The Book Every Business Leader Needs to Read This Year
Alpha Kilo founder Amanda Kasper has a book recommendation for every founder, business owner, and thought leader out there — Wilco fan or not.
Let me start this book review by explaining that, with the exception of a mention in an Eric Church song, I had never heard of Jeff Tweedy until I decided to buy this book. I had certainly heard of Wilco, though couldn’t name a song of theirs off the top of my head. The reason I mention this is that the following isn’t the gushing of a super fan — or even a fan (though my Spotify dump list does now feature a few songs). I read this book as a founder of a fast-growing start-up that is constantly turning over stones to find new and improved ways of telling stories and doing business — and I am so glad I did.
My impetus for purchasing this book is my continual hunt for new and creative ways to improve something that is a very bland cornerstone of my industry — the press release. At Alpha Kilo, we consider ourselves not just PRs (god-forbid), but cultural communicators, storytellers, and narrators. We uncover interesting angles, dig out hidden gems, draw constellations between stars. But in order to do so, we must also be constantly looking at how we ourselves create. For a long time, I have harboured a niggling feeling that the press release is dying to be released from its tedium. So, I set out on a quest to explore other forms of writing that could influence the process.
In the Before Times, when in-person conferences, workshops, and learning retreats were a thing, I had been looking at screenwriting courses and creative writing lectures but always found myself either too late in signing up or less than enthused at the depth or direction of the content. When the pandemic hit, I looked at various Masterclasses, but it felt like what they were offering was too much like The Secret and not enough about creative compulsion and insight. Then one day, I read a book review (I wish I could remember where to give them proper credit!) on How to Write One Song by Jeff Tweedy, and here we are.
My first argument as to why this is a book for business leaders is that we often try to separate creative thinkers from those more business-minded, and I think this is a complete fallacy. Sure, some of us lean more to one side or the other, but I’d argue the creative side is not only our idea stream and how we innovate, but also the anchor to our authenticity and uniqueness. The business side helps to put action to an idea, straightens the edges, and presses the accelerator to the floor, but it is fuelled by the uninhibited, fertile expanse of the imagination, the creative.
Embracing the two and using them in tandem makes for the most visionary leadership. In order to tap into this creative energy, Tweedy recommends allowing ourselves to disappear into an artistic act; here of course, he’s speaking of songwriting, but truly it could be any type of outlet that allows you to step away, quiet the mind, and open the door to new ideas or ways of thinking.
Tweedy’s book also resonates in this moment of evolving leadership styles; he writes, “It’s important to get to a place where you’re confident enough to prevent your ego from overseeing every move and hiding your vulnerability.” The pandemic has brought us to a place where our teams, and even ourselves, are mentally taxed beyond measure. As leaders, we need to show up authentically, embracing our own struggles, and present a path forward through the headwinds. Allowing ourselves a daily creative — and physical — escape, opens the channels for more empathetic and insightful discourse, a foundational pillar that inspires and empowers our teams through the most difficult of times.
The wordplay he suggests, in the guise of songwriting exercises, I would argue are communications tools from which every person managing a team, large or small, could benefit. From sticky internal situations to critical new business pitches, we all could use a deep dive into the language we use and how to deploy it more powerfully. As he says, “You want words to burst into the room, demand your attention, and remind you how exciting things can be. You have a responsibility to challenge yourself to use them in a way that is more vivid than normal daily usage.” Delving into vocabulary games and word ladders outlined in the book percolates nomenclature that allows us to be more articulate, which in turn shapes us into great communicators that inspire our teams, concisely articulate our vision, and strategically condense our language to the most effective output, whether for a client brief, a new business pitch, or a term sheet.
I will leave you with one more powerful reason to read this book for your business, in the words of the man himself, “If you get to do something you love, you’re part of a small minority of the billions of humans who have ever walked the Earth. That says to me that you should cherish it, and protect it, and do everything you can to ensure that it’s not corrupted, that it’s not taken from you and made into something less fulfilling.”
