Books Recommended by Matt Risinger

Brian Tracy, Canadian-American motivational speaker and bestselling author of Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time, is a leading authority in personal development and productivity. A self-help expert with over 80 published books, Tracy combines decades of sales leadership and global speaking experience to address time management challenges.

His 2001 classic distills actionable strategies from his work with Fortune 500 companies and entrepreneurs, reflecting his philosophy of "tackling your biggest task first."

Tracy's other influential works like No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline and The Psychology of Achievement further establish his reputation for transforming professional performance through practical frameworks. As founder of Brian Tracy International, he’s trained executives in 75+ countries through seminars and digital courses.

Eat That Frog! remains a global phenomenon, translated into 42 languages with over 3 million copies sold, maintaining its status as required reading in business programs and corporate training worldwide.

1. Brian Tracy’s “Eat the Frog” method prioritizes tackling your biggest task first daily
2. Cure procrastination using the 3Ds of productivity: decision, discipline, determination
3. “Single handling” tasks to completion boosts focus and eliminates distractions
4. Clarity in goal-setting reduces procrastination by defining your “frog” upfront
5. Tackle high-impact tasks before 8 AM to leverage peak mental performance
6. The “Two Frog Rule” demands starting with harder tasks for momentum
7. Repeated “Back to work” self-commands combat distraction during critical tasks
8. Prioritization systems beat multitasking for beating overwhelm and deadline stress
9. Morning task completion creates achievement momentum that fuels daily productivity
10. Written goal lists activate 80% faster progress than mental planning alone
11. Brian Tracy’s urgency-filter questions separate vital tasks from busywork
12. “Eating frogs” builds task-completion habits that compound career success

Cal Newport, bestselling author of Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, is a computer science professor at Georgetown University and a leading voice on productivity, technology, and career development.

A MIT-trained academic specializing in distributed systems, Newport merges scientific rigor with practical insights, challenging modern work norms like hyperconnectivity and hustle culture. Deep Work—a cornerstone of his Technology and Society trilogy alongside Digital Minimalism and A World Without Email—explores strategies to cultivate intense focus in an era of constant distraction.

His contrarian perspectives, featured in The New Yorker and The New York Times, stem from over a decade of research and eight bestselling books translated into 40+ languages. Newport also hosts the Deep Questions podcast and writes a widely followed blog, offering actionable advice for professionals and students.

Deep Work has sold over 1 million copies globally and remains a staple in corporate training programs and academic curricula.

1. Deep work is the superpower of thriving in a distracted 21st-century economy.
2. Master hard skills faster through distraction-free deliberate practice sessions.
3. Schedule deep work using monastic bimodal rhythmic or journalistic philosophies.
4. Shallow work fragments focus and permanently reduces cognitive capacity over time.
5. Cultivate daily rituals to minimize willpower depletion during deep work blocks.
6. Quit social media to eliminate shallow distractions and protect mental clarity.
7. Apply the 4DX framework to prioritize lead measures like deep work hours.
8. Deep work creates meaning by transforming professional craft into sacred effort.
9. Newport’s Deep Work Hypothesis predicts economic rewards for concentration.
10. Drain shallow obligations to safeguard 3-4 daily hours of peak productivity.
11. Train your brain using intense focus to rewire neural circuits permanently.
12. High-value knowledge workers thrive by systematizing deep work as non-negotiable.

Mike Figliuolo is the bestselling author of One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership and a renowned leadership strategist.

A West Point graduate and former U.S. Army armor officer, he honed his expertise through roles at McKinsey & Company, CapitalOne, and Scotts Miracle-Gro.

As founder of thoughtLEADERS, LLC, he has trained thousands of executives at Fortune 500 companies on concise communication and leadership philosophy. Figliuolo’s insights are further showcased in his co-authored works Lead Inside the Box and The Elegant Pitch, along with 30 LinkedIn Learning courses on management. His widely-read blog, the thoughtLEADERS Brief, attracts over 25,000 monthly readers.

Praised for blending military discipline with corporate innovation, Figliuolo’s frameworks are integrated into MBA curricula and global leadership programs, cementing his status as a trusted voice in modern organizational development.

1. Craft 15-20 emotionally charged leadership maxims to guide daily decisions and behavior.
2. Focus leadership on four pillars: self, thinking, people, and balanced living.
3. Replace corporate jargon with authentic stories to build trust and clarity.
4. Use a single-page leadership philosophy to unify team expectations and accountability.
5. Turn personal struggles into maxims like “When you fall down, get back up resiliently.”
6. Answer provocative questions to uncover hidden values and leadership blind spots.
7. Align team standards with maxims like “Treat people as individuals, not cogs.”
8. Balance work-life priorities by defining non-negotiable personal boundaries upfront.
9. Revisit and revise maxims annually to reflect growth and new challenges.
10. Lead innovation by asking “Where are we going and how will we adapt?”
11. Build accountability through public commitment to your one-page philosophy.
12. Avoid buzzwords—maxims thrive on simplicity, emotional resonance, and specificity.

