I am a little behind the power curve getting this list posted, sorry. Right now, I am in a hotel in San Diego getting ready to attend the first day of the Association for Talent Development conference. To get here, my wife Bernadette and I took a train. I was hoping to make some posts on the train but the internet was very spotty. May is going to be a great month for reading. Not only do I have a good list selected but I am also going to pick up some new books at the conference. I successfully finished reading the books I set aside for April 2018, how about you? However, I am behind and I still need to finish the post on one of them. I expect to complete this post tonight. I think I have put together an interesting array of books for May. Come check out my reading list and read along with me.
This month I am focusing on a book related to education, another one on one of the men from Band of Brothers, and a couple to help my business, Tubarks Consulting.
Here is what is on my reading list for May 2018:
Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (MIT Press)
I have been listing to the drumbeat getting steadily louder regarding the effects that artificial intelligence and robotics will have on the world in general and higher education. I am curious what this author has to say.
Via Amazon:
How to educate the next generation of college students to invent, to create, and to discover―filling needs that even the most sophisticated robot cannot.
Driverless cars are hitting the road, powered by artificial intelligence. Robots can climb stairs, open doors, win Jeopardy, analyze stocks, work in factories, find parking spaces, advise oncologists. In the past, automation was considered a threat to low-skilled labor. Now, many high-skilled functions, including interpreting medical images, doing legal research, and analyzing data, are within the skill sets of machines. How can higher education prepare students for their professional lives when professions themselves are disappearing? In Robot-Proof, Northeastern University president Joseph Aoun proposes a way to educate the next generation of college students to invent, to create, and to discover―to fill needs in society that even the most sophisticated artificial intelligence agent cannot.
A “robot-proof” education, Aoun argues, is not concerned solely with topping up students’ minds with high-octane facts. Rather, it calibrates them with a creative mindset and the mental elasticity to invent, discover, or create something valuable to society―a scientific proof, a hip-hop recording, a web comic, a cure for cancer. Aoun lays out the framework for a new discipline, humanics, which builds on our innate strengths and prepares students to compete in a labor market in which smart machines work alongside human professionals. The new literacies of Aoun’s humanics are data literacy, technological literacy, and human literacy. Students will need data literacy to manage the flow of big data, and technological literacy to know how their machines work, but human literacy―the humanities, communication, and design―to function as a human being. Life-long learning opportunities will support their ability to adapt to change.
The only certainty about the future is change. Higher education based on the new literacies of humanics can equip students for living and working through change.
Panic Proof: How the Right Virtual Assistant Can Save Your Sanity and Grow Your Business
I have been using virtual assistants more and more to support my business. Naturally, I want to get the best results for my money. I am hoping this book, like Virtual Freedom, will help point me in the right direction.
Via Amazon:
You wear busy like a badge of honor. You never get enough sleep. When you get to the end of the work week, you have no idea what you really accomplished (if anything). You believe it’s best to just do everything yourself.
Does this sound like your life as a business owner, manager, or entrepreneur?
You’re not alone, but it’s time to make a change.
It’s time to stop panicking and start living the life you want.
In the best relationships, a virtual assistant becomes a partner in the client’s business. A great VA is the right-hand workhorse to business owners, managers, and entrepreneurs—providing useful, reliable services with a smile and a high five.
“All those years ago, when I first hired Jess, I thought I needed an admin to sort out the details. But what I ultimately got was much better: I got a partner who helps me in innumerable ways. I got someone I can trust.” – Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer and Best-selling Author
If you recognize that virtual assistants are the wave of the future, but you’re feeling too scared, too cash-strapped, or too busy to hire one to help you, don’t panic! This book will help you recruit the right assistant and cultivate a relationship that lasts so you can do more of what you love.
Call of Duty: My Life Before, During and After the Band of Brothers
This book follows the life story of Lt. Lynn “Buck” Compton. He was one of the officers in the Band of Brothers series.
Via Amazon:
The national bestselling World War II memoir with a foreword by John McCain.
As part of the elite 101st Airborne paratroopers, Lt. Lynn “Buck” Compton fought in critical battles of World War II as a member of Easy Company, immortalized as the Band of Brothers.
