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Brand marketing is a buzzword in all industries today –
including beef. Former advertising executive Kevin Roberts
tackles the emotional aspect of marketing in his book Lovemarks:
The future beyond brands. He boldly suggests that love is the
essential ingredient brands need to offer to attract consumers
and shift their business.
In applying this to the beef
industry, Colorado State University’s Tom Field says future
branded beef products need to embody the “story” and “Western
spirit” behind beef production – because that is an emotional
connection that consumers want to be part of.
Similarly, A New Brand World: Eight principles for achieving
brand leadership in the 21st Century by Scott Bedbury profiles
the image branding that has made Nike and Starbucks leaders in
their industries. The book also offers case studies of other
winning (and failed) branding efforts by the likes of
Harley-Davidson, The Gap and Disney.
Another author on brands is Tom
Peters, who Field often cites as a favorite. Peters espouses
that brands continually need to evolve, because they die when
they are no longer intriguing. He too suggests emotion is the
necessary element to make brands appealing. His book titles
include: Leadership; Re-imagine; The Pursuit of Wow; Jump Start
Your Business Brain and many others.
Understanding Who You Are
Books about personality styles are also popular mentions among
conference speakers. These offer insight into who we are and
what prompts us to make certain decisions and choices. A couple
that top the list:
- Type Talk: The 16 Personality
Types That Determine How We Live, Love, and Work by Otto
Kroeger and Janet M. Thuesen
-
Please Understand Me I and II: Character and Temperament Types
by David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates
-
Nurture by Nature: How to Raise Happy, Healthy, Responsible
Children Through the Insights of Personality Type by Paul D.
Tieger, Barbara Barron-Tieger and E. Michael Ellovich
-
What
Will I Do With My Money? by Ray Linder, which offers insight
on how your termperament affects your financial decisions.
An additional book about personal
growth is titled Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol
Dweck, a Standford University psychologist and professor. For
the book, Dweck studied the connections between people’s outlook
and their willingness to take risks. Her findings were also
recently referenced in a Money magazine article evaluating the
secrets to financial success.
Dweck says, “The view you adopt
for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life.”
From her research Dweck identifies two types of people: those
who have fixed mind-sets and those who have growth mind-sets.
Fixed mind-set people believe they were born with a certain
amount of intelligence. Growth mind-set people believe
intelligence, knowledge and skill need to be cultivated by trial
and error.
Two others to add to the stack:
Soar with your Strengths by Donald Clifton and Paula Nelson and
The Fred Factor: How Passion in your work and life can turn the
ordinary into the extraordinary by Mark Sanborn. These are both
easy reads, but deliver important messages of how to live a
better, more satisfying life.
Reading About Leading
Leadership is also a prolific book topic among the
business-minded. Among the titles frequently mentioned are:
Authentic Leadership:
Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value by Bill
George. A former CEO, George provides a how-to guide for being
“authentic” leaders which he says includes having purpose,
values, heart, relationships and self-discipline.
Similarly, Resonant Leadership:
Renewing Yourself and Connecting with Others Through
Mindfulness, Hope and Compassion by Richard Boyatzis and Annie
McKee of the Harvard Business School is designed to help leaders
remain effective and avoid burnout amid unrelentingly stressful
situations. These authors advocate the traits of mindfulness,
hope and compassion among leaders.
More core leadership traits are
examined in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John
Maxwell.
Other leadership books to
consider:
- The 8th Habit: From
Effectiveness to Greatness by Stephen Covey
-
Leadership by Rudolph Giuliani
-
Volunteering: 101 Ways You Can Improve the World and Your Life
by Douglas Lawson
-
eLeadership: Proven Techniques for Creating an Environment of
Speed and Flexibility in the Digital Economy by Susan Annunzio
All of the books mentioned in
this article are available at
www.amazon.com. |
