It's that time of year again. When you're so busy scrambling around at the last minute trying to buy gifts for your family that you completely forget about your colleagues! The biggest challenge in colleague gifting is finding something that is both useful and inexpensive. Our solution? A business book! A book that inspires leadership, entrepreneurship, passion, and creativity can help propel their career, and possibly benefit your team as a whole. Here's a curated list of 15 great business books under $15 to give as 2015 holiday gifts: 1. Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal What turns products into habits? And how do you make those habits long-lasting? Author and entrepreneur Nir Eyal unlocks the secret to building habit-forming products with his four-step process called the Hook Model. We were even lucky enough to interview Eyal about his book and how the Hook Model helps you better understand your customers. 2. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini An oldie but goodie: Dr. Robert B. Cialdini reveals the psychology behind why people say "yes" and how to put the art of persuasion into practice. This book explores the six universal principles of persuasion, and teaches you how to use them as well as how to combat them. 3. Compelling People: The Hidden Qualities That Make Us Influential by John Neffinger & Matthew Kohut As required reading at both Harvard and Columbia Business School, this book has a lot to offer. Everyone wishes they could be as influential as Oprah Winfrey or Taylor Swift. However, since most of us do not fall under the international celebrity category, what qualities make us influential? Neffinger and Kohut discuss how the balance of strength (root of respect) and warmth (root of affection) is the key to becoming charismatic and influential, and they reveal ways to apply that balance in your daily life. 4. So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport Have you ever heard the phrase "follow your passion?" Well, Newport says stop. He claims that pre-existing passions usually have nothing to do with why people end up loving their jobs and can be a source of anxiety and stress. In this book, Newport explores the welcoming world of people who love their jobs. He shares their strategies and experiences, as well as the obstacles they've faced and lessons they've learned along the way. 5. Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success by Adam M. Grant Praised by Amazon, Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post as one of the best books of 2013, this book really brings home the spirit of the holidays. Grant shows how the secret to success is not necessarily talent or passion, but how we interact with others. He reveals how giving without receiving anything in return can positively impact success and transform organizations. 6. Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi In Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's account of psychological contentment, he describes "flow" as being a state of consciousness that makes our experiences easier to manage and more enjoyable. During flow, a person may experience joy, creativity, and feel completely engaged with whatever they're doing. In this book, he explains in-depth about how to reach this state, and even control it, on a regular basis. 7. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries Today, innovation is more important than ever. With more and more technologies readily available at our fingertips, the battle between the young startups and the tech giants continues to grow. Ries uncovers why some startups fail and others don't, and why it's important to have an even balance of efficiency and uncertainty in your startup mix. His scientific approach helps growing teams maximize their strengths, recognize their weaknesses, and embrace agility. 8. Purple Cow by Seth Godin Cow are pretty much everywhere. And once you've seen one cow, you've seen them all. Unless you see a Purple Cow; you'd probably remember where and when you saw it. In this book, Godin talks about the qualities that make companies like Starbucks, Netflix, and Apple into Purple Cows. He urges you to put the Purple Cow into everything you create, dream, and think. 9. Drive by Daniel H. Pink This book argues against the idea that people are motivated by material items such as money. Instead, Pink suggests that people are motivated by improving themselves, expanding their own knowledge and experiences, and directing their own lives. Pink's techniques for changing perspective help people transform how they think, work, behave, and live. 10. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman Written by world-renowned author and Nobel Prize Winner, Daniel Kahneman, this book takes you on an astounding journey through the way we think and looks at the psychology of what motivates us. One side of the brain is known as fast, impulsive, and intuitive, while the other side is slower, cautious, and logical. He provides insight into our decision-making process and how we can avoid the mistakes that often lead to trouble. 11. Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull What's the recipe to magic? Written by co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios, Catmull dives into what it's like to work at and be a leader in one of the most successful film and animation studios in the world. Also featured on our top books every manager should read list, this book really takes you behind the scenes and explores how to be a great leader at an exceptional company. 12. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho One of my personal favorites, this one is hard to put down. In this book, you join a young boy named Santiago on his quest to Egypt after having a recurring dream of finding treasure there. The story's theme revolves around finding one's destiny, and Coelho recognizes it as more of a self-help book rather than literature. On Santiago's journey, the author hopes readers find the truth in following their dreams and encouraging others to do the same. 13. Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters They say imitation is the finest form of flattery. But if you're the imitator, what does that make you? This book teaches you how to build on a whole new idea of your own making, and transform it from "zero to one." 14. The 4-hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss We all know the newest from of currency is time, not money. This ultimate life productivity guide provides worksheets, templates, and shortcuts for getting more done during the week without sacrificing quality or income. It shares real-life examples of how people have doubled their income while shortening their workweek. 15. Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t by Simon Sinek Another feature on our top books for managers list, this one exposes the sacrifice involved in being a good leader. Through actual examples and experiences, Sinek proves that individuals only perform well when they feel safe within their group — confirming that the most successful teams value trust and cooperation above all else. Any favorites that aren't on this list? Add them in the comments!
