Few among us don't know that as leaders one of our primary responsibilities is to think about the future and position our organizations within that future.  Of course, that's much easier said than done--in practice, it's just plain hard to do.  That said, there are always a few current books out there on the topic that can help us shape our own context around our perceptions on the future.  Here are a few I've taken quite a few notes on this summer:

Are you focused on building your business? Don't make the same mistakes everyone else makes--Charlotte real estate entrepreneur Gary Chesson has shared a great journey with us via his book Creating Trinity.  It’s a great read for anyone in the real estate business and it’s super cool that it’s largely a North Carolina story–it’s a highly personal and people focused story around how he built a business based on relationships, self-awareness, and smart risks.

For the data-minded among us, Neil Hoyne’s recent book Converted is an excellent primer on data measurement strategies you’re most likely seeing in your digital marketing efforts.  Neil is a global expert on the subject, given his senior role at Google, and this one has quite a few underline-and-follow-up moments.

If you're pressed to do a lot of things in any given day and find it exhausting, Andrew McConnell's book on taking a stoic approach to time management has been very successful and it’s great to see thought leaders getting national recognition.  If the mind, as the saying goes, is like a pencil then this one is worth the read to help sharpen the mind.

Clark Twiddy, President of Twiddy & Company, is the author of our Leadership Corner, published on our blog the third Tuesday of each month. He can be reached at ctwiddy@twiddy.com.