If you’ve got plans to read this summer, we’ve got some great suggestions for you.
Whether you’re relaxing in a lakeside Airbnb rental or headed to the beach for a few hours of relaxation, spending some time reading through the six books we’ve recommended in our two-part series will strengthen your resolve as an employee and expand the dreams you have of moving up in your own company, making a lateral move or starting your own business.
In our first post, we highlighted books that provided specific steps you can take and traits you can adopt to achieve your short- and long-term goals.
In this post, we’re focusing on three unique but powerful books that address customer service, resilience and a case study in a wildly successful product.
“Hug Your Haters: How to Embrace Complaints and Keep Your Customers” by Jay Baer
We live in a world where one ill-timed mistake can turn into a viral sensation that creates hordes of haters. Businesses need to be experts in turning their most critical customers into their happiest using popular social media channels, personal interaction and genuine interest in individuals.
Baer’s book provides businesses with the tools they need to leverage public interactions in a way that turns the tide of public opinions and wins faithful followers one by one.
Need more convincing? According to Baer, 80 percent of companies say they have good customer service while only 8 percent of their customers say they do.
The book provides advice on multiple customer- and press-related matters, Entrepreneur contributor John Rampton pointed out.
“The book also covers how to embrace complaints, turn bad news into great news, and transform haters into ambassadors for a brand,” Rampton wrote.
“Hug Your Haters” is available on Amazon for $16.72 and has an average rating of 4.4 stars from more than 125 reviews.
“Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy,” by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant
Hardship is a given inside and outside of the business world; it’s an axiom that Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg knows well.
Her husband passed away unexpectedly during a vacation in 2015. The loss was gut-wrenching for Sandberg and her children.
In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Sandberg talked about the loss:
“Going through this … it’s the unimaginable. Those early days … months, weeks, I felt like there was this void closing in on me. The grief. I couldn’t breathe. And I didn’t know what to do. I turned to my friend Adam and I said, ‘How do I get my kids through this?’ Because I was so worried their childhoods were going to be wiped away.”
In “Option B”, Sandberg talks about the power of resiliency and how it can be used in business to overcome disaster and find success. The book is a poignant and invaluable resource for those who’ve been met with unexpected loss and need a sympathetic and influential voice to help them bounce back.
The book gets an average rating of 4.5 stars on Amazon and is $14.68 in its hardcover version.
“The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone,” by Brian Merchant
Merchant dives into the history of the iPhone, taking you from planning meetings for multi-touch screens before the phone was even developed to the marketing and launch of Apple’s most profitable device in its history.
The book touches on various vignettes from the phone’s history, walking you through the stages of development and providing insight into the ideas and strategies that made the phone an international icon.
Serving as a case study for idea development and implementation, the book is a fascinating read for a variety of situations:
- You’re in the middle of a project and need some inspiration to get to the next stage.
- You have an idea, but you aren’t sure how to make it a reality.
- You’re in on the planning stages of a new initiative at work and you want insight into how to adapt and succeed.
Merchant’s book gets an average of four stars from nearly 100 reviews on Amazon and is available in hardback for $17.67.
Wrapping It Up: Plenty of Material for Personal and Business Growth
Succeeding in business is just as much about what you learn after school as what you learn in school.
The six books we’ve recommended are among the best that have been released over the past two years. They provide real-life examples of individuals who relied on their determination and focus to overcome difficulty and achieve the dream or standard of excellence to which they aspired.
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