You commented, and we noticed! Over the past couple of weeks, we've posted photos of awkward collaboration moments on social media and asked you to fill in the captions. We went through all the submissions and selected the funniest, most outlandish, and cleverest captions for each photo. Congrats to all the winners!
Until now, working efficiently and communicating effectively has always been a nice to have. However, with the demand to scale, rise of remote work, and the climate of chaos becoming a normality, inefficiencies are becoming costly. It's more crucial than ever to make healthy work management and collaboration a priority.
We're excited to announce our latest Customer Success Story with our friendly owls over at Hootsuite. Hootsuite is a leading social media and brand management solution with more than 10 million users around the world. We visited their HQ in Vancouver, Canada to ask their Marketing Operations team how they use Wrike. Before Wrike, Hootsuite's marketing ops team was overwhelmed by endless tasks with no way to organize or prioritize them. After implementing Wrike, the team saw immense improvement in the handling of tasks, as well as improved visibility into quarterly productivity levels. Check out the short interview video below to hear why they love using Wrike. Read the Hootsuite Case Study To read more about how Hootsuite uses Wrike to power their productivity, check out the Hootsuite customer success story. The full case study covers: What problems drove them to search for a collaboration tool How they initially implemented Wrike across their team Their favorite Wrike features and how they use them Do you have a favorite Wrike feature that helps power your productivity? Let us know in the comments!
You're a hard-working individual. You work long hours everyday, so you can breathe easy on the weekends. You also have a passion to start your own company, but you don't have the time or tools to do it. How do you fulfill your passion and find enough time to start a company without quitting your full-time job? We're excited to release our video interview with Adeo Ressi, CEO & Founder of The Founder Institute, who helps passionate individuals start their own companies. After founding nine companies himself, Ressi built The Founder Institute as a way to help people achieve their dreams while balancing their day jobs. During the interview, he shares tips on entrepreneurial best practices, how to deal with investors, and what qualities make a good founder. Check out the full video interview with Ressi: [inlinetweet prefix="" tweeter="" suffix="via @Wrike"]"A company dies when a founder gives up." —Adeo Ressi @adeoressi[/inlinetweet] Some key takeaways from the interview: Lessons learned from being an entrepreneur Differences between good and bad investors Qualities of successful founders Deadliest mistakes commonly made by founders The current state of the startup industry Why there are so many "Unicorns" (and if that's good or bad news) Are you an thriving entrepreneur? Share some of your founder tips and advice in the comments.
Facebook, Amazon, Gmail, Spotify, Netflix... what do they all have in common? They all have us hooked on their products. They found a way to wiggle their product into our routines, and as a result, we've formed a habit dependent on their product that we simply can't break. What is so gut-wrenchingly addictive about these products and why can't we seem to shake the obsession? We were able to speak with entrepreneur and investor, Nir Eyal, about his recent book Hooked: How to Build Habit Forming Products, focusing on his acclaimed "Hook Model," and the secret to obtaining loyal customers. According to Nir, building a "hook" or a habit has nothing to do with being the best product out there. [inlinetweet prefix=" " tweeter="" suffix=""]"Engaging products don’t happen by mistake. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat know this." —@NirEyal [/inlinetweet] A few things you'll learn as you watch the video: Why he wrote Hooked What the Hook Model entails, and how it will help you understand your customers better Why going "viral" isn't always the goal How to create a habit out of a non-habit forming product What trends are up-and-coming that people aren't paying enough attention to Watch the full interview below! Tweet this! [inlinetweet prefix=" " tweeter="" suffix=""]"It's the product that has the "mind monopoly" that succeeds." —@NirEyal [/inlinetweet] Nir defines the "Hook Model" as consisting of these four steps: Trigger Action Reward Investment These steps define the various ways we engage with a product; whether it be reading their content and perceiving them as subject experts, or just feeling so comfortable using the product that you don't want to bother learning how to use a new one. Are you hooked on a product or service? Let us know in the comments what products have managed to hook you!
Looking ahead of schedule and devoting ample time to planning out your campaigns and marketing milestones is not only essential for success, but also for allocating resources and finding where gaps exist. Waiting too long to plan can result in unrealistic expectations, team goals that don't align with company objectives, and a marketing team scrambling to throw something together as quickly as possible instead of focusing on top quality output.
It's that time of year again in the U.S., when coworkers start playing pranks and strange behavior seems more common. Some of us are busy preparing our defenses for the spooky weekend ahead, and others are just locking their front doors and waiting for November. But regardless of how you choose to handle Halloween, workers everywhere are taking a stance against one common enemy: productivity killers. The 2015 Work Management Report found the top 15 most common productivity killers for office workers. Now, we're giving you some tips for dealing with the worst of the bunch. Take a look at this presentation to get tips on how to handle your worst productivity killer: Top 5 Productivity Killers Dare to learn more? Download the full 2015 Work Management Report to see how workers really feel about their current management system, how we're managing projects, and what's coming for us in the future.
