a simple but groundbreaking idea: the power of mindset. In this book, the author shows how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavor can be dramatically influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities.
The Infinite Game: Leaders who embrace an infinite mindset build stronger, more innovative, more inspiring organizations. Ultimately, they are the ones who lead us into the future.
Leaders Eat Last: Too many workplaces are driven by cynicism, paranoia, and self-interest. But the best ones foster trust and cooperation because their leaders build what the author calls a “Circle of Safety” that separates the security inside the team from the challenges outside.
Presence: Bringing your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges: By accessing our personal power, we can achieve “presence”, the state in which we stop worrying about the impression we’re making on others and instead adjust the impression we’ve been making on ourselves. The book reveals we don’t need to embark on a grand spiritual quest or complete an inner transformation to harness the power of presence. Instead, we need to nudge ourselves, moment by moment, by tweaking our body language, behavior, and mind-set in our day-to-day lives.
Everybody Writes: This book focuses on expert guidance and insight into the process and strategy of content creation, production, and publishing, with actionable how-to advice designed to get results. These lessons and rules apply across all of your online assets – like websites, home page, landing pages, blogs, email, marketing offers, and on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media.
Spin Sucks: Most PR books tell you how to “spin” your message. This book will teach you how to communicate honestly, responsibly, openly, and authentically…and truly earn the trust of your customers, stakeholders, investors, and communities.
Contagious: This book provides a set of specific, actionable techniques for helping information spread—for designing messages, ads, and information that people will share.
There are plenty of other great books that will help your communication or leadership skills so if you have any recommendations, please let us know!