One day we got an email from our boss. It said that we were the beneficiaries of Kahena Ka$h, whereby we were allowed to spend a certain amount of money per year on anything we wanted that we felt would be beneficial to our performance.
Obviously our reaction was something along these lines:
Choices, Choices, Choices
Once things settled down, I looked at the fine print. Purchases had to be relevant to the office – think an extra monitor, a more comfortable chair, or registration for a course. It was up to us to decide how we wanted to spend the money, but Kahena would own the item/s.
Having such an unexpected windfall is a great feeling, but the sense of choice is overwhelming, and for the life of me I couldn’t think of what to buy with my Kahena Ka$h. I didn’t have any desire to just go out and buy something because I could. I’m happy with my chair, mouse, keyboard, etc.
Furthermore, I was uncomfortable with the idea of buying just for myself. If there was the possibility of buying something for the team, I decided I would be far happier with that.
Putting the Table in Indomitable
My initial idea was a ping-pong table. I like ping pong, and it’s fun to play. When you want to get the creative juices flowing, there is nothing like brainstorming over a game of ping pong. Digital marketing agencies and table tennis tables share a rich history.
Is there anyone in SEO who isn’t competitive? What could be better than an office ping pong tournament for bragging rights at the expense of your colleagues?! The problem with this idea is that there is nowhere in our office to put it. So, back to the drawing board…
Something for All
One day, I stumbled across the idea of books, which are great as they can be shared by everyone else. This made me think of the famous SEER Library. but there is also something else about books that made them such an attractive option to me.
Power of the Book
We consume more information and content than ever before. We are bombarded by Twitter, Facebook, Buzzfeed, LinkedIn, etc all day long.
Read THIS! Look at that. If you only click on one article all day, it should be this one.
It is distracting and not particularly relaxing.
There used to be a time where newspapers, magazines and books were the only things we could read. In this online age, the feeling of holding something in your hand and turning the page is becoming more and more foreign. For all intents and purposes, a Kindle is exactly the same as a book, but there is something reassuring and comforting about a book that electronic mediums don’t possess.
I also thought it would be a good look for the office to have a nicely stocked bookshelf.
The Inaugural Selection
I felt that no inbound marketing library could exist without something from Seth Godin and Simon Sinek, so I chose a book from each of them. From there, I selected some interesting books related to inbound marketing. Finally I chose some books that aren’t about marketing because it’s good to have something from left field to help open up your horizons.
The original selection is:
- Eating the Big Fish: How Challenger Brands Can Compete Against Brand Leaders by Adam Morgan
- The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin
- The Viral Video Manifesto by Stephen Voltz and Fritz Grobe
- Wild Company by Mel Ziegler and Patricia Ziegler
- I Wear the Black Hat by Chuck Klosterman
- Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek
- The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited by Emanuel Rosen
- Buyology by Martin Lindstrom and Paco Underhill
- David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell
- Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds by Charles MacKay
- The Charisma Myth by Olivia Fox Cabane
- The Code Book by Simon Singh
- Big Data by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth Cukier
Do any other inbound marketing agencies out there do something similar? Any books you would recommend for the library? Let us know in the comments below.