Sometimes a book, or even just a line, chapter or passage within a book can stick with us long after we’ve read its final page. We asked some of our favorite community members to tell us about a book that’s had a meaningful impact on them.

Mike Glanz | President & Founder

I’ve read pretty much every business book known to man… but the book I’ve found most inspiring to me as a leader has been Suprised by Hope by NT Wright. Wright paints an inspirational picture of the future of the life and world we are meant to live in and be a part of. I often find myself thinking about how I can do my part to build a piece of that world in the market where we operate, in our workplace with our employees, and even in my home life with my family. If you are looking for something outside of the normal “Good to Great” or “Winning” that’s going to motivate you down to your soul, I highly recommend it! Read more>>

Stephen D. Ambrosini CLU ChFC | CEO & Financial Adviser

The Truth about your Future by Rick Edelman was the most influential book I have read in a long time. It’s been particularly been timely based upon the exponential changes that we have seen hit the nation and the world recently. Whether be it Block Chain, Bitcoin, Driverless Cars, HealthCare; the world is rapidly changing before our eyes and is not going back. These changes are permanent and we’d best embrace them. As a small example; look at Commercial Real Estate. How would you like to be the landlord of several Commercial properties today? Some companies have told their employees there is no going back to the office, you will permanently work from your home. I happy to report that my industry was built for, and in my case, prepared for working from afar. Years ago we transitioned to a paperless environment, cloud storage, electronic applications, photo check deposits. I’ll admit we never saw a international pandemic coming but we were thankfully and unexpectedly ready when it did. Read more>>

Alyssa Donyes | Venue Coordinator

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. If you haven’t read it, you absolutely should. The novel is set in 1960 in Jim Crow-era Florida and follows the life of a very intelligent African American boy who is wrongfully accused of a crime and gets sent to a reform school called Nickel Academy. It’s based off of a true story about a reform school in Florida that operated for 111 years. This book helped open my eyes to so many heartbreaking truths about our history. Since reading this book I have spent more of my time finding ways to support the black community where I can and to continue to educate myself and others about history that we may not have known or fully understood. Growing up where I did and being a white female, I see my privilege blatantly now and want to help bring equality and love to my black brothers and sisters in whatever way that I can. Read more>>