Putting pen to paper: the Chamber members who have published books in lockdown

In addition to working on and in their businesses, several Chamber members have been keeping busy during lockdown, putting pen to paper (or is that fingers to laptop?) and publishing either their first, or latest book. Themes and topics span the genres, and even venture into fiction - here is our lowdown on recently published books by Chamber members.  

The data storyteller….

How to Be Insightful: Unlocking the Superpower that Drives Innovation is data storyteller, Sam Knowles’ second book, following the success of his first, Narrative by Numbers in 2018 (both published by Routledge). How To Be Insightful lays out his principles for a new model of insightful thinking and shows us the tools, skills, and strategies to innovate, pivot, and evolve at pace in this rapidly changing world. Sounds quite apt for the current ongoing situation!

Sam is the founder of Insight Agents, corporate and brand storytellers who help companies communicate more effectively.

Earlier in 2020 Sam lead a Bite-sized Learning for Brighton Chamber based on the book. In addition to the written word, Sam has a popular podcast called ‘The Small Data Forum Podcast’, which helps marketing and communication professionals make better use of their data. You can listen on his website here.

The curious researcher….

As we retreated into the online world as the real one disappeared for a while, Alex Pearson has brought us a book all about human intelligence in a tech-driven world. In ‘Curious, Creative, Connected – engaging human intelligence in a Tech-driven world, she explores how we can all exploit the characteristics that marks us out from even the smartest machine: our ability to imagine. She reveals how we can derive enormous benefits by actively engaging our natural instincts of curiosity, creativity, and connection.

When she’s not travelling, writing, and imagining, Alex runs Yurt Academy, providing master classes for teams, individuals and organisations. 

The learned entrepreneur…..

Rob Da Costa started his own marketing agency back in 1992, over the next 11 years he grew that agency to 25 staff, 7-figure turnover and a ton of stress! He now helps agency owners to grow their businesses and create ‘The Self Running Agency, trying to avoid all the mistakes he made along the way. If you think the self running agency is a pipedream, pick up Rob’s book and see where it can take you.

Rob is well known for his excellent emails packed full of advice and 1-1 coaching for creative and digital business owners, and he normally runs at least two Bite-sized Learning sessions for the Chamber a year.

The digital expert…..

As Managing Director of Syncity, Richard Godfrey is on a mission to help businesses to get digital right and spends his time working with business leaders to achieve success in delivering digital programmes so that services can ve delivered as efficiently as possible.

Richards second book ‘Be The Five - Digital confidence: a simple process for digital success” will take readers through the 5 steps to achieving success with any digital projects.

If you think digital is something you can leave in your IT department, or just outsource, then this book might be for you. As Richard says ‘The best companies today bring digital into everything they do. They use it to innovate, they use it to increase profits, and they use it to create a better culture and happier workforce’.

The fiction writer….

Janet Kelly is a journalist, scriptwriter and PR and marketing professional, and fiction writer to boot!

She has followed up her debut novel, Dear Beneficiary, with a long-awaited sequel – Beneficial Effects. It continues the story of Cynthia Hartworth as she settles down to life in Africa with her young Nigerian lover and her newly found partner-in-hostage, Tracey.

Sounds mischievous!

So as the night’s close in, why not settle down, grab a cup of tea and treat yourself to one of these stellar reads by a local author.

Are you a chamber member who has recently published a book? Tell us about it and we will add you to this blog.

If you want to contribute to the Chamber blog, contact us on hannah@brightonchamber.co.uk