self-learning

get to know yourself

there are a lot of personality tests out there. two of the ones we like the most at the make sense academy are the Meyers-Briggs test which you can do at mbtionline.com, and the Belbin test. the first one will let you know more about yourself based on preferences, the latter will assess your role in teams. for both of these, if you get your entire team to take them, it might shed some light on some of your team dynamics or explain better how different members interact more easily with each other than with others.

another test website we love spending time on in 16personalities.com. not only is this test free, but it also provides visibility on aggregated international data and provide country profiles which can be awesome to understand cross-cultural dynamics and culture shocks.

follow some cool online courses

check out our favorite books

Brand Sense: Sensory Secrets Behind the Stuff We Buy
by Martin Lindstrom

Lindstrom delves deep beneath the surface to explore the human senses and how these are activated in the decision making process.The reliance on a 2-dimensional sensory advertising world becomes the catalyst to the question: why? We have 5 senses available, Lindstrom contends, why not use them all to make a brand truly touch its market. He explores this notion, and how marketers,armed with this knowledge, are able to push the purchase buttons – stronger than ever before. The WallStreet Journal calledBrandSense “…one of the 5 best marketing books ever published.”

Eating the Big Fish: How Challenger Brands can Compete Against Brand Leaders
by Adam Morgan

Adam provides practical advice and plentiful easy-to-follow examples to show how a challenger brand can get noticed and steal customers from competitors with much bigger advertising and marketing budgets. He presents eight challenger credos that stress bringing a fresh perspective to market, building a prominent and emotionally appealing identity, implementing a pervasive communication strategy, and focusing intently on ideas rather than consumers.

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
by Dan Ariely

Why do our headaches persist after we take a one-cent aspirin but disappear when we take a fifty-cent aspirin? Why do we splurge on a lavish meal but cut coupons to save twenty-five cents on a can of soup? When it comes to making decisions in our lives, we think we’re making smart, rational choices. But are we? In this newly revised and expanded edition of the groundbreaking New York Times bestseller, Dan Ariely refutes the common assumption that we behave in fundamentally rational ways. From drinking coffee to losing weight, from buying a car to choosing a romantic partner, we consistently overpay, underestimate, and procrastinate. Yet these misguided behaviors are neither random nor senseless. They’re systematic and predictable—making us predictably irrational.

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
by Al Ries and Jack Trout

you can build an impressive airplane, but it will never leave the ground if you ignore the laws of physics, especially gravity. why then, they ask, shouldn't there also be laws of marketing that must be followed to launch and maintain winning brands? in The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, Ries and Trout offer a compendium of twenty-two innovative rules for understanding and succeeding in the international marketplace. from the Law of Leadership, to The Law of the Category, to The Law of the Mind, these valuable insights stand the test of time and present a clear path to successful products. violate them at your own risk.

The Neuroscience of Creativity
by Anna Abraham

what is going on in our brains when we are creating? how does our brain look different when we are engaging in art versus science? how does the brain of genius creators differ from the rest of us? what are some of the limitations of studying the creative brain? the neuroscience of creativity is booming. bringing the latest research together from a number of scientists, Anna Abraham wrote a wonderful resource that covers some of the hottest button topics in the field.

Story Driven: You don't need to compete when you know who you are
by Bernadette Jiwa

the people who create fulfilling lives and careers—the ones we respect, admire and try to emulate—choose an alternative path to success. they have a powerful sense of identity. they don’t worry about differentiating themselves from the competition or obsess about telling the right story. they tell the real story instead. successful organisations and the people who create, build and lead them don’t feel the need to compete, because they know who they are and they’re not afraid to show us. Story Driven gives you a framework to help you consistently articulate, live and lead with your story. this book is about how to stop competing and start succeeding by being who you are, so you can do work you’re proud of and create the future you want to see.

Your Ad Ignored Here: Cartoons from 15 Years of Marketing, Business, and Doodling in Meetings
by Tom Fishburne

Tom Fishburne began to doodle his observations in 2002 when working in the trenches of marketing. initially intended for co-workers, they are now read by hundreds of thousands of marketers every week. packed with nearly 200 cartoons and led by a foreword from Ann Handley and an introduction from Tom Fishburne, Your Ad Ignored Here captures the quintessential moments in the last 15 years of marketing — handling a PR crisis, giving creative feedback to an agency, or avoiding idea killers in innovation.

Reinventing organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness
by Frederic Laloux

most books on organizations are written for people hoping to find the secret key to gaining market share, beating competition and increasing profits. they offer advice on how to better play the game of success within the current management paradigm. Reinventing Organizations comes from a different place. it is written for people (founders of organizations, leaders, coaches, and advisors) who sense that something is broken in the way we run organizations today and who feel that something entirely different is called for… but wonder what that might be.