I see the iPad is the No.1 Christmas wish for the majority of Western European citizens. However, I have a top tip for you - save yourself £519 and buy a book for a tenner!

A recent survey suggests that only two out of four people read a book last year. And as I go about my daily business, whether dealing with recruitment companies or resourcing departments, it occurs to me that I’m not surprised!

You may recall my post on ’stripping for a living…’; this suggested that sales people today need ’content’ to be great. The simple fact is if you do not read, you cannot generate new content; no new content, means no new ideas, which means stagnation and a lack of progress aka the recruitment and resourcing industry. Simple, isn’t it? So go and buy a bloody book.

I am reading Your Brain At Work at the moment, a very cool book. It suggests that to be fantastic in your job you need to understand how your brain works at different times of the day and in different situations. It has given me two great ideas on how I could help my team be better at delivering for our customers. Two new ideas from a book that will deliver revenue to my business and delight our customers. Screw the bloody marketing budget, the ROI for my £9.99 is fantastic.

The point is I have content, whether it be content relevant to what I am selling or just content to tell and create stories to engage colleagues and clients. Without content you, your business, your customers and colleagues will starve and that’s not good

So here are just six books that you need to ask Santa for:

1. Linchpin - Seth Godin: just the most brilliant book about what it is to be indispensable and be paid what you deserve. Read this book with your customers in mind. How can you help them become Linchpins?

2. Good To Great - Jim Collins: hey, I know it’s old but if you are in the resourcing/recruitment business if you do not or have not read this book, resign today because you should be fired.

3. War for Talent - Ed Michaels, Helen Handfield-Jones, Beth Axelrod: this is a seminal book on our industry; not sure I agree with all of it but in terms of a reference point it is a backstop, read it!

4. Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell: if you want to understand why the reference points you use for recruitment are outdated and irrelevant then read this.

5. Your Brain At Work - David Rock: Wow! This book will change how you get stuff done and when you do it. Read it thinking about not only how it will improve your working life but also those of your colleagues and clients.

6. What Would Google Do? - Jeff Jarvis: if you sit there believing your recruitment agency will survive peddling the same crappy model it has done for the past five years, read this. You’ll s**t yourself but like all medicine it’ll do you good.

My list of great books goes on and on. The point is I have content, whether it be content relevant to what I am selling or just content to tell and create stories to engage colleagues and clients. Without content you, your business, your customers and colleagues will starve and that’s not good, especially at Christmas.

I would love to hear about your great reads that have helped you create ideas, products, new sales or generally create an emotion. If you could post them in the comments section of this blog’s online version, perhaps we can give all Recruiter readers a Christmas gift. Happy Christmas!

Roger Philby is the founder and CEO of the Chemistry Group.

What do you think? Tell us at [email protected]