Recommended reading: Strategic storytelling and the value of building a side business

Kill Bad Meetings

Kevan Hall, Alan Hall

Meetings are essential for expressing ideas and decision making, yet they are often an irrelevant waste of time. Kill Bad Meetings offers advice on how to cut out unnecessary meetings and focus on improving the ones that remain. The book addresses ways of dealing with business challenges by changing the way people meet, cutting out irrelevant topics and participants that account for 50% of today’s meetings. Instead it suggests ways to run faster, more focused face-to-face and virtual meetings with more relevant content, clearer decisions and higher levels of participation.

That Will Never Sell

David Gluckman

That Will Never Sell is part autobiography and part business book examining the development and branding of acclaimed drink brands while celebrating the secret history of drinks from as far back as the 1960s. Gluckman spent 40 years coming up with ideas for new drinks and brands, spending the majority of his career at IDV, which later became Diageo. He shares stories about the invention of Baileys, the failures he cherished and the successes that propelled him into a career in brand development.

Sociometrics and Human Relationships

Peter Gloor

It would be easier to run a business if you knew when a consumer was unhappy with a product or service, and if you had the ability to know whether your staff are truly satisfied. In his new book, Peter Gloor explores how you can. Sociometrics and Human Relationships translates the latest academic thinking into practical business strategies and techniques for social network analysis. He aims to educates readers on how organisations can be analysed from the inside – by mining email, Skype, calendar data – and from the outside – by crunching Twitter, Wikipedia and blog data.

The Strategic Storyteller: Content marketing in the age of the educated consumer

Alexander Jutkowitz

With more than 20 years experience in marketing and political polling, Alexander Jutkowitz explores how some of the world’s most influential people and businesses have used content marketing to elevate their brands and captivate audiences. This book uncovers the basics of content marketing, considering why it is important and how both individuals and companies can benefit from it, with a focus on anecdotes from history, philosophy, and psychology to provide a broader framework about why content marketing is so effective. ‘The Strategic Storyteller’ looks at how to distribute stories that have staying power in the digital age, uncover the secrets of strategic storytellers from the past and boost individual and collective creativity.

Side Hustle: Build a side business and make extra money

Chris Guillebeau

Have you ever considered quitting your day job and creating your own business, but been scared of the potential risks of not having a steady income? Chris Guillebeau believes he has the answer. Side Hustle guides readers through a 27-day plan, highlighting the skills and tools needed to create a side business – something he has been doing himself for the past 20 years. This book teaches readers to build an arsenal of great side hustle ideas, apply ‘Tinder for side hustle’ logic to pick the best ideas and learn the art of discounts and special offers.