Show Me Your Bookshelf
Do you even have a bookshelf these days?! Or have you — sadly — gone totally digital?
In a recent post, Fully baked, Seth Godin makes a point about ‘knowledge workers’ often getting to a certain point where they stop learning and act as though they know everything they need to know. The way I’d put it is, ‘Brain off, reflex behaviour on’.
His point is so important that I’m reproducing his entire, brief, post in its entirety:
“In medical school, an ongoing lesson is that there will be ongoing lessons. You’re never done. Surgeons and internists are expected to keep studying for their entire career—in fact, it’s required to keep a license valid.
Knowledge workers, though, the people who manage, who go to meetings, who market, who do accounting, who seek to change things around them—knowledge workers often act as if they’re fully baked, that more training and learning is not just unnecessary but a distraction.
The average knowledge worker reads fewer than one business book a year.
On the other hand, the above-average knowledge worker probably reads ten.
Show me your bookshelf, or the courses you take, or the questions you ask, and I’ll have a hint as to how much you care about levelling up.”
Do you market and seek to change things around you? I think so.
So if you don’t have a bookshelf, start one. And leave or make room for Roger’s Retention Fundraising! And reserve a space for his next one, Starting Over.
Tom
P.S. What one title would you add to our bookshelf?
8 responses to “Show Me Your Bookshelf”
Behavioral Science Q & A
Integrating an individual giving appeal with other communications from a charity can have both positive and negative effects, and the outcome largely depends on how it’s executed. Advantages of Integration Brand Consistency: Maintaining a consistent appearance and messaging across all communications can reinforce the org’s brand identity and strengthen brand recognition and trust among your […]
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I’m not aware of any in-market tests specifically comparing recurring vs. gift frequency language. I suspect the answer might not be the same with all gift frequencies, nor with all people. It sounds like a great opportunity for you to test and find out what works for your audience. Based on the literature, here’s a couple […]
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Based on what we know from existing data, those renewal notices can actually be pretty effective in getting people to donate. They tap into our psychology – creating a sense of urgency, reminding us of past support, and using personalization to make the message hit home. They’re playing on our natural tendencies to feel obligated […]
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Interesting question. I had a quick look at the testing done on this topic. On the positive side, in all cases, over half of donors decide to cover the fee. In some cases, it goes as high as 65%. Not a negligible percentage at all. Here’s another test from iRaiser showing consistent results (see point […]
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There’s just one thing to consider when designing a supporter journey: the supporter. More specifically, you need to take into account: Who the supporter is i.e. their identity, which is the reason they support this cause, and their personality, which describes the way they “see” and process the world. These will determine the kind of […]
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I’m not an expert in this but a quick search surfaced this article on the effect of tax reforms on 2019’s charitable giving. The researchers didn’t find a reduction. Actually, they observed an “increase in charitable contributions in 2019, even with the lower tax rates and the dramatically smaller number of taxpayers who itemize their […]
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A basic … Up Smith Creek, it’s a never ending source of reflection.
Hi Tom
Great post. One of my standard interview questions is asking the candidate what fundraising books they like to read.
I’ve shared my thoughts on this before (which can be found here http://www.queerideas.co.uk/my_weblog/2015/10/how-to-resolve-the-fundraising-crisis-for-less-than-200.html) but I’d like to add two slightly left-field suggestions.
Hey Whipple. Squeeze This by Luke Sullivan. Not only is it a great guide to developing creative ideas, but also puts the boot in to everything that is dim-witted, unnecessary and just plain wrong in the creative industries.
Alongside that I’d also recommend, Changing the World is the Only Fit Work For a Grown Man by Steve Harrison. It’s a review of the life and work of a real 60s MadMan, Howard Gossage. Gossage was producing ground breaking work for Charities long before most of today’s practitioners were born. His view that “people read what interests them – and sometimes that’s an ad” is a mantra at Bluefrog.
Buy it and keep it close.
Keep up the great work.
My latest can’t-put-down is Cialdini’s Pre-Suasion.
Some of my favorites are:
– A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger
– A Path Appears by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
– Train Your Board to Raise Money by Andrea Kihlstedt and Andy Robinson
Love the book suggestions! keep em coming folks. I loved Cialdini’s Influence and still talk about it years later. So I can’t wait to check out Pre-Suasion. The Steve Harrison book sounds terrific-thanks Mark. I’m reading Steve MacLaughlin’s Data Driven Nonprofits. Also on the list Trust Agents by Julien Smith and Kivi Leroux Miller’s Content Marketing for Nonprofits. Happy reading all.
My #1 book of choice is the Bible, which contain 66 love letters written by the Creator of the Universe.
What would happen in philanthropy if we truly “loved the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves”? This is the greatest commandment!
I got into my time machine. (Don’t tell the government I own one!) Dialed the arrival date to 1962. Flipped the get-me-out-of-here switch. The 500 (honest) how-to books on my office shelves became a blur. I swooned. Had a coconut smoothie. When I awoke, I had in hand a newly published book by Mad Man Victor O. Schwab called HOW TO WRITE A GOOD ADVERTISEMENT. As Sean Triner, the master of Facebook fundraising, often notes, you need to know how to write old-fashioned offer ads to succeed online. This book will teach you. Then move on to anything by Joseph Sugarman; Advertising Secrets is good. John Caples is essential.
Asking me to pick a favorite book is like asking a parent to name a favorite child; it’d either impossible or it changes from day to day. That’s why I started The Nonprofit Bookstore (http://bit.ly/es0MqX) at Amazon. It’d where I’ve catalogued Reader Recommended books; I’ll be sure to add the titles listed here.
When I read for work, I like to mix it up. Sometimes, I’ll read how-to books while at other times I like to read inspirational books or relevant books from outside of our profession (i.e., sales).
One of my favorite recent reads is “Mighty Be Our Powers” (http://amzn.to/2dG2qUx) by Leymah Gbowee, the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner. Despite a challenging life in Liberia, Gbowee eventually worked in the nonprofit world and helped end the civil war in her homeland. If you’ve ever thought you’ve had a rough day at work, if you’ve ever thought your budget is too small, if you’ve ever thought one person can’t accomplish much, you need to read Gbowee’s inspirational autobiography.