In Square Marketing’s new office, there is an entire space dedicated to books, with a table and a few armchairs, a coffee maker, and a large window that lets sunlight in.
The volumes currently present were collected mainly during various personal and team training experiences; there are also in-depth texts that helped us define our services and pleasure readings always related to the world of marketing and sales.
Among them, however, are some that have decisively determined the structure and thinking of Square Marketing as it is today. Curious to discover them together? Come on, let’s not waste any more time. Ready to go, go: here is the list of the 10 books that influenced us the most.
1. This is Marketing (Seth Godin)
“This is Marketing” is a collection of Seth Godin‘s thoughts on marketing. It is an intense but smooth read, and gives a general overview of most of the topics the author has devoted himself to in his writing: permission marketing, storytelling, customer engagement.
It is part of the starter pack for anyone joining the Square Marketing team.
2. No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention (Erin Meyer and Reed Hastings)
In this book Reed Hastings, Netflix founder, along with author Erin Meyer, describes the ingenious philosophy behind his project and his life, and tells untold stories about trials and errors, missteps and mistakes made, offering the fascinating and complete picture of a dream that revolutionized the way we watch TV and never stops reinventing itself.
Hastings’ original culture of freedom and responsibility influences much of our choices in human resource management.
3. OKR Revolution (John Doerr).
In this well-received volume, John Doerr reveals how the OKR system of key goals and outcomes has helped giants such as Intel, Google and Amazon achieve explosive growth–and how it can help any organization flourish.
The basis of our thinking in the reorganization of major business goals.
4. Deep Work (Cal Newport)
In Deep Work, author and professor Cal Newport turns the usual narrative on its head: instead of asserting that distraction is bad, he celebrates the power of its opposite, namely a deep work ethic that can produce great benefits.
A set of rules and good habits to train ourselves every day to turn our skills into value.
5. The Power of Habit (Charles Duhigg)
This bestseller by Charles Duhigg takes us on a journey of discovery into the habits of individuals, organizations and society, analyzing their mechanisms and how they work, and tells us about them through a series of practical examples.
Pills that help us change our habits for the better by making them part of our daily routine.
6. The Practice (Seth Godin)
With “The Practice,” Seth Godin offers entrepreneurs, communicators, artists and creatives a guide to overcoming the blocks that keep us from making our voices heard and sharing our ideas. A call to not lose confidence and enthusiasm in the daily choice to exercise our creativity.
An invitation that infuses us with courage whenever we “lose our compass” of creativity and think our ideas are trivial.
7. Da cosa nasce cosa (From One Thing Comes Another – Bruno Munari)
In his busy career Munari investigated various issues related to art, education, design methodology and creativity. In “From One Thing Comes Another,” he summarizes for us his idea about the design method, seen as a series of necessary operations arranged in a logical order dictated by experience, and not as an exclusive and innate gift of a few.
There is creativity in each of us, even when we think we don’t have any. Munari helps us develop it and highlight our ideas.
8. Selling Well (Selling Well – Roberto Giangregorio)
A guide that analyzes all the actions to put in place to successfully conclude any type of negotiation, through case studies and practical examples. Giangregorio lines up a series of concrete and simple tips that can be put into practice at every stage of the sale.
A mantra for our sales department to approach every appointment with a winning attitude.
9. Flow (Mihály Csíkszentminhály)
Published in 1990, Csikszentmihályi’s book synthesizes decades of research on the concept of “flow,” flow, the state of consciousness in which we are totally immersed when we perform an activity. A theory that has had enormous influence in multiple areas, from psychology to sports via personal growth.
A decisive volume for attracting positivity and working on our personal development.
10. Marketing 4.0 (Philip Kotler)
The father of modern marketing presents in this volume the methods of concrete effectiveness with which to guide customers through the various stages of their journey. To “aware,” “appeal,” “ask,” and “act” is added a fifth component, advocacy, that is, the opinions of our friends and family members that deeply influence our purchasing decisions.
A must-have milestone in the library of a good marketer.
