Celebrate Book Lovers Day with Essential Reads by Lisa Armstrong

In this post, we'll join Lisa Armstrong, ECI's Senior Director of Global Learning and Development, as she shares her top five business-related books that have provided invaluable insights throughout her career.

In her novel “Northanger Abbey” Jane Austen wrote, “The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid”. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average time an American spends reading for pleasure per day has steadily declined for the past 20 years. Yet science has shown that reading is healthy! Reading has been proven to reduce stress, lower blood pressure, improve sleep, and so much more. Not only is reading generally healthy for you, but the knowledge books give us is invaluable. For small business owners, millions of books can provide insights about improving their business.

In celebration of National Book Lovers Day on August 9, we sat down with Lisa Armstrong, our Senior Director of Global Learning and Development and lifelong lover of reading and learning. Lisa told us her top 5 business-related books that provided her the most insight into her career.

John Maxwell is a world-renowned author, speaker, and leadership expert. This book, originally published in 1998 has been incredibly influential on many successful leaders today. Maxwell stresses that leaders need to have a heart that desires to serve others. Leaders should have a desire to help others succeed and excel. He also explains that leadership is not a title but rather a way we behave that supports those around us. Lisa says, “John Maxwell is one of my favorite leaders and authors”. This book is full of valuable nuggets of lessons, but the main gem is understanding that anyone can be a leader with the right attitude.

Author Shawn Achor studied happiness at Harvard University. He noted that initially students were ecstatic and overjoyed with receiving their acceptance letters. Yet soon they faced dread and depression when they realized the demanding expectations placed on them. Achor explains that if we keep telling ourselves, “I’ll be happy when” we are pushing our joy over the cognitive horizon, and we never get there. We must focus on what makes us happy, not what could go wrong. Furthermore, when we choose what makes us happy this makes us more productive and better employees. To become the best in the world, we need to be able to respond to conflict and reframe it into a positive mindset.

James Clear has focused his entire career on building better habits. In this book he describes the power of creating incremental changes every day. If we can focus on making a 1% improvement every day, we will be 37 times better by the end of the year. Clear says that we need to be able to rely on our habits not just on our willpower. He also explains a concept called the Law of Ease. If you know you want to go to the gym in the morning, you should set out your clothes the night before. When you wake up and spend the time getting ready, it gives your brain more time to think of excuses.

World-famous inspirational speaker and author Simon Sinek wrote this book to explore the importance of understanding the purpose, cause, and belief that inspires individuals and organizations. Most organizations spend tremendous amounts of time, money, and effort explaining to their employees what they should be doing. However, they don’t tell their employees why they should be doing it. When they don’t tell employees why, this causes them to make it up themselves. Often when employees make up their own “why” it is not very optimistic. Articulating the purpose of each assignment helps inspire teams and unite them to work for the greater good.

With a robust career in consulting, Jim Collins has learned what helps companies excel in their fields. Collins describes “Good is the enemy of Great”. This book is all about the consequences of settling for just being good enough. When we lack the discipline to try to be great, we are actively missing out on opportunities. When we don’t try, we are wasting our potential. If we want to excel in our fields, we need to step into our passions head-on. Collins describes the Hedgehog Concept, which emphasizes that companies should pour their efforts into what they can be best at.

In a modern-day world that leans more into artificial intelligence and digital media every day, it can be important to slow down and remember that books are still highly valuable tools. ECI wishes you a happy National Book Lovers Day!