The tradition of gift-giving continues this holiday season, and the Empirical team is back again to help with unique ideas! Once again, we’ve asked our team for input to help you find the perfect gifts for many on your list (and perhaps for you as well).
You’ll find we have turned to our team members to solicit their choices for best reads of 2022. We’ve turned it into a list of “gifts”, and each gift is accompanied by a corresponding book title.
Happy holidays from the Empirical team!
The Gift of a Healthy Organization
The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni
As many of you know, I’m a big Patrick Lencioni fan. I find he has a way of boiling down the complex into a commonsense approach that is executable in every company. The Advantage draws upon his previous books and pulls them all together into a comprehensive guidebook to a healthy organization. It is well worth the time to read and put into practice for your company.
From Bill Morrow, Sales & Marketing
The Gift of Removing Obstacles to Growth
The Growth CFO Void: The Guide to What’s Holding You Back from Becoming a 2% CEO by Kirk W. McLaren
Competitive risks can appear out of nowhere, especially if nobody is in charge of keeping watch on the numbers where they first show up.
From Chris Lee, Operations
The Gift of Being a Better Parent
Good Inside by Dr. Becky Kennedy
This offers fresh perspective on parenting that focuses on how ALL kids are born good and when they act out it is because they are struggling with something or don’t understand. It gave us some interesting insight and different tools to try with our amazing and ‘spirited’ daughter that have worked really well.
From Karen Butz, Human Resources
The Gift of Understanding Our Differences
American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America by Colin Woodard
I just started reading this history of the eleven rival regional cultures of North America. It is interesting to understand why, as a country, we have such a hard time agreeing on things like the meaning of freedom, the role of religion in public life, or what it means to be an American. It is very appropriate, based on the current divides within the country.
From Jason Fisher, Human Resources
The Gift of Living a Better Life
Hero on a Mission by Donald Miller
I’m a huge fan of Donald Miller; I’ve crafted many campaigns after his Storybrand approach, using the roadmap from his book ‘Marketing Made Simple’. This year I read his newest book, ‘Hero on a Mission’, and was not disappointed. This book explores the role of story and meaning in our daily lives, showing me how to transition to a more heroic way of life and find more enjoyment in everything I do.
From Kelley Nelson, Marketing
The Gift of Better Writing
A Self-Help Guide for Copywriters by Dan Nelken
This book offers the perfect mix of fun and functional advice for writing headlines and building creative confidence. Nelken’s suggestions are easy to digest, giving you tangible takeaways every time you pick up the book. He shares processes, techniques and exercises to get your creative juices flowing. Added bonus: the book is chock full of awesome example ads to give you the inspiration you need to write incredible copy!
From Erin Dalton, Marketing
The Gift of Remembering the 1990s
The Nineties: A Book by Klosterman, Chuck
This is a highly entertaining, analytical look at one of the most under-appreciated decades in recent history. The author systematically breaks down the vast changes in pop-culture, technology, and global/societal affairs.
[BONUS: Also, I read 4+ books by Ken Follett this year. From Pillars of the Earth to The Needle and Evening and the Morning, his research and historical perspective make every book engrossing. For a good, smart, spy novel, there are few that do it better than Ken Follett.]
From Penni Barton, Marketing
The Gift of Focusing on the Important Things
The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday
I LOVE a great James Patterson paper read or Audible when I am walking. However, in January 2022 I started reading “The Daily Stoic” by Ryan Holiday – at that time he was the #1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller. Each day/each month focuses on different aspects of your life. You can take 5 minutes to read the daily message or reflect and add additional time to highlight and write in the pages. I am going back to start over and look at what I highlighted and wrote 1 year ago for each day. In the times of uncertainty and struggles it is healthy to refocus on what is most important and mindful.
From Jerry Lynn Cech, Talent Acquisition
The Gift of Handling Conflict
Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss
This was one of my favorite book-finds this year – a fascinating work on negotiation strategy written by a former FBI hostage negotiator. Handling conflict and working among diverse and divergent needs is an ever more critical skillset today. What I liked most was its no-nonsense style and actionable insights.
From Ajay Joshi, Sales Operations
The Gift of Happier Living
How to Live: Or a Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer by Sarah Bakewell.
This is a very interesting book about a 15th century French nobleman / bureaucrat who prescribes various ways of how to be happy in living. It is written from a medieval time perspective, with French contemporary history in the background.
[BONUS: I also read Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, a timeless classic.]
From Shubho Chatterjee, Digital Transformation & Supply Chain
The Gift of Understanding the Psychology of Money
Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter by Dan Ariely and Jeff Kreisler
I’ve followed Dan Ariely’s works for a while as he gets to the heart of how we make decisions, and how emotion drivers of how we move through life (fascinating stuff!). As Ariely has explained in the past, humans are predictably irrational and the actions we take often don’t make any sense at all if we stop to think about it. This book certainly is a tool for marketers to understand how people will make purchasing decisions, but it is also a glimpse into how we can all improve our own financial choices.
From Laurel Cavalluzzo, Marketing
