I get a lot of email asking what I’m currently reading and studying so I thought I’d give you a quick update on what I’m currently reading and watching. If you are going to have an effective marketing program, you must spend a great deal of time studying not only the usual suspects when it comes to books, but you must also spend time focused on books, videos, courses and programs in other areas as well, some of the areas I regularly study are:
Art
Abstract Thinking
Cognitive Neurology
Biochemistry of Emotions
Beliefs
Mythology
Symbols
History
Psychology
I have a few recommendations that I think you may enjoy.
The Power of Impossible Thinking – This is a great book on mental models and how they apply to people and business. This book is based on the latest neuroscientific research and their experience with corporate transformations. Jerry Wind and Colin Crook explain how your mental models stand between you, reality and success.
What The Bleep Do We Know? – This is a great movie and associated website that studies reality. It goes into Quantum Mechanics, String and M theory in minor detail as the scholars discuss reality. This is a great movie but developed as a hybrid documentary, you don’t know who the experts are until the end (unless you visit the website first). My only criticism of the movie is the choice to include Ramtha as I feel it takes away some of the credibility of the movie's experts. Watch the movie for the thoughts from the nation’s top theoretical physicists, doctors, scientists and thinkers. You’ll learn a great deal you can use.
The Fortune At The Bottom Of The Pyramid – By the great business thinker C.K. Prahalad. This book is a very insightful and thoughtful look at how serving the billions of poor and lowest classes through the world ethically, that businesses can help raise them out of poverty and profit at the same time. There are some very good ideas in this book that any marketer can use now, in this country, whether you ever try and do anything outside of the country.
The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality – Brian Greene is one of the most lucid thinkers in science today. He also takes very complex scientific concepts and turns them into very easy to understand chunks that we can all understand. Great stuff for advertising copy, marketing ideas and more here.
Lovemarks – This is a tremendous book on brands and how your clients relate to them and to your brand and how to start your own love affair with your clients. A must read for every marketer.
Wordcraft – This is a great review of how company naming works. If you are wondering what to name your company or if you should rename your company read this first.
If you have any great books you recommend as part of an effective marketing program, drop me an email and I’ll do a post with reader recommendations in the near future.