Category Archives: Book Review

Book Recommendations: 2017 Winter Break Edition!

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Hola Todos!

As we celebrate one of the most festive times of the year, we might also have some down time to “feed our head” (i.e., nuggets!). So I thought I should offer up some nugget recommendations for the winter break just in case you get some “me time.” In addition to books (we all know I love books), I have some smaller “bite size” recommendations beyond books (i.e., Netflix, podcasts, articles, and videos). Beyond the items listed below, one could also go back to see my book recommendations from 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. If you have a more particular interest, drop me an email and we can go deeper into a specific topic.

To start off with, I wanted to make some recommendations to the students who just wrapped my Professional Selling course. Specifically:

  • Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
  • Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen
  • Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade by Robert Cialdini

Grit is the ultimate “new-school” professional selling book and is one of my top recommendations of all recommendations from the last 5 years. Thanks for the Feedback is masterpiece discussing verbal & non-verbal presentation skills. We talked A LOT about persuasion this semester and of course Cialdini was a central part of the conversation and this is his latest book.

Next up, is a set of book recommendations I picked for myself and I cannot wait to read:

  • The Brain: the Story of You by David Eagleman
  • Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges by Amy Cuddy
  • The Language of Man: Learning to Speak Creativity by Larry Robertson
  • Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction by Derek Thompson
  • Blockbusters: Hit Making, Risk-Taking and The Big Business of Entertainment by Anita Elberse

The Brain is a storytelling book and storytelling is a research topic that is near and dear to my heart. Also note, there is a DVD set of this book with the same title since it was 6-part PBS series. Presence is part persuasion and part motivation book. I’ve heard Amy Cuddy on at least a dozen different podcasts and if you do not have time to read the book, Professor Cuddy has one of the top 20 TED talks of all time. Recently, I heard Larry Robertson talk about The Language of Man on a podcast and I was impressed with the content. In sum, this is a creativity book! In my mind, both Hit Makers and Blockbusters explore a similar question – what is interesting? Its not east to “get outside the box” and both of these books talks specifically to how to be different in a crowded marketplace.

Perhaps you do not have enough time for a book over the break but you’re still looking for some nuggets?

Netflix Documentaries

  • Banking on Bitcoin
  • The Secret Rules of Modern Living: Algorithms
  • Lo and Behold: The History of the Internet

Podcast Recommendations

  • How I Built This with Guy Roz
  • Master of Scale with Reid Hoffman
  • HBR IdeaCast
  • Hidden Brain with Shankar Vedantam

Finally, I would like to speak directly to the students in my Spring 2018 Digital Marketing class. Here are a few recommendations specifically for you:

 

ENJOY!

Dr. Dan-o

 

Daniel M. Ladik, Ph.D.,

Assistant Professor of Marketing

Director, MBA Program

Stillman School of Business

Seton Hall University

 

 

 

 

Summertime Book Recommendations: 2016 Edition!

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Hola Todos!

On the first day of summer, we need to revisit an annual tradition – finding nuggetworthy ideas from some of the best books out there. This year’s list is a little shorter than previous years (see 2013, 2014, & 2015 book recommendation posts) but it still has some gems nonetheless.

Books 2016

These recommendations are in no particular order – go to Amazon or Google to find further detail on these books.  If you have a more particular interest, drop me an email and we can go deeper into a more specific topic.

 

ENJOY!

Dr. Dan-o

 

Book Recommendations

 

Originals: How Non-Conformist Move the World by Adam Grant

Professor Grant is a rising star among academics and this book is further evidence he’s an out-of-the-box thinker. The Washington Post did an excellent interview and book preview you should check out. I bet you order the book before finishing the Post article.

GRIT: The Power of Passion AND Perseverance by Angela Duckworth

I first heard of Grit in an interview with Professor Duckworth on the TED Radio Hour podcast (Is Having Grit the Key to Success?). I’ve read Professor Duckworth’s academic articles and I’ve even used one of her Grit measure in a data collection effort. I can’t wait to read this one.

The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur’s Vision of the Future by Steve Case

Former co-founder and CEO of America Online, Steve Case is accustomed to taking a 500-foot view of trends many times throughout the years. For those of us who have heard my discussion of the Web 1.0 era vs. the Web 2.0 era, I am always on the lookout for the 3.0 era. In a ReCode Decode podcast interview, he made a compelling case we are in a new era. I’m going to read the book and decide for myself.

