Skinnylaminxenstein: Biz Books for the Beach

By the time you read this, I’ll be on the beach. Finally! We worked solidly through the end-of-year break, and now it’s time to put the feet up. Hooray!

While I plan to mostly spend my holiday surreptitiously sketching fellow beachgoers, my work and personal life are pretty much inextricable, so I also be packing a couple of business books.

I’m exceptionally uninterested in business books about high effectiveness, ruthless efficiency and maxing out the bottom-line, but there’s a whole other category, focussed on how, when values and beliefs are what drive a business, it can become a force for good in the world, and these are really inspiring reads… even on the beach!

The Power of Beliefs in Business – Ari Weinszweig
What we believe about ourselves, our organization, our work and the people we work with will significantly alter the outcomes we get – right down to our very success or failure.

The Art of Business – Ari Weinzweig
What if business leaders looked at their organizations as if they were making art for the ages instead of being just vehicles for making money? What if everyone—not just those who society calls “creatives”—is capable of turning what they do every day into amazing art?

Meaningful Work: A Quest to Do Great Business, Find Your Calling, and Feed Your Soul – Shawn Askinozie
Askinosie shares his hard-won insights into doing work that reflects one’s values and purpose in life.

This is Marketing – Seth Godin
Great marketers don’t use consumers to solve their company’s problem; they use marketing to solve other people’s problems. They don’t just make noise; they make the world better. Truly powerful marketing is grounded in empathy, generosity, and emotional labour.

I’d love to know if you’ve read any of these, or if you have any recommendations for me.