What’s on the MC2 bookshelf?
“Give yourself unto reading. The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men’s brains, proves that he has no brains of his own. You need to read.”
- Charles Spurgeon
It’s common knowledge that reading is good for your mind. Books are mentally stimulating and just like any other muscle in our bodies, the brain requires exercise to keep it strong and healthy. At MC2, we’re cognitive of this and have instilled reading into our team’s monthly routine. Join the book club and read some of our favorite suggestions below! We’d love to hear what you think of them.
Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen
By Donald Miller
“New York Times bestselling author Donald Miller uses the seven universal elements of powerful stories to teach readers how to dramatically improve how they connect with customers and grow their businesses.”
Our agency is so invested in Donald Miller’s StoryBrand framework that we recently became one of the few agencies in the United States who are StoryBrand Certified. The process outlined in this text is a proven solution to the struggle business leaders face when talking about their businesses. And it doesn’t pertain to just one genre of business — whether you are the marketing director of a billion dollar company, the owner of a local business, a politician, or the lead singer of a rock band, Building a StoryBrand will completely transform the way you talk about who you are, what you do, and the unique value you bring to your customers.
Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time
By Brian Tracy
“There's an old saying: if you eat a live frog first thing each morning, you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that it's probably the worst thing you'll do all day. Using ``eat that frog`` as a metaphor for tackling the most challenging task of your day, the one you are most likely to procrastinate on, but also the one that might have the greatest positive impact on your life, Eat That Frog! shows you how to zero in on these critical tasks and organize your day. You'll not only get more done faster, but get the right things done.”
Brian Tracy has changed the way our team gets down to business. After diving flippers first into this gratifying read, we are no longer confused about what the most effective way to organize the work day is. Tracy cuts to the core of what is vital to effective personal time management: decision, discipline, and determination. He reminds us, "The purpose of time management skills, of eating that frog, and getting more done in less time, is to enable you to spend more 'face time' with the people you care about and doing the things that give you the greatest amount of joy in life." So, Eat That Frog! every day and share how doing so improves your time management skills moving forward.
The Ideal Team Player
By Patrick Lencioni
“In The Ideal Team Player, Lencioni tells the story of Jeff Shanley, a leader desperate to save his uncle’s company by restoring its cultural commitment to teamwork. Jeff must crack the code on the virtues that real team players possess, and then build a culture of hiring and development around those virtues. Beyond the fable, Lencioni presents a practical framework and actionable tools for identifying, hiring, and developing ideal team players. Whether you’re a leader trying to create a culture around teamwork, a staffing professional looking to hire real team players, or a team player wanting to improve yourself, this book will prove to be as useful as it is compelling.”
What are the qualities you believe an effective team member should absolutely possess? The Ideal Team Player provides the leaders of a business and its employees with strong tools to best qualify what makes for an ideal team player. It uses simple language that’s easy to understand and tactics that can be quickly implemented within any business. Lencioni outlines how to root his model in an organization’s culture and cultivate 3 essential virtues in employees who may be lacking in one area or another.
The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else
by Patrick Lencioni
“New York Times best-selling author, Patrick Lencioni, argues that the seminal difference between successful companies and mediocre ones has little to do with what they know and how smart they are and more to do with how healthy they are. In this book, Lencioni brings together his vast experience and many of the themes cultivated in his other best-selling books and delivers a first: a cohesive and comprehensive exploration of the unique advantage organizational health provides.”
The Advantage provides a foundational construct for conducting business in a way that maximizes human potential and aligns any organization around a common set of core principles. Lencioni provides readers with an approachable model for achieving true organizational health. By building a cohesive leadership team, establishing absolute clarity among those leaders, communicating that clarity to everyone within the organization and putting in place enough structure to reinforce that message going forward, a company can achieve true health. Read this book for insights on how to objectively determine how "healthy" your own business is!
Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality
By Henry Cloud
“Drawing on experiences from his work, Dr. Henry Cloud, a clinical psychologist, leadership coach, corporate consultant and nationally syndicated radio host, shows how our character can keep us or help us in achieving all we want to (or could) be.”
Against popular assumption, Integrity (as defined by Cloud) is not something that you either have or don't, but is instead an exciting growth path that all of us can engage in and enjoy. Reading this as a team helps define the characteristics we value as an organization. Someone with the character qualities outlined in this book has the ability to pull everything together, to make it all happen no matter how challenging the circumstances. This book explains what those 6 qualities are, why they are foundational in success, and how they can benefit not only your organization, but also your life.
Question Behind the Question
By John G. Miller
“QBQ! The Question Behind the Question, already a phenomenon in its self-published edition, addresses the most important issue in business and society today: personal accountability. The lack of personal accountability has resulted in an epidemic of blame, complaining, and procrastination. No organization or individual can achieve goals, compete in the marketplace, fulfill a vision, or develop people and teams without personal accountability.”
QBQ! The Question Behind the Question provides an insightful and practical method for putting personal accountability into daily action, which can bring astonishing results to your business: problems get solved, barriers come down, service strengthens, teamwork grows, and people adapt to change. This text is foundational in our agency and every new hire is asked to read it upon employment. We suggest you do the same and see how it changes the dynamic of your organization.
This list is just a small sampling of the books essential to our company values. As we continue to read books that help MC2 thrive and grow, we will share them in future blog posts. Happy reading!