Digital Badges in Education: Trends, Issues, and Cases edited by Lin Muilenberg and Zane Berge

As the Director of the MBA Program of the Stillman School of Business at Seton Hall University, I am always looking for new ideas. I hope this book will provide a few nuggets I can use in the MBA program.

Marketing Analytics: A Practical Guide to Real Marketing Science by Mike Grigsby

There is no question that marketing is becoming more “metric orientated” – “data driven” – “analytical” in nature. At the same time, finding a good guide for the non-PhDs is few and far in-between. I hope this book is one I can use on both the undergrad and grad levels.

Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics by Richard Thaler

I’m a big fan of Professor Thaler and his book Nudge is on my 2013 book recommendation list. I’m also a big fan of Audible and I’m listening to this book right now.

Curious: The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends On It by Ian Leslie

It’s too easy to see this book as a “parenting” book (and yes it’s an excellent book for nuggets on how to raise your kids) but I see this book as an “innovation” or “creativity” book. As we all know, I am a big fan of storytelling and this is also an excellent storytelling book. I’m currently reading this one right now.

The Moral Molecule: How Trust Works by Paul Zaks

This is the first book on the list I already competed. Professor Zaks’s nickname is the “Vampire Economist” and his research goal is to find the master switch to human behavior. The book is excellent and he’s very creative on how he sets up his studies (yes, they involve blood samples). Again, I am a big fan of storytelling books and this is also an excellent storytelling book. Anyone interested in ethics and ethics research would also enjoy this book. When you get a chance, check out his very interesting TED Talk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summertime Book Recommendations: 2015 Edition

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Hola Todos!

Things tend to slow down during the summer and I always take the opportunity to load up on some excellent new books. We need to learn – we need feed our heads with takeaways (I like to call them nuggets) to create our knowledge base. Books are excellent learning tools (please see the previous 2013 and 2014 Book Recommendation posts) but this year I have some non-book recommendations as well. Welcome to the 2015 Summer Book (and a bunch of other stuff) Recommendation List!

These are in no particular order – go to Amazon or Google to find further detail on these items.  If you have a more particular interest, drop me an email and we’ll go deeper into a more specific topic OK.

ENJOY!

Dr. Dan-o

 

Book Recommendations

Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds by Carmine Gallo – This book is truly excellent (I finished it a month ago) and is perfect for all my past and present Professional Selling students. This might be the best one-stop-shop for learning verbal and non-verbal presentation skills.

The Small BIG: Small Changes that Spark Big Influence by Steve J. Martin, Noah J. Goldstein, and Robert B. Cialdini – Professor Cialdini is the godfather of persuasion research and anything with his name on it has to be nuggetworthy. His masterpiece Influence: Science and Practice (on the 2013 list) is the best persuasion book every written.

The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Ken Robinson – I’ve been hunting for a book that can define Passion for sometime and this one is solid. He does a mean TED talk as well.

Slim by Design: Mindless Eating Solutions for Everyday Life by Brian Wansink, Ph.D., – What can I say? I’m a little thick around the middle and I need some nuggets from Professor Wansink who in my eyes is the model academic. Not only is he fantastic in the classroom, he also writes rigorous double-blind peer-reviewed research in the top academic journals in addition to, incredible popular press books based on his research. Now that is how it is done!

Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen – For those of us who manager people – this is a book for you. For those of us you who depend on the evaluations of others for promotion – this book is for you.

Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull – This is certainly the best leadership book written in the last year (period) and it might be one of the best leadership books of all time exploring innovation at creative firms – WOW.

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World by Gary Vaynerchuk – this is Gary’s third social media book and it’s a good primer for those getting started in social/digital marketing (hint, hint Fall 2015 Direct Marketing/Social Media students).

Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli – It wouldn’t be a Dr. Dan-o book recommendation list without something about Apple, correct? This book is a very interesting read and is a good yin to Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs yang. Schlender paints a very different picture of Jobs and spent significantly more time, as well as, time periods with Jobs compared to Isaacson’s 18 to 24 months.

 

CD/Audio Course

The Art of Storytelling: From Parents to Professionals by Hannah B. Harvey, Ph.D., (from the Great Courses) – I love storytelling and this 4-disk set is very, very comprehensive.

The New Yorker Articles

I’m a HUGE fan of the New Yorker magazine. While the topics can range to almost anything (truly anything), whatever lands in the magazine is done with amazing detail (i.e., New Yorker articles are more book-like than magazine-like). Here are some of my favorites from the last year or so (with links!).

