My present for the new year

Happy New Year!

Christmas and New Year are a time for new resolutions, projects and… hope.

A book is a special gift for a special people. People don’t read enough in Italy: Christmas is a great time to buy yourself or someone else as a gift. Maybe one of the books I have recommend below. 

Here’s my list for the new year:

• A future in colour by Irene Tinagli
• Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim, R. Mauborgne
• You Inc. - The art of selling yourself by H. Beckwith, C. Clifford Beckwith

And obviously “It’s easy to change jobs if you know how” by Cristina Gianotti, and my forthcoming book “Connecting Dots – Networking is easy if you know how to do it”, wish you can preorder on www.bookabook.it.

Once they turn 70, a person who has not read will only have lived one life: their own! Readers, on the other hand, will have lived for 5000 years: there was that time when Cain killed Abel, when Renzo married Lucia, when Leopardi admired infinity … because reading is immortality in reverse.

– Umberto Eco

A future in colour

Author

Irene Tinagli (Empoli, 1974) is a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Her studies have
focused on the relationship between creativity, innovation and economic development. She has worked as a consultant for the United Nations’ department of economic and social affairs and as a coordinator of Studies conducted in Europe by the Richard Florida research team. 

Content

Once upon a time there was an Italian family with three children: the eldest wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father - a manager in a company despite not being a graduate - but since he didn’t get any further than high school, he had to put his aspirations to one side; the second, dreamt of teaching in local schools like her grandmother, and had to endure a wretched in existence of unstable employment; the third child, did a masters degree, learnt English, travelled the world, disobeyed her father, tried
new things... and got lucky. It seems like a modern fairy tale, but it’s a true story. Indeed, it is one of many stories Irene Tinagli, a brilliant economist with international experience, describes in this book to illustrate how traditional careers have become a thing of the past, mainly as a result of the emergence of new technologies that have made certain professions redundant. According to Tinagli, however, we need to look at to the future with great confidence (despite the financial crisis) because there are so many other new roles and extraordinary opportunities for personal fulfilment and success. The important
thing is to look at the world as a whole, try to understand what training and educational courses are the most promising for you and not be scared to make mistakes before you succeed in making your talent blossom. “A future in colour” is for people looking for personal and professional fulfilment. Tinagli analyses the global situation and describes surprising success stories through which she identifies tools for
embarking on a fulfilling personal journey.

For me

In 2016 I published my first book – It’s easy to change jobs if you know how  - with the aim of
offering a new contribution to the out-dated Italian approach to the labour market …

Thanks to my publisher, I organised presentations with various speakers – journalists, head hunters, university lecturers.  One of these individuals, whom I met in Turin, recommended some books including this one.

I bought it, read it and still recommend it to my closest friends!

Ocean Blue Strategy

Authors

Renée Mauborgne is a Strategy lecturer at INSEAD and co-director of the Blue Ocean Strategy Institute at INSEAD. She is the author of Ocean blue strategy - which was published in Italy by Rizzoli in 2015 - and the 2017 book Ocean blue: changing, that she co-wrote with W. Chan Kim. She is considered one of the top three management gurus in the Thinkers50 list, and has received numerous awards over the world. She is a member of the World Economic Forum and founder of the Blue Ocean Global Network.

Content

Since the early days of the industrial era businesses have been engaged in a global battle to gain an advantage in the bloody red ocean of competition, that is full of rivals striving for an increasingly limited share of profits. But what would a company’s growth prospects be if it operated in a context without competition, in an uncontested market space, with unlimited possibilities like that of a blue ocean? Ten years ago, " Ocean Blue Strategy" revolutionised the corporate world, with a new model for discovering uncontested markets that were ready for growth where companies could beat the competition. Today, after that book has sold more than 3.5 million copies and been translated into 43 languages, and the
method has been adopted by thousands of companies throughout the world, the authors have presented a new updated and extended edition – with new chapters and, above all, an answer to everyone wanting to know how to innovate when the blue ocean they create starts to turn red. This book is a benchmark that turns traditional strategy theories on their head and charts a brave new course towards future success, with a systematic model that can be replicated by all companies, to make competition irrelevant.

For me

This is another one of those books I read while on holiday one summer several years ago on the Alaskan Marine Highway.

I can’t remember whether I bought it or was given it at a presentation in Milan by Professor W. Chan Kim, who also happened to sign my copy. There are certainly economics classics, but even classics need to be updated and this is a new classic that business people cannot afford to do without.

You Inc.

Authors

Harry Backwith heads Beckwth Partners, a marketing firm that advises twenty-three Fortune 200 clients. His four bestselling books have been translated into 23 languages.

Christine B. Clifford is a professional speaker, consultant, industry top producer, and the President/CEO of Christine Clifford Enterprises.

Content

It really is all about you and improving the way you present yourself, declare the husband-and-wife Beckwiths (Selling the Invisible) in this refreshing primer. Unlike many similar books, this is not an autobiography masquerading as wisdom. The Beckwiths stay out of the book except when Harry's experience as a bestselling business writer and head of marketing firm or Chirstine's as an award-winning speaker and cancer-survivor is directly relevant. Instead, they offer a practical advice for effective and memorable interpersonal interactions. Above all, they stress communicating with brevity and clarity, suggesting that every document be cut in half before sending and giving a 30-minute speeches in 22 minutes. Their own work is pared down to short, readable lessons on topics like the importance of
making good first impressions and the secrets of successful selling, which they describe as the artful Handling of information, presented with the forethought and enough passion to be persuasive without making anyone uncomfortable. Readers at the start of their careers or in need of an inspirational brush-up will find this much of use.

For me

I have wanted to be an entrepreneur in the service sector for years.

I like America and have always been fascinated by American culture. My own baby boomers generation tended to study science and aspired to work for American companies. I enjoy travelling to the States,
even though I only do so now for leisure purposes. A big passion of mine are bookshops – the few that are left ☹. Since I still read real books – rather than e-books – I like to spend a lot of time in these bookshops.

On one of these occasions I bought this book and read it during a summer beach holiday in Hawaii,  long before people had started talking about personal branding in Italy. I already had some entrepreneurial experience and was thinking about getting into services, where one essentially starts by promoting oneself before the brand becomes established.

I dedicate this to anyone who wants to get to the heart of personal branding, a term which is now all too often abused and misunderstood.  

My reading list is the list of a business coach that wants to help others find their way in the world, while
continuing to dream and fulfil those dreams, living better with others and improving the world we live in.

The ideas we have after reading a book can be a first step towards achieving our objectives in the new year, especially in professional terms.

Happy New Year!