This article is part of a new series the Influence & Co. team is launching titled, “What I’m Reading This Week,” which consists of bite-sized posts that highlight what our team is reading, watching, and listening to every week along with a short synopsis and honest feedback.
The idea behind the series is to provide some insight into our employees’ interests and personalities. And — most importantly — to offer valuable resources you can check out or remove from your reading list.
Reading and exposing yourself to a variety of topics is essential to inspiring and informing your content creation process — a theme we write about often. I’ve recently decided to broaden my horizons through a variety of platforms to further educate myself.
If you’re struggling to decide which articles, books, or podcasts are worth your time, hopefully these short weekly blog posts will help guide your decisions.
I’m reading:
“Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman
I’m about halfway through this book, and it’s incredibly valuable and applicable to the business mentality. Daniel cleverly uses bananas and simple explanations of the two models our brains use to process the world — system one (emotional) and system two (rational) — to explain the psychology behind how we approach different problems. I’d suggest this read for anyone interested in the science and psychology behind how we react and make judgments, choices, and opinions that ultimately influence our actions.
I’m watching:
“CMI Online Training and Certification,” a video by Content Marketing Institute
The entire training module costs nearly $1,000, so I’m testing the free trial first. I watched the video on developing audience personas by Ardath Albee, CEO of Marketing Interactions Inc., and it was OK. Our team already learned the basics of audience personas through HubSpot, and we even have an article about personas on our blog. The video offered solid reminders but nothing revolutionary if you already have a solid foundation.
The next video I watched delved into the intersection of paid, earned, and owned media. This video was also a great refresher, but CMI and other awesome content marketing blogs covered most of the info in previous articles.
I’m listening to:
“Magic Words,” a podcast from “This American Life”
In the two years I’ve listened to this podcast, I’ve powered through nearly every episode from the past 19 years. I’m currently working my way backward and am at the beginning of 1997.
One of the themes Ira Glass hit on this week outlined a new approach to caring for and understanding individuals with Alzheimer’s disease inspired by a rule of improve: “Yes, and...” This podcast series makes thought-provoking parallels and offers rich perspectives, which keeps me coming back for more each week.
What are you reading, watching, or listening to this week? I’d love to hear your favorites in the comments!
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