In my consulting work, I am often asked to coach or mentor pricing managers, marketers and/or regional operators and above. In doing so, I typically include reading assignments involving books and articles that I believe are relevant to the skills we’re trying to develop. Occasionally, I’m even asked proactively for a reading list.

So in that spirit, here are my “Nine Essential Reads.” A couple of them are classics that I’m sure you’ve heard of, while I’m guessing a few of them are new to you.

My criteria for this list is quite simple:

These books materially changed the way I viewed business, myself and/or the world around me.

They’re based on actual data rather than pop psychology. I find I almost never get through an individual engagement without mentioning at least one of them in the natural flow of the recommendations that come from my work.

1. The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People by Stephen Covey

This one is so classic it’s almost trite to include in the list. However, I probably reference lessons from this book more than any other. The list is long so here are three examples among many:

• The need to seek interdependence instead of independence

• The notion that urgent “fire drills” often crowd out important “production capacity increasing activities”

• “Begin with the end in mind”

2. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’tby Jim Collins

Another very well-known book, Collins really focused my attention on the notion that a “stop doing” list is equally (sometimes more) important than a good “start doing” list. He introduced me to the hedgehog concept and the reality that often the biggest thing in the way of being truly great is that an organization is already good, so they are not motivated to make the tough choices needed to achieve greatness.

3. Revenue Management: Hard-core Tactic for Market Domination by Robert Cross

Bob Cross was CEO at Talus Solutions when I first joined them, ultimately leading to my work in pricing and revenue management for multifamily housing. Though the title is honestly a relic of the testosterone-driven late 1990s, the book is nevertheless a quintessential read for anyone interested in pricing methodologies in capacity-constrained verticals. The book is all the more relevant because there is absolutely no math in it. It explains the basics of revenue management for entry level associates all the way up to the C-suite in a very accessible and easily consumed way.

4. Predictable Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Daniel Ariely

This book is to behavioral economics what Bob Cross’ book is to revenue/yield management. Through witty stories and well-crafted experiments, Professor Ariely explains how the basis of decades of economic theory, namely that humans act rationally as the metaphorical homo economicus, is just plainly false. Humans are hopelessly irrational in many of their decisions, but the fascinating bit is that they are very predictably irrational. Businesses that understand and leverage this predictability will fare much better than those that don’t.

5. The Challenger Sales Model: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation 
by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson

This book totally changed my point of view on sales…well, actually I would say it validated my suspicions about everything that I thought was wrong with the traditional sales strategies espoused by the Zig Ziglars and Tom Hopkins of the world. With searingly insightful data, Adamson and Dixon show exactly how most high performing salespeople become so good at what they do; and more importantly, they give a prescription for how anyone can learn and hone the skills needed to perform well. Sales really is a skill, not just a talent. And if you still think that the key to successful sales is to be a relationship builder and reduce the stress felt by prospects, then you really need to read this book!

6. 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management by Hyrum Smith

To me, this book has the highest value versus fame of any book I’ve read. I’ve never heard anyone else mention it, yet it was as profound as any other on this list (and more so than many). Penned by the founder of the Franklin Planner (anyone over 40 remembers when keeping a well-organized calendar and task list was a “pencil and paper” exercise), this book taught me more about how to organize myself than anything else, all while explaining why traditional time management training didn’t work. Pay particular attention to both his model of change referencing “belief windows” and his focus on using the week as the cohort of time to manage, not the day. I guarantee it will completely change how you manage yourself and your time.

7. The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance—What Women Should Know by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman

I have my good friend Julie Smith to thank for this one. A couple of years ago, Julie led a panel on the glass ceiling at the NMHC Spring Board meeting. I was afraid it would just be a session of trite observations, and it turned to be anything but that. One particular comment from the women leaders on stage struck me. They talked about how they often had to coach female subordinates to be more assertive and take more chances; in contrast, they not only never had to coach men on that, but they often had to coach their male subordinates to be careful about getting too far over their skis. When I told Julie that really resonated with my experience and thus, as the father of two daughters, made me very concerned about how that could affect their lives, she told me to buy them this book. I did…and I read it myself…and I wish it had been written years earlier so I could have read it sooner.

8. The Situational Leader by Paul Hershey

I was first introduced to this concept in my college junior year ROTC class on management. It immediately struck a nerve. There’s no single “best” leadership style…it’s situational. Sometimes a directive style is best (e.g. with a new hire), sometimes pure delegation is best. In a way, this was also a coming of age experience for me. My parents taught many seminars in the retail travel industry at the time. I shared this concept with them, and it was new to them. They were so impressed that they incorporated it into some of their training. It was the first time I truly taught them something instead of the other way around. Fast forward 29 years, and I’m with my daughter who is learning how to lead groups of students through Princeton’s Outdoor Adventure program. She shares with me some of the “cool” things they’re teaching her. She thinks I’ll be interested in one particular way of thinking about leadership she learned. She opens her training guide and what does she show off? The situational leadership model! It’s stood the test of time.

9. Parenting the Office by Philip Davidoff, Doris Davidoff, Donald Davidoff and Douglas Davidoff

Ok, so this one is a bit self-serving. But honestly, I regularly use the lessons in this. The premise of the book is that good parenting skills are equally applicable (and valuable) in an office environment. Since studies have shown that mothers still tend to be responsible for the majority of parenting at home (though I should note it’s MUCH more balanced now than 20 years ago), I find its lessons particularly important in an industry like ours, where women represent a majority of middle managers. The lessons in the book are equally applicable to both genders, and it provides a special validation for those who are single parents or provide the majority of parenting at home.

I invite you to read these books and feel free to leave a comment, sharing what you've learned!