You are what you read.

While it sounds like a quippy little tagline that belongs on magnets and coffee mugs, it’s absolutely true, and you pick up much more through reading than you realize. From teaching you how to organize your knowledge to building subconscious models and connections in your mind, reading shapes our experiences in ways that define our communication styles, our relationships, and our connections.

That’s why we’re sharing what we keep on our bookshelf. We know that telling you what we read is just like telling you exactly who we are, and that’s an incredibly important part of any relationship. Here are eight of our favorites.

1. Emotional Intelligence – Daniel Goleman

”Why is this a must-read? Because successful selling and influence begin with mastering the self. This was also one of the first books I read on the role emotions play in shaping our decisions. But more importantly, the book offers insights on how to improve our most important relationships: those outside of work.” – Tom Stanfill

2. Selling with Noble Purpose – Lisa Earle McLeod

“My all-time favorite. Finally, a book about selling with soul. It’s a radical concept to suggest that ‘overemphasis’ on profit actually erodes your bottom line. I have seen this play out with my clients. When organizations or managers become singularly focused on targets and rear-view results, one casualty is the customer. Selling with noble purpose means making a difference.” – Susan Simon

3. The Innovator’s Dilemma – Clayton Christensen

“I like that it provides both sides of the coin. It shares successes and failures and the lessons learned from each. Too often business books only share successes. You can learn as much or more from failures.” – Jon Barrett

4. Selling the Invisible – Harry Beckwith

“A must-read if you are selling a service/intangibles.  Very, very short stories. Powerful See one of my favorites, #138:  The Carpenter Corollary to understand the value of experience. This is especially important when selling consulting services where a daily rate may seem high at first.  Customers are not paying for the 8 hours, they are paying for the 20 years of experience to make the 8 hours have an impact” – Marc Lamson

5. The Success Principles – Jack Canfield

“I like the balanced way he suggests positive visualization of success in business to drive income and allow the peace of mind for relationships and spiritual growth.” – John Cerqueira

6. 4-hour Work Week – Tim Ferriss

“Another ‘work smarter not harder’ perspective encouraging readers to take a holistic life approach to their career: ‘work to live not the other way around.’ If you can handle the extra testosterone (there’s a solid ‘bro’ perspective e.g. references to martial arts and ‘look how super clever I am’ humblebragging). All in all, I appreciate the idea of determining what you want in life first (with a priority on giving back), living out of passion vs. fear, and then finding a way to fund it.” – John Cerqueira

7. To Sell Is Human – Dan Pink

“This is one of my favorites for a couple of reasons: 1) Pink makes the point that everyone is in sales. If you are married and you are talking with your spouse, you’re in sales. If you have a teenager and you are trying to influence them, you’re in sales. His point is that sales is really about influence.  2) His philosophy, like ours, is that sales is really all about service.” – Bobbi Kahler

8. Conscious Capitalism – John Mackey

“I love the Conscious Capitalism Credo in the book which states: ‘We believe that business is good because it creates value, it is ethical because it is based on voluntary exchange, it is noble because it lifts people out of poverty and creates prosperity. Free-enterprise capitalism is the most powerful system for social cooperation and human progress ever conceived.  It is one of the most compelling ideas we humans have ever had. But we can aspire to something even greater.’ This book is a must read” – Scott Cassidy

Want more resources from ASLAN for smarter selling? Check out our case studies here.