In “Reading List,” we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their favorite recent books and blogs and tell us why they read them. For this installment, we corresponded with Dr. Zee Aganovic, founder and CEO of HiConversion, a provider of conversion rate optimization software.
Books
The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done by Peter F. Drucker
“Drucker’s visionary best practices stand the test of time. The time and resource management principles revisited in this text are key to making the right moves at the right times in order to achieve the right outcomes.”
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Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers by Geoffrey A. Moore
“Crossing the Chasm is a must-read for high-tech entrepreneurs and executives looking to successfully navigate one of the most important strategic transitions faced in growing a business that sells disruptive products, as is the case with HiConversion.”
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Numbers Rule Your World: The Hidden Influence of Probabilities and Statistics on Everything You Do by Kaiser Fung
“Statistics have played a significant role in both my academic and professional pursuits. With his book, Kaiser Fung has brought the power of statistical analysis to the masses and shed light on practical applications impacting everyday life.”
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Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi
“As an active tennis player and avid fan of the sport, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to learn more about one of my favorite American players and life behind the scenes on the tour. I wasn’t disappointed.”
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Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 of the World’s Greatest Trips by National Geographic
“There are few things that I find as satisfying as exploring new places. This book from National Geographic serves as an excellent idea generator and planning guide for things as exotic as mountain biking through Transylvania.”
Blogs
“As a serial technology entrepreneur, I read TechCrunch to keep me up to speed with my contemporaries and the fast-paced world in which we operate.”
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“Given the increasingly interconnected environment in which companies and consumers communicate and transact business with one another, it is imperative that ecommerce leaders stay on top of social trends. In that sense, Mashable is the prime source.”
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“The blog is relatively new but its ‘proprietor’ has done it all in terms of digital marketing and ecommerce. Posts typically represent just the right balance of strategic thinking and sarcastic wit to keep an audience coming back for more.”
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Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik
“Avinash Kaushik is unquestionably one of the brightest minds in the area of web analytics and metrics-driven online business intelligence. I find his practitioner’s approach to be just what the doctor ordered.”
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Chris Around the World
“Chris Gray Faust, the former travel editor of USA Today, has a completely unique perspective on travel. I try to check in on her exploits at least once each week.”