
Happy New Year! January is a great time to stop, reflect, and dream.
Reading is, after all, dreaming with your eyes wide open. It provides inspiration, fuels passion and action, and feeds the soul with ideas and wonder.
For those of you dreaming of a new future, here is a list of the JMORA top books to help you transition from dreaming to doing!
Book Recommendation 1:Â Play Bigger:Â How pirates, dreamers and innovators create and dominate markets: Al Ramadan, Dave Peterson, Christopher Lochhead, Kevin Maney.
This book ignites my dreams for a different career and a different way of doing things. It is a book that I have two copies of, and both are tagged with a rainbow of Post-it notes to remind me of key pages, quotes, and proof points. This book walks you through category creation and design and showcases stories on companies like Birds Eye and Apple, and the way in which they achieved greatness.
As an added bonus, when you follow Play Bigger online, you are treated to new templates and playbooks to support new and updated thinking. This book is both inspirational and instructional, and should be on the shelves of every active dreamer.
Book Recommendation 2: Come Alive:Â live a life with more meaning and joy: Yu Dan ShiÂ
When I first read this book, I was searching for an executive coach, someone to help inspire me and help coach me through how to handle stressors in my work life. Years later, Yu Dan has become my close friend, confidant and walking buddy.
I read this book again, after another particularly stressful time in my life. The first two pages could have been written by myself – including the removal of my gallbladder.
This book is an invaluable guide to learning how to stop, recalibrate your goals, and reassess what your true values and purpose in life are. This book guides you on making changes in your life to embrace joy and happiness, be that in your current role or in bringing a career dream to life. It is a book that lives by my side, and gently nudges me towards the life I have always hoped for.
Book Recommendation 3: The Visual MBA: Jason Barron
Not every person has the opportunity to do an MBA. It is an enormous investment in time, effort, and money. This guide represents two years of learning by Jason, visually crafted into a complete course manual. From marketing, to finance and accounting, to strategy and operations, this is an incredibly accessible and easy-to-understand opportunity to learn and grow.
As you look to transform your ideas into reality, it serves to provide a visual reminder of the key areas you need to think about and why. Consider this your complete business manual, all with lots of great diagrams and pictures.
Book Recommendation 4: Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions: Guy Kawasaki
The cover of this book includes the quote "Read this book to create a company as enchanting as Apple". Each chapter begins with an inspirational quote, rather like a sweet intermezzo to inspire the dreamers at heart. The book lives and breaths the importance of winning the hearts and minds of the intended audience!
This boos is a manifesto on how to win the hearts and minds of both the consumer and also the employee is outlined, all interwoven with brand stories and learnings.
In reading this book, as a dreamer you connect and are taken on a captivating journey, whilst also gently pushing you to think through how your business dream will also help connect with customers and individuals also dreaming of change in their business or lif.e. This is the book to read as you bring your dream to life, pushing you to really think through what problem are you solving and why does this matter.
Book Recommendation 5: Rising Heart: Aminata Conteh-Biger
This book is not for the faint-hearted. The Hon Dame Quentin Bryce states "The best and worst of our shared humanity … breathtaking and heartbreaking".
From being brutally kidnapped by rebel soldiers, to resettling in Australia as a refugee, to now helping mothers and babies in Sierra Leone, this book is an emotional journey of trauma, resilience, understanding, and honour. It is about finding your true purpose and living every day to bring this to life.
On this book, Natasha Stott Despoja says beautifully, "An inspirational woman who has brought about extraordinary change".
For me, reading this book reconnected me to my own personal values of family, purpose and equality. It reminded me that, no amount of money can or ever will bridge the value chasm, and that when you are living the life you were meant to live, true happiness is always possible.
No matter your reason for making a change, each of these five books will inspire you to find your purpose and reach for your north star. These books bewitch your hearts and minds, and guide you towards finding the courage to make your dreams a reality today.
Happy dreaming. Happy Reading. And a very happy New Year.
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