The Business Classics

Old is Gold. These are books that anyone who is remotely related, interested or connected to the business world should read. Unless you are like a doctor friend of mine — who didn’t even know Facebook is now a public company till yesterday representing how less he cares about the business world — you should make it a priority to read these age old classics that still stand high.

• Good to Great — Jim Collins
• In Search of Excellence — Tom Peters, Bob Waterman
• The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail — Clayton M. Christensen
• Awaken the Giant Within – Tony Robbins
• Think and Grow Rich — Napoleon Hill
• How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market — Gerald Zaltman
• The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations — Ori Brafman & Rod A Beckstorm

Qualitative Research

With the plethora of new technology tools available to conduct research, we are spoilt for choice. However, the foundations of the research still fundamentally remain the same — understanding the customer, their requirements, needs and their preferences using age old, solid one-to-one qualitative interview or focus groups. The following list of books covers everything and anything remotely related to qualitative research and more. These include conducting high quality interviews, designing research projects, evaluating & analyzing qualitative interviews (to identify golden insights for your clients) and how to manage client expectations.

• Qualitative Research & Evaluation Methods — Michael Quinn Patton.
• Doing Qualitative Research: A Practical Handbook — David Silverman
• Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing among Five Approaches — John Creswell
• The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers — Johnny Saldana
• Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook (2nd Edition)  — Matthew B. Miles, A. Michael Huberman
• How to Hire & Manage Market Research Agencies by  Kathryn Korostoff

Networking

“Oh come on! I’ve attended hundreds of events. I know how to network as I add them on LinkedIn as soon as we exchange business cards.” Right! There is a fair bit to networking than that. How do you constantly grow your network? How do I manage the relationships that you start? How do I effectively use LinkedIn for professional networking? Have these questions answered by getting started with these books.

• Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time — Tahl Raz
• How to REALLY use LinkedIn — Jan Vermeiren
• Breakthrough Networking: Building Relationships That Last (Third Edition) —  Lillian D. Bjorseth
• Networking for People Who Hate Networking: A Field Guide for Introverts, the Overwhelmed, and the Underconnected — Devora Zack

Quantitative Research

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If you had to pick one segment of the market research industry that has been most affected with the rapid innovation in technology tools, which one would that be? If you don’t say it’s quantitative research then I’d be very surprised. With the huge growth in internet usage and smartphones around the globe, collecting data using online tools has done a sea change. Due to this, it has become increasingly important as researchers that we keep up with the newest and shiniest technology coming out — practically every quarter. Reading the books below will give you a head start:

• Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches — John Creswell
• The Reviewer’s Guide to Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences — Gregory R. Hancock (Editor), Ralph O. Mueller (Editor)
• The Market Research Toolbox: A Concise Guide for Beginners — Edward McQuarrie
• Now You See It: Simple Visualization Techniques for Quantitative Analysis — Stephen Few
• Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method — Don A Dillman

Gamification

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Oh boy! Gamification — the new buddy in town. It’s the HOT TOPIC in everything. Whether its new startups, existing products/services or even if you just to go grab a lunch and check in with foursquare (Yes, that’s gamification too!) Gamification has caught the eye of the research industry — BIG TIME! If you’re a researcher and you haven’t equipped yourself with the latest gamification jargon — you better hurry up and get started on it. Seriously, you don’t want to be in that awkward situation when the clients asks, “Can you explain to me a little bit more about gamification and how we can use it for our future projects” and you have to look up Wikipedia!

• Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World — Jane McGonigal
• Gamification by Design Implementing Game Mechanics in Web and Mobile Apps — Gabe Zichermann, Christopher Cunningham
• Game-Based Marketing: Inspire Customer Loyalty Through Rewards, Challenges, and Contests — Joselin Linder
• Rock, Paper, Scissors: Game Theory in Everyday Life — Jane McGonigal
• A Theory of Fun for Game Design –Raph Koster

Network Intelligence

“Huh! Why do I need to know about Network Intelligence?” You may ask! The answer depends on how do you see yourself as a researcher? Do you think you want to be leading the market and provide incredible insights/information to your clients? Or do you want to be a follower and just do whatever it takes to maintain the status quo. If you consider yourself as a leading market researcher, give golden insights to your clients even before they ask by gathering intelligence.

