Books have really shaped my life continuously through my childhood, into college, and for my entire career.

I have two bad reading habits:

1) I frequently read multiple books at once
2) I tend to buy a book every time I go anywhere on an airplane— I travel quite a bit, so books tend to pile up pretty significantly around here…

The first books that had a major impact on me were The Bible, CS Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia and Tolkien’s Hobbit and LOTR trilogy, in that order. My grandmother introduced me to Lewis and Tolkien when I was 5 or 6, and I love revisiting them still today. They all had a really powerful early impact on my understanding of human nature, along with Madeline L'Engle’s time travel books. They also, fortunately, contributed in a major way to my life long love of reading.

Reading and experience are some of the best ways to enhance a business education.

The first personal development book I ever read was The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino. I was bored one day after school, sitting in my uncle’s insurance sales office, and picked it up. I didn’t put it down until I was finished with it. I particularly appreciated (and still do when I revisit his books) his ability to really show the significance of success principles through the use of storytelling.

Soon after, I received “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie and “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill as a birthday gift. These were really the start of my business book library… well, those and “The Godfather”…

Here are some books that have had a major impact on me in the past few years:

• “Secrets of Closing the Sale” Zig Ziglar
• “Focal Point” by Brian Tracy
• “Good to Great” and “Built to Last” by Jim Collins
• “The New Solution Selling” and “The Solution Centric Organization” by Keith Eades
• “Crossing the Chasm” and “Inside the Tornado” by Geoffrey Moore
• “Question Based Selling” by Tom Freese
• “Guerilla Marketing Handbook”

Books I’m currently actively reading:

• “ROI Selling” by Michael Nick and Kurt Koenig
• “Blue Ocean Strategy” by W Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne
• “Francis Bacon: The Temper of a Man” by Catherine Drinker Bowen

Next on my “To Read” list:

• “Ready for Anything” and “Getting Things Done” by David Allen… I’ll get to these someday…
• “Freakonomics” by Steven Levitt
• “Little Black Book of Connections” Gitomer

Favorite leisure reading of all time? (Well… including those first ones at the top) In no particular order, and not a complete list:

• “The Walking Drum” by Louis L’Amour
• “A Life on the Edge: Memoirs of Everest and Beyond” Jim Whittaker
• “Neverwhere” by Neil Gaiman
• “Shepherd of the Hills” by Harold Bell Wright
• “Silverlock” by John Myers Myers
• “Bio of an Ogre” by Piers Anthony
• “Farenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury
• “Stranger in a Strange Land” and “Friday” Heinlein
• “Firestarter” Steven King
• "The Silver Chalice" by Thomas Costain
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