8 Books to gift Co-Workers, Employees, Clients or your Boss

This holiday season you can gift inspiration to your boss, colleagues, employees or customers. The books below have helped me level up and open my mind. I’m confident they will do the same for anyone that picks them up.

Moon walking with Einstein by Joshua Foer

“If you want to live a memorable life, you have to be the kind of person who remembers to remember.” Joshua Foer

I always thought people that can remember names must have a super power until I picked up this book. In 2005 Joshua Foer covered the US Memory Championship and was fascinated with what he saw the Mental Athletes do. He decided to learn some of the memory techniques that the participants use to memorize things like the order of a shuffled deck of cards. In this book he describes how in 12 months, he went from being a beginner to coming home with the grand prize. This book is an inspiring and fascinating look at the world of competitive memorization. We meet colorful characters that guide him through memorization techniques used by ancient Greeks. He shows how anyone can increase their capacity to remember things, people and places through the use of simple techniques that anyone can learn.

Who it’s for: Engineers, Sales, Managers and anyone who wants to learn to remember more.

Steal like an Artist by Austin Kleon

“The artist is a collector… Your job is to collect good ideas. The more good ideas you collect, the more you can choose from to be influenced by.” Austin Kleon

This short and easily digested book empowers the reader to ‘steal’ from their heroes in any creative endeavor. The idea comes from the famous Picasso quote, “good artists copy, great artists steal”. This is a book I keep near me when creating anything. I can randomly flip to a page and find the advice I didn’t know I needed in that moment. It will do the same for any artist, musician, writer, or creator.

Who it’s for: Marketing, Engineers, or anyone on your team that is has a creative personality.

Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande

“under conditions of complexity, not only are checklists a help, they are required for success.” Checklist Manifesto

As humans we go into auto-pilot when we work on regular, repetitive tasks. This is exactly when mistakes are introduced. Gawande’s book is full of insights on how we can prevent simple mistakes that can cause huge problems by using the humble checklist. It sounds simple, but the tips, tricks and real life examples Gawande uses show how checklists save lives everyday. He gives practical advice on how to apply them to your work and personal life.

Who it’s for: Managers, Engineers, Sales, Marketing and anyone else who needs help organizing and managing processes.

How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie

“The rare individual who unselfishly tries to serve others has an enormous advantage.” Dale Carnegie

I used to think that you had to be an extrovert and have nature given charm to make friends and influence people. This book helped me become more open to meeting people and pulling back the curtain on how humans genuinely connect.

This book is a classic for a great reason; the blueprint within for dealing with people on a daily basis is as relevant today as it will be in the far future. Emotional Intelligence is still all the rage and this book is the OG. The one lesson that I learned was that there is no such thing as a neutral interaction with any person.

Any person you talk to leaves you a little better or a little worse than you found them. This book is packed with information to help you become the kind of person that people want around. More importantly it will help you become the kind of person people will want to follow.

Who it’s for:  Anyone that deals with people on a daily basis.

Start With Why by Simon Sinek

“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” Simon Sinek

Simon Sinek ‘s philosophy is centered around helping others. He has written many best sellers including “the infinite game” and “leaders eat last”. This book however, is the one that kicked it all off. The core idea is best summed by his quote: “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” Starting with ‘why’ you do what you do becomes the core pillar your company, or your career is built on. This results in finding the right tribe of customers for your product or service. This in turn builds a more trust-based lasting relationship with those you serve. This book is especially a great read for leaders because it forces us to align ourselves with our core beliefs.

Who it’s for: Anyone in a leadership position, or those who are on a leadership path.

Deep Work by Cal Newport

“To learn hard things quickly, you must focus intensely without distraction. To learn, in other words, is an act of deep work.” Cal Newport

As knowledge workers the two most valuable skills we can harness are being able to master new skills, and being able to deliver outstanding work. The problem is that our environments are becoming more distracting than ever before. With distractions galore we have to consciously design our day to do the deep work that drives value for our organizations. Social media, email & text notifications, and open-office layouts are some of the distractions we’re all dealing with on a daily basis. He shows us  how and why to learn to turn off the distractions and to focus on task at hand. Cal’s book dives into this problem and gives valuable insight on how to build the skill to do deep work.

Who it’s for: Executives, Engineers, Writers, Marketers, or any knowledge worker.

Atomic Habits by James Clear

“Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement” James Clear

Like dripping water can hollow out a stone, small consistent changes compound into big results. That is the core concept underlying James Clear’s Atomic Habits. His premise is to focus on cultivating healthy small habits by creating a system or a process. Smaller ‘Atomic’ habits gives us the muscle memory to create the harder habits. The book has inspiring stories and a very practical methodology that anyone can follow. With a new year around the corner, you can start building the habits necessary to achieve your goals.

Who it’s for:  Anyone who wants to build healthy habits.

Surely you’re joking, Mr Feynman! by Richard Feynman

“Learn what the rest of the world is like. The variety is worthwhile.” Richard Feynman

The Nobel Prize winning physicist’s autobiographical anecdotes are whimsical, fun and give insight into his brilliant mind. His curiosity and passion for learning comes through in every crazy story that he tells. And there are some crazy entertaining stories he tells in this book. It’s like having that fun uncle over where he tells you about the mischief he used to get into. This light-hearted book will amuse, delight and inspire the reader to seek out more adventure, be curious and to question everything and everyone.

Who this is for: Anyone who likes entertaining stories that inspire you to be more free-wheeling.