Hollywood and Vine: The entertainment industry seeks the future in viral video by Tad Friend – An excellent viral video article…

The Virologist: How a young entrepreneur built an empire by repackaging memes by Andrew Marantz – Another excellent viral/social article…

Blockbluster: Who needs hits? by Kelefa Sanneh – An update to the Long Tail social media discussion…

The Cobweb: Can the Internet be archived? by Jill Lepore – Yes folks – stuff on the Internet never ever really disappears…

We Know How You Feel: Computers are learning to read emotion, and the business world can’t wait by Raffi Khatchadourian – This one will truly mess with your brain…

The Shape of Things to Come: How an industrial designer became Apple’s greatest product by Ian Parker – This is without question the BEST profile ever written on Jony Ive. Moreover, it provides incredible back story to the development of Apple Watch…

 

Podcasts

I can clearly say that podcasts have been my #1 go-to source for picking up nuggets in the last two years. Moreover, podcasts are excellent when you’re doing mindless activities like commuting or cutting the grass. You can find these in iTunes or any of your favorite podcast players (i.e., Stitcher, Overcast). Here are some of my favorites…

 

The David Diehl Show: Sports, Tech, and a Bunch of other Stuff with Co-Host Dr. Dan-o – presented by Today’s Business – Of course my favorite podcasts is the one I helped create. David is an excellent friend and host and with Today’s Business, we created something unique that intersects the sports and tech world!

The HBR Ideacast – for those of you who had me in class – we read A LOT of Harvard Business Review articles. This podcast is on par with those articles…

Stanford’s Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders – It is absolutely amazing the caliber of speakers who appear on this show. I bet 50% of the books I purchased in the last two years are from ETL speakers.

Social Media Marketing with Michael Stelzner – This is probably the best “how-to” social media podcast out there…

The Marketing Companion Podcast with Mark Schaefer and Tom Webster – Since this podcast launched, I have not missed an episode…

NPR TED Radio Hour with Guy Raz – Spectacular! I also purchase a number of books from TED speakers. The other huge bonus with this podcast is it features multiple TED speakers on a similar theme. In other words, you get more nuggets from more people in a shorter amount of time…brilliant!

The Torch – presented by The Great Courses with host Ed Leon – from physics to history to business, The Great Courses has it all…

The Talk Show with John Gruber – the best Apple/tech podcast (period!) – the only Apple podcast that is influential enough to have Apple Sr. VP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller as a guest.

 

Documentaries (try Netflix or Amazon Prime)

Both of the following documentaries explore the “dark side” (AKA user privacy) of the social media world.

Terms and Conditions May Apply

Generation Like

 

 

 

 

 

Summertime Book Recommendations: 2014 Edition – UPDATE

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Hola Todos!

Earlier this summer, I posted a number of excellent books for the 2014 Summer Book Recommendation Reading List. We all need a new nugget or two to expand our knowledge base and a good book is an excellent way to accomplish that goal. Here’s what I’ve read so far:

–The Humor Code by Peter McGraw: Excellent – I’ve always been interested in how humor can make someone more likable

–Social Media Explained by Mark W. Schaefer: Perfect for my fall social media class – I now have some more nuggets to pass along

–The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande: Different – not what I was expecting – sort of like a giant New Yorker article meaning great storytelling and less theory (although the theory is there in the reference list).  In sum, the more complicated something is, the more you need a checklist so you don’t miss something

–Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products by Leander Kahney:  This is a must read for any Apple/tech industry watcher. Design (e.g., how something works and NOT how something looks) is embedded into the culture of Apple and I feel is one of the main key distinctions between Apple and everyone else

Here is what I’ll be reading next:

–The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone: I am leading a discussion this fall at Seton Hall on Amazon and there is not a more complete book out there on the Amazon mindset

–The No Asshole Rule, by Robert Sutton – an interesting leadership book: My wife read this while I was reading The Checklist Manifesto and I’m working on a salesforce study that I’m sure this book would be helpful

 

Happy reading…

Best regards,

Dr. Dan-o

 

Daniel M. Ladik, Ph.D.,

Associate Professor of Marketing

Stillman School of Business

Seton Hall University

Summertime Book Recommendations: 2014 Edition

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Hola Todos!

Learning is like one giant puzzle: each learning opportunity adds another puzzle piece to our brain and we constantly build this learning mosaic throughout our lives. We can learn in class, on the job, at conferences, through mentors, via podcasts and perhaps a 1,000 other ways but we learn and we use those takeaways (I like to call them nuggets) to create our knowledge base. One of my favorite learning tools are books are we all should read one excellent book this summer: Welcome to the 2014 Summer Book Recommendation Reading List!

