Book Recommendations
The books that have shaped my thinking.
For anyone new here, I’m the founder of Woo Punch, a brand consultancy rooted in evidence-based brand design. I write about the evidence that debunks brand purpose, differentiation, brand love, loyalty marketing, customer personas, color psychology, mission statements, customer engagement, AdTech, and “hustle culture.”
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In 2019, I went down a rabbit hole that forced me to rethink everything I knew about branding, marketing, advertising, and work. If a university were crazy enough to let me teach a class on rethinking business, on the whole, I would assign the following reading plan.
Read 1st
Deep Work, by Cal Newport
Amazon Summary
One of the most valuable skills in our economy is becoming increasingly rare. If you master this skill, you'll achieve extraordinary results.
Deep Work is an indispensable guide to anyone seeking focused success in a distracted world.
Deep Work is first on my list because, without its solid foundation, you can quickly lose sight of truly valuable work.
Stop spending hours composing social media posts, responding to emails, and cold calling potential clients. Instead, start prioritizing rare and valuable work. Work that can’t be repeated by a bot or anyone with a few weeks of training.
Read 2nd
Alchemy, by Rory Sutherland
Amazon Summary
HOW DOES MAGIC HAPPEN?
The Ogilvy advertising legend—“one of the leading minds in the world of branding” (NPR)—explores the art and science of conjuring irresistible products and ideas.
Alchemy is second on my list because it’s an engaging and funny introduction to the intersection of psychology and business. You can dive deeper into this intersection with Thinking Fast and Slow and Seducing the Subconscious, later on, the list.
Read 3rd
The Halo Effect, by Phil Rosenzweig
Amazon Summary
Too many of today’s most prominent management gurus make steel-clad guarantees promising to reveal the secrets of why one company fails and another succeeds.
The Halo Effect is essential reading for anyone wanting to separate fact from fiction in the world of business.
Most best-selling business books have used shotty research to back up their claims.
Books like Built to Last, Grow, Grit, Good to Great, The Innovator’s Dilemma, Start with Why, The Lean Startup, and others.
This book will plant doubt in you whenever you hear a guru say, “we interviewed thousands of people and discovered these 5 keys to success.”
Read 4th
How Brands Grow, by Byron Sharp
Amazon Summary
This book provides evidence-based answers to the key questions asked by marketers every day.
Tackling issues such as how brands grow, how advertising really works, what price promotions really do, and how loyalty programs affect loyalty.
How Brands Grow debunks common marketing myths with empirical evidence.
Do you think customer loyalty is the key to growth? Think brands must “differentiate or die,” or that loyalty programs are effective? Think again.
If you went to business school to learn about marketing, get ready to fight the urge to want to punch your professors in the face for giving you a shit education.
Read 5th
Seducing the Subconscious, by Robert Heath
Amazon Summary
A must-read for anyone intrigued by the role and influence of the ad world, Seducing the Subconscious explores the complexities of our advertising relationship. Seducing the Subconscious is 5th on my list, even though it was one of the first books I read on the psychology of advertising.
Get ready to take some time with this one and a lot of notes.
You might even start turning off your TV during commercial breaks once you realize you can’t escape the influence of ads by looking at your phone.
Read 6th
It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work, by 37signals
Amazon Summary
In this timely manifesto, the authors of the New York Times bestseller Rework broadly reject the prevailing notion that long hours, aggressive hustle, and "whatever it takes" are required to run a successful business today.
Now that you are open to questioning everything take a load off, and let this entertaining book stick to your preconceived notions of work.
Be warned, this book punches Gary Vee’s “hustle culture” in the face, and for good reason.
Read 7th
How We Learn, by Benedict Carey
Amazon Summary
In How We Learn, award-winning science reporter Benedict Carey sifts through decades of education research and landmark studies to uncover the truth about how our brains absorb and retain information.
Take time to let what you just learned sink in and solidify by forgetting it all and going on vacation. Benedict Carey, the author of How We Learn, would call this an “incubation period.” He highly recommends it.
Read 8th
Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman
Amazon Summary
Practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble.
Now that you’ve had a little break, it’s time for another deep dive. This time, into how human beings make decisions. Daniel Kahneman’s book will give you a deep understanding of behavioral science.
After reading, your eyes will be opened to how irrational we are.
Read 9th
Building Distinctive Brand Assets, by Jennie Romaniuk
Amazon Summary
This book is for anyone with a brand.
It is a book about future-proofing your brand's identity. It will help you set up a long-term strategy to build Distinctive Assets, and tell you what you need to do to protect them.
Just when you thought jingles and brand mascots were old-fashioned and cheesy, think again. Unless you believe crushing your competition is old-fashioned and cheesy...
Get ready to start charging more designers, musicians, voice actors, and cartoonists! At least as long as you can offer distinctive work.
Read 10th
Range, by David Epstein
Amazon Summary
David Epstein examined the world’s most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors, forecasters, and scientists.
He discovered that in most fields—especially those that are complex and unpredictable—generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel. I leave you with Range, so you can realize the power of acquiring a wealth of information and experience, outside of your specific field.
I used to think that my wide range of interests resulted from my ADHD and lack of discipline. That may be the case, but it turns out I should be leveraging that lack of discipline as a superpower.
Other books.
Predictably Irrational, by Dan Ariely
Brand Seduction, by Daryl Weber
Noise, by Daniel Kahneman
So Good They Can't Ignore You, by Cal Newport
Aesthetic Intelligence, by Pauline Brown
Recently, I've enjoyed reading Dan Lyons's expose on how startup culture is ruining work for the rest of us.
Disrupted, by Dan Lyons
Lab Rats, by Dan Lyons
There you have it!
Let me know if any brave universities out there are crazy enough to give me my own class! In the meantime, I expect complete book reports from the rest of you by next year.
Great list, thank you! I can also recommend "Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters" by Richard Rumelt.