Tim’s Summer Reading List

One of my agents, the delightful and brilliant Kelsey Meyer, writing for Forbes in her article “Why Leaders Must Be Readers”:

“If you are a leader, you should be striving to develop knowledge to improve yourself, your company, and the people who work for you. To do anything less is to shortchange your ability to lead.”

Yesterday, Lynn shared her summer reading list. It inspired me to share mine as well.

Manage Your Day-To-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus & Sharpen Your Creative Mind: – I’m fascinated by the workflows and habits of successful people. This book, from such a great source – 99u – interviews bunches of successful people about these very things.

Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power & Greatness by Robert K. Greenleaf – Though 35 years old, Greenleaf’s theories on authentic, ethical leadership have been widely and highly praised by people I respect. Serving (versus selling) is a core value of our company. I cannot wait to read this.

Retail Superstars: Inside the 25 Best Independent Stores in America by George Whalen. If Tom Peters calls a book his favorite on creativity, I’m interested.

The Business Of Belief by Tom Asacker: How the World’s Best Marketers, Designers, Salespeople, Coaches, Fundraisers, Educators, Entrepreneurs and Other Leaders Get Us to Believe – Asacker is a national treasure. If he wrote a book on flossing, I’d buy it. Speaking of Peters, he blurbs about this book: “This is a short book. But I hope it takes you, like me, a long time to read it. The Business of Belief earns the word ‘profound’—every sentence should be savored.”

The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence by Robert Spector and Patrick McCarthy – Does anyone scale and systematize service better? Maybe Disney. Maybe Apple. Maybe Zappos. I’ve read those books. This one’s next. Nordstrom rounds out the Mt. Rushmore of Shareworthy Service, don’t they?

Small Town Rules: How Big Brands and Small Businesses Can Prosper in a Connected Economy by Barry J. Moltz and Becky McCray – Speaking of national treasures, there are few more gracious and interesting people on twitter than Becky McCray. Given the fact that everyone in our company grew up in small towns, and the fact the McCray is one of this book’s co-authors, I was sold.

Conscious Capitalism: Liberating The Heroic Spirit Of Business by John Mackey and Raj Sisodia. Mackey is the Co-CEO of Whole Foods. Sisodia is co-author of one of my five favorite business books ever. Sold.

So, that’s my list (well, it’s a bit larger after Lynn’s post yesterday). We are readers, us Mileses. How about you? What’s on your summer reading list?