Vote on the Book Club book for August & September 2023 🗳️📘

[Pesso]

Hey Square Readers,

***VOTING HAS ENDED***

It’s voting time!

While we’re halfway through reading The 1-Page Marketing Plan by Allan Dib, let’s start looking ahead to our next book for August and September. 

We have 3 books to choose from, and we’d love for you to vote to help us decide! 

This month we're looking at building your skills as a business owner and manager, choosing between Leadership, Business Skills, and Customer Service books; all recommended by sellers like you!

1. Radical Candor by Kim Malone Scott

“Radical Candor is a simple idea: to be a good boss, you have to Care Personally at the same time that you Challenge Directly. When you challenge without caring it’s obnoxious aggression; when you care without challenging it’s ruinous empathy. This simple framework can help you build better relationships at work, and fulfill your three key responsibilities as a leader: creating a culture of feedback (praise and criticism), building a cohesive team, and achieving results you’re all proud of. Radical Candor offers a guide to those bewildered or exhausted by management, written for bosses and those who manage bosses”

2. Twelve and a Half by Gary Vaynerchuck 

“Gary Vaynerchuk explores the twelve essential emotional skills that are integral to his life and business success, and provides critical tools to acquire and develop these traits. Gary provides real-life examples involving common business scenarios to show you how to use them to land promotions, retain core employees, move faster than competitors, win the loyalty of customers, and build successful organizations that last.”

3. Hug Your Haters by Jay Baer 

“Haters are not your problem, ignoring them is. With the near-universal adoption of smartphones and social media, Critics (“haters”) can now express their displeasure faster and more pub­licly than ever, resulting in an overall increase in complaints. Hug Your Haters shows exactly how to deal with them. Whether you work for a mom-and-pop store or a global brand, you will have haters—and you can’t afford to ignore them. Baer’s insights and tactics will teach you how to embrace complaints, put haters to work for you, and turn bad news into good outcomes.”

Which of these do you most want to read first? 

While we’re voting by survey, feel free to tell us why you’re excited about a particular book in the comments below. 

And if you have any suggestions of other books, drop them in the comments too and we’ll take a look and consider them for the next round in August and September. 

We’ll announce the winning book on Monday, July 17th, and start reading it in August. 

We can’t wait to read with you!

Pesso

***VOTING HAS ENDED***

[Pesso]

I'm rooting for Radical Candor by Kim Malone Scott. We actually did a little workshop on this book on my team, and I really connected to the goals of this book. When I owned my ice cream shop I definitely struggled with management skills, and being able to give effective feedback in the moment. I tried to protect myself and my employees by giving them grace and room and tried to not be the bad guy. This can definitely backfire, and I'm looking forward to reading this in order to learn some more skills to better share feedback and be a better leader.

What's yours?

[Doran]

Same! Management is a skill set that I want to work on this year.  

[rhodessportsbar]

It was challenging voting for a single book given that all three are powerful for different reasons. I hope the books that are not selected show up in future votings rounds. 

[Pesso]

Thanks for sharing @rhodessportsbar ! I definitely agree. This is the closest any voting has been so far, so I'll definitely keep the others in future rounds!

[LocavoreStore]

What a great list! While I voted for Hug Your Haters... Because... Well... ... ... The current social/political climate.

They all 3 sounds like great reads! Can't wait to look into the others. Thanks for the recommendations!

[Purple_HS]

Radical Candor has our vote!

[JUYBoutique20]

Hug your Haters has my vote!!!

[Pesso · Accepted solution]

Wow, this was the closest voting yet, with 96 votes total, and a pretty even split all the way through.

But taking the lead by just 6 votes, Hug Your Haters by Jay Baer is your pick for our August & September Book Club Book!

Head on over to the announcement post and pick up your copy, since we're starting to read it on Tuesday August 1st!

Since it was so close, I'll definitely be including Radical Candor by Kim Scott and Twelve and a Half by Gary Vaynerchuck in the next round of voting for October & November 2023!

Can't wait to read with you,

Pesso

[CareyJo]

Hey Aylon!

Sorry that I've been absent this month.  I've had a LOT going on.  We've had some vacay time this month on top of the holiday and our workload.  I will be on the call next week and I'm working feverishly to get as much read as I can before then.  My biggest struggle has been not being able to keep up with the threads/conversations.

I'm glad that Hug Your Haters won the vote... I didn't get a chance to vote but that's the one I was going for!  I've had several of them make life a little rough for our business and it's always a good idea to know how to deal with them better, without taking on the emotions of it personally and letting it destroy you.

I'm also super excited to see the mentorship program launch!  That is right up my alley and I submitted an application!  One hour a month is definitely something I can do.

Hope all is well with you.  Talk to you next week!

[Pesso]

Hey @CareyJo !

Absolutely no worries at all -- so great to have you back. I hope you had a wonderful time off, and looking forward to chatting with ya soon!

It can definitely be tough to handle the detractors, especially the extra public ones, and I'm looking forward to learning more about it too. 

Awesome! I just let @tranguyen know that you applied, and I think you'd be an incredible mentor. 

[CareyJo]

Thanks!