New Books for the Week of September 16
We believe in books, and we believe that a great book can shape the way we work, think, and live. Take a look at our picks below and see what speaks to you!
The Porchlight staff members choosing books each week include Porchlight's Managing Director, Sally Haldorson, and the marketing team of Gabriella Cisneros and Dylan Schleicher. As expert booksellers, we browse publisher catalogs and explore new titles from across the book industry to discover what captures our interest, and we're excited to share our findings with readers like you.
Unless otherwise noted, all book descriptions are provided by their respective publishers.
Our Recommended Books This Week
Finding Focus: Own Your Attention in an Age of Distraction by Zelana Montminy, published by Balance
Our brains are wired for focus. We are designed for it, we crave it, and yet in our current age of overload, we often feel like our minds are bolting from one distraction to the next, with sustained focus always just out of reach. Finding Focus is an empowering guide to reclaiming your most precious resource: your attention. Leading behavioral scientist Dr. Zelana Montminy unveils the science behind focus and distraction, revealing how our hyperconnected reality and the endless flux between digital and physical life fragments our thoughts and diminishes our well-being. Finding Focus equips you with powerful strategies to:
- Silence the noise
- Rewire your brain
- Unleash your potential
- Rediscover yourself
If we can control our attention and be present, if we choose when and how we engage, we have a greater sense of wellbeing, deeper fulfillment, and a clear purpose. Finding Focus invites you to ask the question "Where do I want to direct my focus today?" It is a call to arms for anyone yearning to break free from the grip of distraction and live a life brimming with purpose and connection.
Manage Yourself to Lead Others: Why Great Leadership Begins with Self-Understanding by Margaret C Andrews, published by Basic Venture
Andrews has taught thousands of executives in her professional development course at Harvard, and she shares her insights, practical tips, and questions for reflection here. This book will allow you to identify the kind of leader you want to be, the behavioral patterns that help get you there or stand in your way, and what it takes to develop new leadership capabilities. Whether you've just been promoted or you've been leading a team for decades, Manage Yourself to Lead Others is essential reading for all leaders.
Somebody Should Do Something: How Anyone Can Help Create Social Change by Michael Brownstein, Alex Madva, and Daniel Kelly, published by MIT Press
Strategic Enemy: How to Build and Position a Brand Worth Fighting for by Laura Ries, published by Wiley
Consumers are overwhelmed by choices and inundated with marketing messages. And despite an obsession with positioning amongst the world's most well-known companies, too many brands retain an outdated focus on "being better" and using "line-extensions" rather than on what really matters in the mind--being different than your strategic enemy.
In The Strategic Enemy: How to Build and Position a Brand Worth Fighting For, bestselling author and brand strategist Laura Ries delivers an exciting and powerful new discussion of how some of the world's most energetic brands make an impact in the market. She explains the key to effective brand positioning--identifying an "enemy"--and shows you how to use an indisputable difference to drive your brand into the minds of consumers. To get people to fight for something, it will require them to reject something else. Ries draws on her extensive experience in marketing and branding to show you how to develop a "visual hammer: " a crystal-clear image that distinguishes your brand from everyone else's. You'll also find:
- Illustrative case studies of real-world companies--like Liquid Death, the popular canned water brand, Chick-fila-A's "Eat More Chikin" campaign, Oatly's "Wow no Cow," slogan, and Nvidia, the leader in AI computing--that demonstrate how to effectively position using focus and a distinctive enemy (plastic bottles, beef, and dairy milk, respectively)
- Strategies to adapt to a constantly changing marketplace where trends, products, and customer needs shift every day
- How to keep your company from expanding or extending to such an extent that true differentiation is impossible
Perfect for branding and strategy teams, managers, executives, and other business leaders, The Strategic Enemy is also a must-read for marketing professionals, sales leaders, and anyone else with an interest in driving revenue at their company.