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Last summer, I posted a number of excellent books including many of my classic recommendations but the list below is mostly new. The recommendations are in no particular order and you can go to Amazon to find further detail on these titles.  If there is a more particular interest, drop me an email and I’ll go deeper into a more specific topic OK.

ENJOY!

Dr. Dan-o

 

What I am reading now:

–The Humor Code by Peter McGraw – I’m 75% though this one and it’s been excellent.  I’m particular interested in how humor makes someone more likeable and so far, Professor McGraw has sparked a number of ideas for me to investigate.

What I will be reading next:

–Social Media Explained by Mark W. Schaefer – I often get invited to do “social media 101” talks and I have a number of tools to help me with this objective but I am always looking for more nuggets.  I’ve read a previous Mark book – The Tao of Twitter  – and I have never missed an episode of Mark’s excellent podcast The Marketing Companion. 

More excellent books on my summer reading list:

–Cultural Strategy by Doug Holt

–Chief Culture Officer by Grant McCracken

For those of you who have had the Dr. Dan-o Social Media/1-to-1/Direct Marketing class where we read dozens of Harvard Business Review articles, these books are for you.  If you like branding – these books are for you. If you feel the consumer or the crowd creates brand meaning and NOT the marketing or brand manger  – these books are for you.

I love the tech industry and Apple is always top of mind:

–Dogfight: How Apple and Google Went to War and Started a Revolution by Fred Vogelstein

–Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products by Leander Kahney

-Hatching Twitter by Nick Bilton

-The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone

Almost all of my research, regardless of the topic, has some sort of a consumer behavior component to it so I’m always looking for more behavioral nuggets:

-Thanks for the Feedback:  The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well by Douglas Stone

-The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande

–The No Asshole Rule, by Robert Sutton – an interesting leadership book

–Wired for Story, by Lisa Cron – I love storytelling books

 

 

 

 

Steve Jobs Book Summary: I Wonder if Yukari Iwatani Kane Should Be Afraid of the Ghost of Steve Jobs?

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Hola Todos!

In the previous post, I more than suggested that Tim Cook is not afraid of the ghost of Steve Jobs.  After reading all the reviews, I wonder if Yukari Iwatani Kane should be afraid of the ghost of Steve Jobs?  If anyone could figure out a way come back from the dead and haunt someone, Steve would.

Let’s just say that Yukari Iwatani Kane was not kind to Apple and Company in her book “Haunted Empire” about the post-Steve Jobs era.  Apple CEO Tim Cook called it “nonsense” and I knew she would show up as a talking head on CNBC. Yukari Iwatani Kane reacted “surprised” by the comment and said “I must have touched a nerve.” As, John Gruber of Daring Fireball interpreted:

“Somehow I doubt she was surprised by her conclusions. As for why Cook saw fit to comment, sure, it could be because her book hit painfully close to home. Or, it could be that it truly is nonsense. Reviews thus far clearly suggest the latter.”

I’m still debating whether I’m going to pick up the book and give it a good read but for now, here’s a few “Haunted Empire” book summary links:

-Philip Elmer-DeWitt – Apple 2.0 Blog 

-Seth Weintraub – 9to5mac.com

-Rene Ritchie – imore.com “Haunted Empire review: It’s the book about Apple after Steve Jobs that’s the real horror story”

-Jason Snell – Macworld

 

Best regards,

Dr. Dan-o

 

Daniel M. Ladik, Ph.D.,

Associate Professor of Marketing

Stillman School of Business

Seton Hall University

Excellent Persuasion Takeaways

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Hola Todos!

Persuasion is a linchpin in so many verticals: leadership, networking, selling, teaching, etc – so it is not a surprise that I search for excellent persuasion nuggets 24/7.  I love the Harvard Business Review podcast and yesterday, Jonah Berger of The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania was on to chat about his book Contagious: Why Things Catch On.  I have blogged about Professor Berger in the past and Contagious is on my suggested books for the summer.

Check it out when you get a chance as I guarantee there’s a persuasion nugget or two for you today.

Best regards

Dr. Dan-o

 

Daniel M. Ladik, Ph.D.,

Associate Professor of Marketing

Stillman School of Business

Seton Hall University

 

 

 

Summertime Book Recommendations

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Hola Todos!

