4C Reading List: Book recommendations from 4C’s Trailblazers

In an increasing digital age, with a torrent of media from multiple platforms to digest in any given spare moment, you may have found that your attention span for picking up a book and sticking to it has decreased of late!

But there is nothing quite like the satisfaction of reading the last page of a book which has made an impact on you. Maybe it has given you valuable insight into what makes a great leader or provided you with inspiration to become the best version of yourself. Or maybe it simply served to transport you to another world for a while, providing a much needed escape. Reading has a significant number of benefits, including improved focus and concentration, stress reduction, vocabulary expansion and improved writing skills and last but by no means least, improved knowledge.

We asked employees in our London office to provide their book recommendations on the subject of personal and professional development. The responses cover a diverse range of topics such as business, leadership, finance, adventure/mountaineering and personal change. We hope this inspires you to get back to reading and #NeverStopLearning!

Salesforce

• Behind the Cloud, Marc Benioff - “Provides a great overview of Salesforce and the methods they used in becoming the company they are today!”

Business

• Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman - “It’s my first recommendation to read for budding consultants.”
• Good to Great, Jim Collins
• The Great Game of Business, Jack Stack
• The Phoenix Project, Gene Kim et al
• How Google Works, Eric Schmidt & Jonathan Rosenberg - “ It gives you insight into Google’s culture, their mistakes and lessons learned.”
• The Personal MBA, Josh Kaufman
• The Glass Wall, Sue Unerman & Kathryn Jacob
• The 10X Rule, Grant Cardone

Leadership

• Leaders Eat Last, Simon Sinek
• Legacy: What the All Blacks can teach us about the business of life, James Kerr - “This book helps you to understand the practices and culture behind the All Blacks success and how this can be applied in business.”
• Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy Seals Lead and Win, Jacko Willink & Leif Babin
• The First 90 Days, Michael D. Watkins

Sales

• Predictable Revenue, Aaron Ross & Marylou Tyler
• The Challenger Sale, Matthew Dixon & Brent Adamson

Personal Change

• How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie - “This is a fantastic book to better you both personally and professionally.”
• 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey - “It tells you everything you need to know about how to make your life mean something. It actually changed my life.”
• The Chimp Paradox, Dr Steve Peters - “This helps give a basic and applicable approach to the way the human brain works.”
• Unshakeable, Tony Robbins
• The Secret, Rhonda Byrne
• Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert T. Kiyosaki
• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, David Allen

Adventure

• Mud, Sweat and Tears, Bear Grylls - “This book had a huge impact on me and inspired me to tackle something difficult and achieve something I probably wouldn’t have normally attempted. The following year I completed my first Tough Mudder and the London Marathon.”
• Buried in the Sky: The Extraordinary Story of the Sherpa Climbers on K2’s Deadliest Day, Peter Zuckerman & Amanda Padoan - “The story of the unsung heroes of western mountaineering, the Sherpas!”

Fiction

• High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
• Shantaram, Gregory David Roberts - “One of the the best books I’ve ever read! A beautiful story with many twists and turns, taking you through every emotion imaginable. It also gives an insight into the people of India and will inspire you to visit if you haven’t done already. A rare masterpiece!”