Week One: Wendy Tan White MBE

We love reading here at TCUK, so much so that we’ve got a book club (‘Worm Club’ – get it?), a #books Slack channel and an office bookshelf where we share our latest reads.

This week, we’ve got three book recommendations from Wendy Tan White MBE, who came to our quarterly strategy workshop last month to talk about scaling a digital business.

During her talk, she recommended three essential books for the ambitious book worm:

Legacy by James Kerr

Legacy delves into the world of New Zealand’s national rugby union team.

The All Blacks are the world’s most successful sporting outfit, undefeated in over 75% of their international matches over the last 100 years.

Kerr asks the questions: what is the secret of their success? And what can individuals, companies and teams learn from them?

Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant

Grant’s Originals reveals how to champion new ideas and fight groupthink.

The book uses studies and stories spanning business, politics, sports, and entertainment to explore how to recognise a good idea, speak up without getting silenced, build a coalition of allies, choose the right time to act, and manage fear and doubt; how parents and teachers can nurture originality in children; and how leaders can build cultures that welcome dissent.

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck

Dweck shares her discovery with readers: the power of mindset.

In the book, she shows how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and nearly all areas of human endeavour can be dramatically influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities.

People with a fixed mindset—those who believe that abilities are fixed—are less likely to flourish than those with a growth mindset—those who believe that abilities can be developed. Mindset reveals how great parents, teachers, managers, and athletes can put this idea to use to foster outstanding accomplishment.

Is there anything else we should be reading? Let us know…