Ruth Dale 0:01
Hello, you're listening to Ruth and in today's episode I'm recommending three books, they can either be for your Santa's secret santa at work, or for your reading list of 2024. These are the top three on my reading list. And they are from our expert guests that arrived and came and share their time on the 2023 podcast.
Ruth Dale 0:21
Now, just before we get started, I just love to thank Fiona Capel. Fiona, if you're out there, I hope you're listening to this episode. Thank you so much for recommending the podcast and saying it was one of your favourites. And a huge congratulations to you. Fiona posted on LinkedIn that she had achieved the CIP R75 points CPD challenge. She's nailed it. She's done it! Huge congratulations to you Fiona. In her post, she mentioned that this little podcast of ours was one of her favourites and we really appreciate you and just knowing that it's of value means everything. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Ruth Dale 1:03
Okay, back to the episode so the top three books one is, was recommended by Samuel Salzer episode 40 How to build habits that stick. The book is Mistakes Were Made but Not by Me - Why we Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions and Hurtful acts by Carol Travis and Marsha Merchant.
Ruth Dale 1:27
The second episode 43 How to Apply behavioural science to internal comms with Melina Palmer. Melina's book is "A more beautiful question, the power in inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas" by Warren Burger.
Ruth Dale 1:40
And episode 57 Top Mistake when communicating mental health by Nedra Weinreich, and she recommend "Made to Stick" by Chip and Dan Heath. And I'm gonna go through each one. But just before I do, we're just gonna put this out there. Do you want to join a book club? Because every episode we sorry, every interview guest episode, we ask our guests what's one book that you would recommend that changed your life. Now that's a big ask. And people take time and effort to really narrow it down and weigh up which one they would recommend. And we do we try and keep on top of our reading. And there's loads of the, you know, more traditional behavioural science books. But lately, we've been getting some of these three very different, you know, it's about behavioural science in the world. It's about expanding and learning a bit more about change and people. And I guess I just don't want to read these books on my own. I really want to know what you think of them, which bit you liked, which bit you agreed with. And a book club, I think would be wonderful. Now I'm part of a book club here at home. And I wouldn't read some of the books that I read if if that, you know, someone else didn't recommend it. So if you are interested in coming on the podcast, and recording as a group, so we can have on our online studio for people at once. So I guess looking for three volunteers to get help get started. But if you really want to get started and read a book together, so we'll agree like once a month, we'll read this book, and then come on the podcast and share what we think about it. And maybe we can get started with these three books. And then we could pull in ideas or crowdsource ideas and also we could crowdsource we can have as many people as we want in the book club, as many of you that would like to join but maybe just different people every time to come on to interview and share and chat. So but yeah, so if you would like to just DM me on LinkedIn or email me at Ruth at behaviour change marketing, and I will reply, and we can work out how to do it. But yes, how wonderful if we could get some more voices and opinions on these books. Now, let me go in a little bit deeper for you
Ruth Dale 4:05
We started with Samuel Salzer's book "Mistakes Were Made But Not By Me" Now this one I chose because it leads with politicians, it leads with the premise that the more evidence that people are presented with the more entrenched their belief in that their right is. They use the words mental armour on self justification. I find this intriguing and everything they're saying, of course, is reflected in ourselves, you know, we are people we're all people. So these behaviours that we all demonstrat. For people in power, consequences are massive, terrible, terrible human price of price for our humanity, really. And then of course there's the everyday level. So because so many of you work in government, I thought this might help for sanity of it. I'd love to know what you think.
Ruth Dale 5:06
And then the second book, "A More Beautiful Question". If you're thinking about strategy this one's really important if you're doing insight or engagement, and is asking the right questions, the power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas by Warren Berger. Now, did you know that a child a four year old asks up to 390 questions a day, apparently, so studies show, of course, it just declines with age, isn't it? Our culture will shape people to slow down their questioning stop their questioning not, you know, imagination reduces in theory. And the book really goes deep into that. But I love this because in Bootcamp, we are, well, I hope we're clear. But what we will often try and show you is how the right question to your audience is so so important in developing insight. Now, example of a wrong question, do you like this copy? Do you like this creative? Ah, you know, then you're getting a wildly vastly emotional opinions. And so this book really is saying, you know, to uplevel your game to do better to have more creative ideas to have more impact to just to break through? You got to ask the right question. And they mentioned a quote from Einstein. Now, of course, no one actually knows if this is directly a trip attributed to him, but it's commonly referred to as him if he had an hour to solve a problem and his life depended on it. He would spend the first 55 minutes making sure he was answering the right question. If he had an hour to solve a problem, and his life depended on it, he would spend the first 55 minutes making sure he was answering the right question. I absolutely love that. Questions and consultation? Really important. Absolutely key so yeah, for strategy and you want to hurt you want to break through have a look at that one.
Ruth Dale 7:14
And then the final one is a sort of a writer skill, copywriting more tactical book, "Made to Stick, Why some Ideas Take Hold and Others Come Unstuck" By Chip and Dan Heath. I haven't read this one. I know I need to because this is kind an area I need to focus into my CPD. I'm a marketing strategist, give me insight and I'm in my comfort zone. Then when it comes to writing, you know, like a three sentence LinkedIn posts out, take me all day. So I really do need to get good at it. But the reason I struggle is because I've been working in comms teams with incredible copywriters and wordsmith. So if you're not a wordsmith like me, but you know, you need to be better for your role for your job, then I think this one is a must. But also, if you are wordsmith and you just want to get better at your craft, then definitely a must.
Ruth Dale 8:11
Why does fake news stick was truth goes missing. That's one of the by lines and so important, isn't it? It's a massive problem in our industry. Now they're focusing on the book on information hooks. And what they claim is that the book will give you insight to help ensure that what you say is understood, remembered, and most importantly, acted upon. And that's the shift when people come to Bootcamp. That's the shift they're looking for. We all want to be understood and remembered. But most importantly, we want to be acted upon. And they're presenting this technique of information hooks as the solution. So that one looks absolutely fantastic as well. Okay, so three brilliant books for 2024 Please have a read. Let me know what you think and DM me if you'd like to join the book club