As you know, I believe in nuggets – or takeaways that you can use throughout your business career.  One excellent way to pick up new nuggets (and perhaps slide them in your journal) is to read an excellent book.  Many of you have been asking for recommendations so I decided to do a blog post on the topic.

These are in no particular order – go to Amazon to find further detail on these titles.  If there is a more particular interest, drop me an email and we’ll go deeper into a more specific topic OK.

ENJOY!

Dr. Dan-o

 

The Classics (these are three of my top recommendations of all time)

–How To Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie  – an excellent networking and persuasion book

–Influence: Science and Practice, by Robert Cialdini – the best persuasion book ever written

–Made to Stick, by Chip and Dan Heath – the 2nd best persuasion book ever written

 

Anything by Malcolm Gladwell but particularly The Tipping Point and Blink – why you might ask? First, they are excellent and second, everyone else has read these so get in the loop!

Anything by Jim Collins but particularly Good to Great and Build to Last – see comments above about Gladwell

 

–The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less, by Barry Schwartz – my favorite consumer behavior/consumer choice book and the inspiration of much of my academic research at the moment

 

Other excellent consumer behavior/consumer choice book you ask?  Check out,

–The Art of Choosing, by Sheena Iyengar

–Nudge, by Richard Thaler & Cass Sunstein

–Predictably Irrational, by Dan Ariely

 

I can’t forget How Customers Think, by Gerald Zaltman – a classic!

 

Social/Digital Media Books

–What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis

–The Wisdom of Crowds, by James Surowiecki (although this one pre-dates social media – it uses all the best theories to describe the power of social media)

–The Long Tail, by Chris Anderson

–Crowdsourcing, by Jeff Howe

 

Books I just finished this month:

–Contagious, by Jonah Berger – a great persuasion/word-of-mouth book

–The Storytelling Animal, by Jonathan Gottschall – I love books on storytelling

–How Children Succeed, by Paul Tough – this is a child behavior/learning theory book which highlights the grit test

 

How can I forget about Apple?

–Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson

–Inside Apple, by Adam Lashinsky

 

Books I have for this summer:

–What’s The Future of Business? By Brian Solis (I am reading this one right now)

–Lean IN, by Sheryl Sandberg

–The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg

–The Start-Up of You, by Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha (a networking book from the founder of LinkedIN

–The No Asshole Rule, by Robert Sutton – an interesting leadership book

–Wired for Story, by Lisa Cron – I love storytelling books

–This is Your Brain on Music, by Daniel Levitin – a neuroscience book that is close to storytelling

 

-The Why of Networking: Interpersonal vs. Social Networking, by Daniel M. Ladik and Chris Strom – sorry this one is not available yet – we’re writing it…

 

 

Steve Jobs Book Summary: Leadership Lessons from Steve Jobs

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Hola Todos!

Soon after the publication of the Steve Jobs biography, its author Walter Isaacson wrote an excellent article  in the Harvard Business Review highlighting 14 leadership lessons he learned from his experience with Mr. Jobs.  While reading though the HBR blog the other day, I came across a presentation by Mr. Isaacson on this very topic. This presentation, as with the article on the same topic, is very nuggetworthy.

Something to check out today…

 

Best regards,

Dr. Dan-o

 

 

Why do things go Viral? Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger

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Hola Todos!

I’ve been on a number of plane trips this semester – which means I’ve been doing a lot of reading.  One of the latest books I’ve read for nuggets was Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Wharton University Marketing Professor Jonah Berger.  This book is a must read as it fits within the worldview of two of my top ten must read books: Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point and Chip and Dan Heath’s Made to Stick.  Interestingly, Professor Berger studied with Chip Heath while at Stanford. Here’s a short written review and here’s a Ted Talk like video – both by the author.

The book is organized around six axioms that help make things go viral: social currency (making people feel that they are cool insiders); triggers (everyday reminders of an item or idea); emotional resonance (making people want to share the experience with friends); observability (that is, a highly visible item advertises itself); usefulness (people like to share practical or helpful information); and storytelling (embedding a product or an idea in a narrative enhances its power).

There are plenty of interesting exemplars in the book that use one or more of the six axioms described above including one about mustaches and cancer awareness and another about making people feel like insiders.  Of course, my favorite section of the book was the back-end on storytelling – I can never get enough storytelling nuggets.

Something to check out today…

Best regards,

Dr. Dan-o

 

Daniel M. Ladik, Ph.D.,

Associate Professor of Marketing

Stillman School of Business

Seton Hall University