Required Reading

I've had a bit of free time to read and think recently. I've revisited some old favorites and picked up a few new. This is my required reading for all friends and colleagues for the year:

Let me give you small bite of context:

• The Fourth Turning - the next generation (those kids that are in elementary school up through mid-high school right now) are going to be artists in every sense of the word - visual art, music, design, even making work itself into art (see Drive).
• Bowling Alone - somewhere between our great-grandparents' generation and now, our sense of community has eroded. We must re-build it to strengthen our neighborhoods, schools, children, even ourselves.
• Hello, I'm Special - Pop culture has told our youth that "You are special! You can be a star!" Social Media tools have the ability to make that dream a reality worldwide. Even those who never achieve fame, will still conduct themselves in that manner.
• Customer Satisfaction is Worthless - Simply providing a satisfactory service is not enough. You must go above and beyond. You must convert your customers into Raving Fans. (see Thank You Economy)
• Drive - Find better ways to motivate your employees than simple rewards/consequences. Most people (especially the artists of the next generation) will find more motivation in creativity and the opportunity to challenge their own abilities than in monetary rewards. Furthermore, once you attach a $ sign to a certain behavior, that compensation will always be expected for said behavior.
• The Thank You Economy - Social media opens up the opportunity for companies to not only push content out to their customers, but to engage in conversations and listen to them. Doing this well can be cheaper than traditional media and can lead to higher fan conversions.

I laid these out in this specific order because there is such a clear line between them all. The stuff Vaynerchuck says nearly quotes Fourth Turning. It's wild. There's something big on the horizon. Read all of them and I swear you'll get a glimpse of the next 30 years. Read one of them. Read all of them. Then - PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE - come talk to me about it.