It was no surprise that our Monthly Book Review series was a hit on the blog in 2020. As it was in 2019, the book series was a favorite for our audience. This is good news for the ADMIN team who uses the series to broaden our perspective in business and tackle our reading goals for the year. This past year was a great reading year for our team, and we wanted to share some of our top reads from 2020. With that being said, here are the top five books we read in 2020:
TINY HABITS by BJ FOGG
Creating new habits that are positive and healthy are just as hard as cutting out the negative and unhealthy habits we already possess. Why is that? Why is it so hard to shed the bad and repeat the good? According to founder/director of the Behavior Design Lab, BJ Fogg, it is because we try to do too much too soon. After coaching more than 40,000 people on an area of lifestyle goals, Fogg was able to determine that the best way to go after the habits you want is by doing so slowly and steadily. Whether you want to lose weight, become more productive, sleep better, or even experience less stress, there’s a way to it that doesn’t involve you becoming a new person overnight. Fogg’s basic formula applies to any and everything you want to do: make it easy, make it fit your life, and make it rewarding.
Click HERE to read our full review.
UPSTREAM by DAN HEATH
Each day, we as humans face issues that present themselves. This happens both in life and in business. Pressing matters pop up throughout our days and we strategically work to resolve them to the best of our ability. Often, we will do this alone and on occasion, we will work in teams to find the best solution. This is an important aspect of humanity; being able to handle the unexpected and manage curve balls helps us grow individually and as organizations. But, what if we spent less time solving problems and more time learning how we could prevent them from happening in the first place? In Upstream, Dan Heath focuses on finding a cure for the issues we face rather than dealing with the symptoms.
Click HERE to read our full review.
GOOD TO GREAT by JIM COLLINS
The analysis of how businesses become (and stay) successful has always been an intriguing topic for ADMIN and Good to Great by Jim Collins hit the mark. There are endless books on what it takes to achieve greatness, but Collins’s approach was refreshing and enthralling. While there are plenty of companies that are born with successful DNA, there are others that struggle to grow into their greatness. Collins and his 21-person research team decided to explore these companies and discover what truly takes a business from good to great.
Click HERE to read our full review.
THE INNOVATION STACK by JIM MCKELVEY
Jim McKelvey and his friend (and cofounder of Twitter), Jack Dorsey, came together to create a solution to a problem that Jim, along with many other business owners, were experiencing. Now one of the most widely used payment systems for small business, Square is the brainchild of McKelvey’s frustration around the high costs and difficulty business experience when it comes to accepting payments via a credit card. While Square took off quickly, competitors like Amazon caught on and started creating similar products at a lower price point. While it seemed like that might be the end for Square, the brand pushed through and thrived which resulted in Amazon pulling the plug on their similar service. So, how did he do it? McKelvey contributes the longevity and success of square to ‘The Innovation Stack.’
Click HERE to read our full review.
LEADERSHIP IS LANGUAGE by L. DAVID MARQUET
As soon as we saw the title of this book, we knew that we had to put it into our Monthly Book Review for June. We have shared a number of posts on leadership in the past and we are always looking to learn more. David Marquet, a former US navy captain, made waves in the world of business books when he released his first book ‘Turn the Ship Around.’ His follow up book ‘Leadership is Language’ continues his conversation on using communication to boost teams.
Click HERE to read our full review.
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