What are you reading?

Seriously. What are you reading? If you want to grow professionally, you need to read books. Yes, blogs can be great and articles can be good, but nothing helps the mind consider new things like books.

I was not huge fan of reading for fun or growth after college until a friend of my wife introduced me to  Nelson DeMille. Then, I re-learned to love reading - like I did when I was a child.

Then, after I started my company, I started to read a lot of business related books - until it became a habit. The audio books were my addiction for a time - starting with tapes, then CDs and finally on my iPod. Hard cover books are still great, but my new favorite way to read is on my iPad.

DeMille and John Grisham are two fiction writers I go to for vacation reads, but there are many others too. As for business writers, I like Malcolm Gladwell, Seth Godin, and Patrick Lencioni.

Read The Tipping Point, Outliers or David & Goliath by Gladwell. Or, read Permission Marketing by Godin…or any of his other stuff. Start with 5 Temptations of a CEO by Lencioni - and you don't have to be a CEO to learn a ton from it.

My current favorite book is by Jay Baer, and it's called YoUtility. If you are in marketing, own a business or want to sell anything from today on - it is MUST read.

So, I'll ask again. What are you reading right now?