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C3 Financial Partners Founder, Todd Healy, has been an avid reader for decades. In addition to his personal literature journey, he has benefited from many years of membership in a book club with fellow industry advisors and literature aficionados.
Many of us at C3 are frequently impressed by Todd’s intellect. Todd’s Executive Coordinator, Rebecca Bates notes, “Todd reads an amazing number of books, but what is more impressive is his ability to retain the information and apply it to his daily life.” Todd is dedicated to learning, personal development, and continuing education – both formally and informally – and he especially enjoys listening to educational audiobooks while traveling.
The books below were hand chosen from a long list of his favorites. Todd frequently references them and believes they are most applicable in today’s estate planning world. Please enjoy these brief descriptions and Todd’s personal comments about the application of the books’ theories in real life.
Happy reading.
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
By Simon Sinek
Leading with your “why” can dramatically impact the way your business develops. Simon Sinek investigates why some businesses and entrepreneurs are more influential, innovative, and ultimately more successful than others. He discovers that every decision they make and how they manage their brand keeps constant focus on the “why” of what they are doing, rather than the “how” or the “what.” Sinek posits that people such as Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers might have little in common, but they all started their journey with answering the question “why?” and then remained focused on that objective.
At C3 we use this concept with our clients to make sure that we have total confidence in understanding their objectives before we present any options to them. Internally, our team is constantly asking ourselves whether we truly understand the “why” behind the client’s planning. Todd’s thoughts on this read:
In our daily lives, it is so easy to focus on options before we truly identify our objectives. When we do that, we end up comparing Option A to Option B to Option C without considering what end these choices may or may not serve. Once our objectives are clearly identified, we can measure our options against those objectives and make better choices.
The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results
By: Gary Keller and Jay Papasan
What is the biggest priority in your day? How do you focus on what’s important when you are bombarded from every angle all day with demands and communications? In The One Thing, Keller and Papasan help their readers learn to identify the real priorities for their goals and focus on them first. This book encourages you to shift your focus and prioritization to allow yourself less overwhelm and more productivity.
Todd’s thoughts on this read:
With so many meetings, phone calls, emails, and interruptions in our day, it’s hard to focus on the one thing that is truly the best use of our time. This book challenges us to ask, “What is the one thing, that by doing it first, will lessen or eliminate the need for me to do other things on my list?”
At the beginning of each day, I make a list of all the things I want to accomplish that day. I then begin with the one thing that truly needs to be done first. Ideally, I don’t go onto the second thing until I’ve done everything I can on the first. This book has helped me to hone this skill and work smarter.
The Trusted Advisor
By David H. Maister, Charles H. Green, & Robert M. Galford
Beyond technical expertise and business savvy, The Trusted Advisor argues that the key to achieving professional success in the client service industry is to genuinely earn the trust of your clients. Authors Maister, Green, and Galford use illustrative anecdotes from their own experiences and those of others to make their guidance accessible and clear. This is a must read for any professional in an advisory role to their clients.
Todd’s thoughts on this read:
While I believe it is presumptuous to be viewed as “the trusted advisor” for our clients, for the first time that I’m aware of, Meister comes up with an objective formula for helping to determine whether our clients believe we are acting as a trusted advisor to them. He focuses on whether the client believes that we know what we’re talking about, will follow through, have a personal “connection” with them, and whether we are in the relationship for our best interest or theirs.
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
By Charles Duhigg
The Power of Habit presents to its readers a scientific understanding of the way we form human behavior patterns commonly known as habits. In his best-selling work, Duhigg explains why habits are so important to our successes and failures and how harnessing the science behind how they are formed can help anyone achieve greater success. Through the use of real life stories he brings this science to life for his readers.
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
By Greg McKeown
In a world full of books about how to be more productive, doing more in less time, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less serves as a breath of fresh air. Rather than focusing on doing more, McKeown’s basic premise is that we must learn to do only what is essential when it is needed and avoid wasting our energy on non-essential tasks and to-dos. Following a mind set of doing only that which is important has served many a top executive and it can improve the quality of the average person’s life as well.
The Power of Who
By Bob Beaudine
Often in navigating the business world you hear the old saying “It’s who you know.” Immediately that generates thoughts of networking luncheons and industry events. But what if it is “who you know” already? That is the premise behind this interesting read by Bob Beaudine. Beaudine argues that you already have everyone in your social circle that you need to help you achieve your dreams, you probably just haven’t been paying them enough attention. The Power of Who offers a step-by-step approach to better leveraging your day-to-day connections to help you achieve the life of your dreams.
80/20 Sales and Marketing: The Definitive Guide to Working Less and Making More
By Perry Marshall
The 80/20 rule is an over 100-year-old concept, but it has recently experienced an uptick in popularity in the business world. This idea that 80% of your results can be generated by 20% of your efforts has many applications in both business and personal life. With this book, Perry Marshall offers a deep dive in the way this rule can be applied to optimize your sales and marketing, generating exponential increases in successful outcomes. Learning how to identify the key areas where your investments will generate the most impact can be transformative to any business.
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High
By Kerry Patterson and Joseph Grenny
Everyone has experienced a crucial conversation, or in some cases avoided one when the stakes felt too high. When difficult conversations need to be had, emotions can flare quickly and things can easily get sour. Knowing how to approach these conversations successfully can have a tremendous impact on your relationships: at home, at work, and in your community. Authors Patterson and Grenny offer helpful tools to prepare you to handle your crucial conversations with aplomb and create the positive outcomes you want.
Small Message, Big Impact: The Elevator Speech Effect
By Terri L. Sjodin
In today’s high-speed, no-time-for-small-talk world, having an impactful elevator speech can make or break a sales opportunity. An expert in persuasive presentations, Terri Sjodin considers the elevator speech as an opportunity for more than a cookie cutter introduction, but instead, as a strategy for developing intrigue about your business and quickly communicating complex ideas. Small Message, Big Impact offers constructive tools for creating a compelling and impactful elevator speech to help propel your business forward.
The 10 X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure
By Grant Cardone
The 10 X Rule suggests that the difference between successful people and businesses and failures is the level of goals set and the level of action taken to achieve those goals. Grant Cardone suggests that to optimize your success you should set goals that surpass what you think is doable or desired by 10 times and then put in 10 times the effort you think you need to set about achieving them. He calls this “massive action.” With massive action comes massive success. Read this book for ideas on how to become less risk-averse and pour yourself into your goals to achieve the greatest results possible.
Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade
By Robert Cialdrini, Ph.D. (New York Times and Wall Street Journal Best Seller)
The author of the major bestseller Influence, social psychologist Robert Cialdini provides deep scientific insight on the impact of where a listener’s attention lies in the moments before they hear an argument. By better understanding the influence of this small window of time before you deliver a message, you can make your listeners more receptive to what you have to say and learn to be more persuasive. With useful applications in every facet of life, “Pre-Suasion” is an art well worth learning.