• Introduction to Online Competitive Intelligence Research (Business Research Solutions) — Conor Vibert

Consumer Behavior

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Consumers are the species that single handedly run the modern economy. That’s right, as consumers, we drive the world with our product/service expectations. Each and every business depends on consumers to keep their wheels turning. Consequently, it is a good idea to understand and get in the minds of consumers. To understand, how we go about making our decisions on what to buy, what not to buy, etc. Below, are the top 7 books you should definitely read to get into the consumers mind that will help you  better analyze and understand the consumers and their decisions.

• Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping–Updated and Revised for the Internet, the Global Consumer, and Beyond — Paco Underhill
• Inside the Mind of the Shopper: The Science of Retailing — Herb Sorensen
• Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy — Martin Lindstorm
• The Paradox of Choice – Barry Schwartz
• The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses – Eric Ries
• The Thank You Economy – Gary Vaynerchuk
• Predictably Irrational – Dan Ariely

Listening

“Are you serious? Are you telling me that I need to learn how to listen? You gotta be kidding.” — I hear you saying! And I can fully understand that you would say that. As human beings one thing, which we ALL love to do, is talk about ourselves and share our stories with the people we know. However, we also need individuals who are “active listeners”. So how do I define Active Listeners? Listeners who not only listen but also process, analyze and respond instantly, if not simultaneously. As researchers, our aim is to get as much information and insights about customers as we can by quizzing them to understand why they do what they do. You might think that I’m an active listener, which is cool. But, you might be missing on a lot of good tips on how to be even better at listening. As we don’t know what we don’t know!

• Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone –Mark Goulston M.D. (Author), Keith Ferrazzi (Foreword)
• The Wisdom of Listening — Mark Brady
• Are You Really Listening?: Keys to Successful Communication — Paul J., Ph.D. Donoghue, Mary E. Siegel

Personal Development/Psychology

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This is where we shift our focus a little bit from being a good researcher to something more fundamental. Psychology — the science behind study of brain functions and behaviors is key to understanding people in general. As a researcher, dealing with individuals is a key part of your responsibility. By understanding fundamentals of human behaviors in varied environments, you set yourself up beautifully to be a truly great and successful researcher. Apart from understanding individual behaviors, it is also key to understand how individuals behave when put together in a group and how their behavior changes. Reading the following list of books will make sure you are more prepared than most researchers out there.

• Thinking, Fast and Slow – Daniel Kahneman
• The Dip – Seth Godin
• Psychology — Daniel L. Schacter, Daniel T. Gilbert, Daniel M. Wegner
• Psychology — Saundra K. Ciccarelli, Glenn E. Meyer
• What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People — Joe Navarro, Marvin Karlins
• 50 Psychology Classics: Who We Are, How We Think, What We Do; Insight and Inspiration from 50 Key Books — Tom Butler Bowdon
• Group Psychology and The Analysis of The Ego — Sigmund Freud

Leadership & Management

This is what I call the bread and butter of anyone interested in leading a successful business life. As you move up the corporate ladder, you not only have to be really good at what you do, but also be good at managing and leading a team of highly qualified researchers. Below are some of the some most successful books to help you with the transition.

• Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life Without Losing Its Soul — Howard Schultz
• Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence — Daniel Goleman
• Questions of Character: Illuminating the Heart of Leadership Through Literature — Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.
• A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age — Daniel H. Pink
• What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful — Marshall Goldsmith, Mark Reiter
• How to Win Friends & Influence People — Dale Carnegie