In every marketing presentation for thirty years, my opening theme is the same: tell me how you build, update and use your customer lists and I’ll tell you how efficient and effective your marketing can be.

My partner, Jake Crocker, often says that business deals are “won or lost on the first tee”. The first time he said this to me it caught my attention, and the analogy has worn well over the years.

A young friend who is working on a pivot in his life asked me what books he should read during such introspection. It didn’t take long for me to share the titles of the books that have changed my life, in chronological order.