Gino Wickman, bestselling author of Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business, is a renowned entrepreneur and organizational leadership expert. As the founder of EOS Worldwide, he created the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), a transformative framework helping businesses achieve clarity, accountability, and growth.

His work in Traction distills decades of hands-on experience turning struggling companies into thriving enterprises, rooted in his early success rescuing his family’s debt-ridden real estate business and later selling it profitably.

Wickman has authored multiple influential books, including Rocket Fuel, Get a Grip, and Entrepreneurial Leap, which collectively have sold nearly 3 million copies.

A sought-after speaker and podcast guest, he equips leaders with practical tools through EOS, now implemented by over 100,000 companies globally. Traction remains a cornerstone for entrepreneurial teams, blending actionable strategies with Wickman’s signature focus on operational excellence.

1. Implement EOS to align vision with execution across all company levels.
2. Solve the “Five Frustrations” (control, people, profit, growth ceilings, stagnation) systematically.
3. Use the Vision/Traction Organizer (VTO) to break long-term goals into 90-day action plans.
4. Build teams with “right people in right seats” using values-based hiring and accountability charts.
5. Conduct Level 10 Meetings to maintain focus, resolve issues, and drive weekly progress.
6. Prioritize disciplined execution over ideas—traction comes from consistent 10X action steps.
7. Simplify decision-making by clarifying core values, niche markets, and differentiation strategies.
8. Adopt the Six Key Components (vision, people, data, issues, process, traction) for holistic growth.
9. Eliminate entrepreneurial chaos with the Accountability Chart and 90-Day Rhythm tools.
10. Shift from working in your business to working on it through systems and delegation.
11. Increase profitability by identifying and solving your business’s “#1 constraint” every quarter.
12. Gino Wickman’s EOS solves entrepreneurial growing pains with practical, scalable frameworks.

Matthew B. Crawford is a philosopher, New York Times bestselling author, and motorcycle mechanic, renowned for blending hands-on experience with political theory in Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work.

This philosophical memoir, rooted in Crawford’s dual career as a University of Chicago-trained thinker and owner of Richmond’s Shockoe Moto repair shop, challenges modern assumptions about labor by arguing for the intellectual and ethical richness of skilled manual trades. His critiques of abstraction in education and workplaces draw from his earlier career at a Washington think tank, where he rejected ideological rigidity to pursue concrete problem-solving.

Crawford, a research fellow at the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, expanded his exploration of human agency in The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction and Why We Drive: Toward a Philosophy of the Open Road. A contributing editor to The New Atlantis, he has been featured in the documentary Merchants of Doubt and lectures globally on technology’s impact on self-reliance. Shop Class as Soulcraft became a cultural touchstone, sparking national debates about vocational education and the dignity of craftsmanship.

1. Manual craftsmanship builds critical thinking through tangible problem-solving.
2. Skilled trades teach patience, respect, and attentiveness as moral virtues.
3. Matthew Crawford argues manual work offers deeper fulfillment than knowledge economy jobs.
4. Fixing your own car fosters autonomy in a tech-dependent world.
5. Cognitively demanding trades outperform abstract office work in mental engagement.
6. Rediscovering craftsmanship counters modern alienation from tangible reality.
7. Declining shop classes reflect societal devaluation of hands-on critical skills.
8. Repair culture resists consumerism by valuing permanence over disposability.
9. Manual competence creates self-esteem through mastery of concrete challenges.
10. Craftsmanship vs. knowledge work: which develops truer intellectual rigor?
11. Motorcycle repair embodies philosophical inquiry through mechanical problem-solving.
12. Shop Class as Soulcraft redefines elitism as mastery of useful arts.

David Meerman Scott is the bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR and a leading authority in modern marketing strategies. He is also the co-author of Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead and Real-Time Marketing and PR.

A marketing strategist and former executive at Knight-Ridder and NewsEdge, Scott’s career spans decades shaping digital communication practices. His insights stem from real-world experience consulting for global brands and keynote speaking across 20+ countries.

His book, The New Rules of Marketing & PR, a cornerstone in the marketing genre, revolutionized how businesses leverage online media, blogs, and social platforms to engage audiences directly. His work, including Fanocracy and Marketing the Moon, continues to influence contemporary marketing education and strategy. The New Rules of Marketing & PR has been translated into 26 languages and remains a staple in business curricula worldwide.

1. Newsjacking lets brands insert themselves into breaking news cycles for immediate relevance
2. Shift from interruption marketing to customer engagement through authentic conversations
3. Web content must answer buyer questions at all stages of the decision journey
4. Press releases now target buyers directly via SEO rather than journalists
5. David Meerman Scott advocates buyer personas over broad demographic targeting
6. Real-time feedback loops replace annual marketing plans in agile strategies
7. Blogs and social networks bypass traditional media to build thought leadership
8. Effective web content follows three steps: attract, engage, convert buyers directly
9. AI-powered tools automate repetitive tasks but human creativity drives campaigns
10. Replace press releases with real-time social storytelling to build trust
11. Authentic storytelling beats corporate jargon in building lasting customer relationships
12. Marketing success now measures business outcomes rather than advertising awards