This is the true story of a real-life hero. From his years as a two-sport UCLA star who played baseball with Jackie Robinson and football in the 1943 Rose Bowl, through his legendary post-World War II legal career as a prosecutor, in which he helped convict Sirhan Sirhan for the murder of Robert F. Kennedy, Buck Compton’s story truly embodies the American Dream: college sports star, esteemed combat veteran, detective, attorney, judge.
Never Lose a Customer Again: Turn Any Sale into Lifelong Loyalty in 100 Days
I recently listened to Joey Coleman make his way around the podcasting circuit. Having heard him as a keynote speaker for Social Media Marketing World, I knew I had to pick up this book.
Via Amazon:
Award-winning speaker and business consultant Joey Coleman teaches audiences and companies all over the world how to turn a one-time purchaser into a lifelong customer.
Coleman’s theory of building customer loyalty isn’t about focusing on marketing or closing the sale: It’s about the First 100 Days® after the sale and the interactions the customer experiences.
While new customers experience joy, euphoria, and excitement, these feelings quickly shift to fear, doubt, and uncertainty as buyer’s remorse sets in. Across all industries, somewhere between 20%-70% of newly acquired customers will stop doing business with a company with the first 100 days of being a new customer because they feel neglected in the early stages of customer onboarding.
In Never Lose a Customer Again, Coleman offers a philosophy and methodology for dramatically increasing customer retention and as a result, the bottom line. He identifies eight distinct emotional phases customers go through in the 100 days following a purchase. From an impulse buy at Starbucks to the thoughtful purchase of a first house, all customers have the potential to experience the eight phases of the customer journey. If you can understand and anticipate the customers’ emotions, you can apply a myriad of tools and techniques — in-person, email, phone, mail, video, and presents — to cement a long and valuable relationship.
Coleman’s system is presented through research and case studies showing how best-in-class companies create remarkable customer experiences at each step in the customer lifecycle.
In the “Acclimate” stage, customers need you to hold their hand and over-explain how to use your product or service. They’re often too embarrassed to admit they’re confused. Take a cue from Canadian software company PolicyMedical and their challenge of getting non-technical users to undergo a complex installation and implementation process. They turned a series of project spreadsheets and installation manuals into a beautiful puzzle customers could assemble after completing each milestone.
In the “Adopt” stage, customers should be welcomed to the highest tier of tribal membership with both public and private recognitions. For instance, Sephora’s VIB Rogue member welcome gift provides a metallic membership card (private recognition) and a members-only shade of lipstick (for public display).
In the final stage, “Advocate,” loyal customers and raving fans are primed to provide powerful referrals. That’s how elite entrepreneurial event MastermindTalks continues to sell-out their conference year after year – with zero dollars spent on marketing. By surprising their loyal fans with amazing referral bonuses (an all-expenses paid safari?!) they guarantee their community will keep providing perfect referrals.
Drawing on nearly two decades of consulting and keynoting, Coleman provides strategies and systems to increase customer loyalty. Applicable to companies in any industry and of any size (whether measured in employee count, revenue, or total number of customers), implementing his methods regularly leads to an increase in profits of 25-100%.
Working with well-known clients like Hyatt Hotels, Zappos, and NASA, as well as mom-and-pop shops and solo entrepreneurs around the world, Coleman’s customer retention system has produced incredible results in dozens of industries.
His approach to creating remarkable customer experiences requires minimal financial investment and will be fun for owners, employees, and teams to implement. This book is required reading for business owners, CEOs, and managers – as well as sales and marketing teams, account managers, and customer service representatives looking for easy to implement action steps that result in lasting change, increased profits, and lifelong customer retention.
That’s it for this month — I want to hear what good books YOU’VE read lately! Please share in the comments below.
I encourage you to check out these reading lists in case you missed them: January, February, March, and April. There was lots of good reading.
My Reviews for These Books
- Book Review: Call of Duty: My Life Before, During and After the Band of Brothers
- Book Review: Let Them Choose: Cafeteria Learning Style for Adults
- Book Review: Panic Proof: How the Right Virtual Assistant Can Save Your Sanity and Grow Your Business
- Book Review: Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
In the spirit of full disclosure, this is an affiliate link, which means that if you purchase this item through my link I will earn a commission. You will not pay more when buying a product through my link. I only recommend products & systems that I use and love myself, so I know you’ll be in good hands.
Plus, when you order through my link, it helps me to continue to offer you lots of free stuff. 🙂 Thank you, in advance for your support!
