Beyond the Hood Book List: Recommended Reads from Dealership Leaders

Book & podcast recommendations from the Beyond the Hood podcast

• Resisting Happiness by Matthew Kelly
  A powerful reminder to stay motivated and overcome personal resistance to becoming the best version of yourself. Matthew Kelly combines wisdom both profound and practical to help us understand why we feel the need to always “be happier” and how to rise above this internalized pressure. Breaking through resistance, Kelly tells us, is essential to becoming the best version of ourselves and living with passion and purpose.
• The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper This classic and inspiring children’s story has a simple yet profound message about persistence and belief. When a leader believes in himself/herself, the will to achieve can overcome any external obstacles, no matter how seemingly insurmountable. How can anyone fail when their conscience is an eternal optimistic.

• Good to Great by Jim Collins How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness? This classic business book outlines what makes companies truly great and how leaders can guide their teams to extraordinary results.
• Multipliers by Liz Wiseman An exploration of how great leaders amplify the intelligence and capabilities of their teams, creating a positive, productive environment. The author explores two leadership styles, persuasively showing how Multipliers can have a resoundingly positive and profitable effect on organizations - getting more done with fewer resources, developing and attracting talent, and cultivating new ideas and energy to drive organizational change and innovation.
• It’s Your Ship by Captain D. Michael Abrashoff A leadership guide that demonstrates how taking ownership and empowering your team can turn a ship around—or any organization for that matter. The author, a former US navy commander, has four main “secrets” of successful management: 1) See the ship through the eyes of the crew; 2) Communicate, communicate, communicate; 3) Create discipline by focusing on purpose; and 4) Listen aggressively.

• Small Data by Martin Lindstrom Martin Lindstrom spends three hundred nights a year overseas, closely observing people in their homes. His goal: to uncover their hidden desires and turn them into breakthrough products for the world’s leading brands. Lindstrom challenges our assumptions about big data by showing how small, everyday observations can reveal powerful insights.

• The Planet Money Podcast An excellent resource for understanding economics and its impact on everyday life, looking back and analyzing historic events in the process. Planet Money explores the forces that shape our lives and bring the audience along for the ride. This podcast helps listeners understand not only the economy, but also the wider world.
• The Indicator Podcast A quick, insightful podcast that breaks down complex economic topics in bite-sized episodes in a forward thinking way. From the producers of Planet Money, this podcast helps listeners make sense of what's happening today. It's a quick hit of insight into work, business, the economy, and everything else.

• Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman This book dives into the dual systems of thought: fast, instinctive thinking versus slow, deliberate thinking, and how they shape our decisions. This book (also a favorite of our host, Andy Campbell) is touted as a “groundbreaking tour of the mind that explains the two systems that drive the way we think.”
• The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver Silver solidified his standing as the nation's foremost political forecaster with his near perfect prediction of the 2012 election (though it’s been a relatively bumpy ride ever since). This book presents a fascinating exploration of the art of prediction and the challenges of identifying meaningful signals in a world full of noise.

• The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell The tipping point refers to “that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.” Gladwell explores how small actions or events can trigger a tipping point that brings about large-scale changes.
• The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg A look at how habits shape our lives and how we can change them to improve productivity and success. At its core, The Power of Habit contains a profound-yet-simple argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, being more productive, and achieving success is understanding how habits work. 
• Start with Why by Simon Sinek This book underscores the importance of understanding why you do what you do in order to inspire and lead others effectively. Some major questions include: Why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their success over and over?

• Sales and Owners Manuals Sometimes the best insights come from the owners manual! Most sales people don’t physically pick up an owners manual to understand a problem, and often they solve them. 

• Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore Essential reading for anyone in the tech industry, this book explains how to move your product from early adopters to the mainstream market. Moore shows that in the “Technology Adoption Life Cycle,” there is a chasm between the “early adopters” and the “early majority.” While early adopters are willing to sacrifice for the advantage of being first, the early majority waits until they know that the technology actually offers improvements in productivity. 
• The 6 Types of Working Genius by Patrick Lencioni A guide to understanding different work styles and how to harness the strengths of your team for greater productivity at work. As one reviewer explains, this book is “the fastest way to help people identify the type of work that brings them joy and energy, and avoid work that leads to frustration and burnout.”

Wrap-Up: Beyond the Hood’s Book Club