Kevin Carroll’s Reading List

We are back from the very exciting and informative two-day http://www.cocastl.org/subpage.cfm?vSection=cocabiz&vPage=bizcamp hosted by St. Louis’ own COCA (Center of Creative Arts). We learned a lot and will share our insights with you on this blog over the coming weeks, but first I wanted to share the contents of the box that I won from Monday’s first keynote speaker, author, speaker and agent for social change, Kevin Carroll.

See, during his presentation, he showed an unmarked picture on the cover of “Where the Wild Things Are” and asked the audience to name the book. I raised my hand. And in exchange for the right answer, I won a box of books. A 27-pound box of books. Wonderful business and innovation books.

Since many people asked what was in the box, I thought I’d post a list:

1. “The Creating Brain: The Neuroscienc of Genius,” Nancy C. Andreasen, M.D., Ph.D.
2. “Life at the Extremes: The Science of Survival,” Frances Ashcroft
3. “Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul,” Stuart Brown, M.D., with Christopher Vaughn
4. “The Alchemist,” Paulo Coelho
5. “Peak Performance: Inspirational Business Lessons from the World’s Top Sports Organizations,” Clive Gilson, Mike Pratt, Kevin Roberts and Ed Weymes
6. “The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference,” Malcolm Gladwell
7. “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die,” Chip Heath and Dan Heath
8. “The Precious Present,” Spencer Johnson
9. “Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions,” Guy Kawasaki
10. “The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America’s Leading Design Firm,” Tom Kelley with Jonathan Littman
11. “The Ten Faces of Innovation: IDEO’s Strategies for Beating the Devil’s Advocate & Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organization,” Tom Kelley with Jonathan Littman
12. “Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving with Grace,” Gordon MacKenzie
13. “Why Not?: How to Use Everyday Ingenuity to Solve Problems Big and Small,” Barry Nalebuff and Ian Ayres
14. “A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future,” Daniel H. Pink
15. “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us,” Daniel H. Pink
16. “Not a Box,” Antoinette Portis
17. “The Dot,” Peter H. Reynolds
18. “Lovemarks,” Kevin Roberts

Carroll also graciously included three of his red rubber balls and his three books:

1. “Rules of the Red Rubber Ball”
2. “What’s Your Red Rubber Ball?”
3. “The Red Rubber Ball at Work.”

I look forward to reading (and playing with) all these books and red rubber balls. And I’ll share more about this great conference later this week.

– Stephanie