FALL BACK TO READING SERIES – Featuring Stacey Danheiser

This year, as the seasons change and we enjoy fall, I’ve launched my FALL BACK TO READING SERIES. The series will feature two dozen leadership and marketing experts, who will share their inspiration in both fiction and nonfiction, and hopefully, provide the impetus to read more. To quote New York Times Bestselling author Kristin Harmel, “If you give a person a book, you give him the world.” For today’s post, I’d like to introduce Stacey Danheiser.

Stacey Danheiser is a CMO, Founder, Author, and former Fortune 500 marketing leader. At Shake Marketing Group, she helps B2B organizations become more customer-focused. She runs a mentorship and training program called B2B Marketing Blueprint at Soar Marketing Society to help aspiring B2B marketing leaders elevate their confidence and impact.

QUESTION: Which three business books have made the biggest impact on your career?
STACEY DANHEISER: Here are my three:

Strengthsfinder by Tom Rath: This book was instrumental in helping me understand my own strengths as well as my team’s strengths.

Everybody Writes by Ann Handley: I love how she simplifies the writing process and makes it accessible for everyone, reminding us that we are not alone in thinking that writing is hard.

The Challenger Sale by Brent Adamson and Matt Dixon (Gartner): I read this book when I was a B2B Marketing Director for a Fortune 500 company. It helped me connect with the sales team better as a marketer and create more effective content and programs to educate and influence customers.

QUESTION: Who is your favorite author, and why?
STACEY DANHEISER: I love anything by Malcom Gladwell because he digs deeper into subjects that many of us don’t think about on a daily basis. He has a unique way of uncovering details and telling disparate stories that somehow all weave together to make a point.

As a marketer, books like Outliers and The Tipping Point provide great insight and mental stimulation. Plus, Gladwell has a podcast that I really enjoy (Revisionist History) that gives a glimpse into worlds that aren’t familiar to me, such as, art galleries, music production, and even law school entrance exams!

QUESTION: What book did you read in high school or college that, to this day, you still remember vividly, and why?
STACEY DANHEISER: I read 7 habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey in college and loved the simplicity of each lesson. I ended up taking additional training from Franklin Covey when I started my first corporate job, and to this day, I go back and review each lesson when I need additional motivation or guidance.

Here are the 7 habits:

• Be Proactive
• Begin With the End in Mind
• Put First Things First
• Think Win-Win
• Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood
• Synergize
• Sharpen the Saw

QUESTION: Do you intersperse fiction with your business reading? If yes, what was the last work of fiction that you read, and what caught your attention about it?
STACEY DANHEISER: Yes! On my nightstand, I have at least 3-4 books open at any one time. I love sci-fi and books about time travel because I love to think about the future and envision 'what if' scenarios.

The last work of fiction that I read is a three-book series starting with Before the Coffee Gets Cold, by Japanese author Toshikazu Kawaguchi. It’s about a back-alley café that provides patrons with a unique opportunity – to go backwards or forwards in time just long enough to drink a cup of coffee. It’s a thought-provoking and imaginative read!

QUESTION: If you created a nonprofit organization to promote reading to children and young adults, what would you name it, and why?
STACEY DANHEISER: Naming a business is harder than naming your child! I think I’d call it "Lifelong Learners," because reading is about experiencing something new and different. It can be a way to escape to another world or put yourself in the shoes of someone else...and it’s a process that never ends.

SHARE THIS: Reading can be a way to escape to another world or put yourself in the shoes of someone else...and it’s a process that never ends. ~@Shakemktg

My gratitude to Stacey for participating in this year’s fall back to reading series and for sharing her inspiring recommendations!

Image Credit: Jesse Bowser via Unsplash.

Connect with Stacey at these links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/staceydanheiser/
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/Shakemktg
Soar Marketing Society: https://www.shakemktg.com/soar
B2B Marketing Blueprint: https://www.shakemktg.com/confident-marketer-playbook

Check out Stacey's previous appearance here on my blog:
There Is No Standard Marketing Playbook (October 2022)
https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2022/10/there-is-no-standard-marketing-playbook.html