Ted Williams is the General Manager of Axios Local, a new initiative to help local communities get smarter, faster on news that matters in their city. Axios recently acquired Charlotte Agenda, a modern local media company that Ted founded in 2015. We asked him to share his reading list:

Sounds simple, but I had a recent reading breakthrough — the best way to increase reading is to read stuff that you want to read. I’ve also gotten much better at stopping a book – or a podcast – if it stinks!

Recap of 2021 books: A lot of business-y reading so far this year.

• No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings & Erin Meyer. I’m a big believer in the cheesy saying, “culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
• Atomic Habits by James Clear. I can be a sucker for life hacks. I now floss daily.
• Dream Golf: The Making of Bandon Dunes by Stephen Goodwin. This book definitely had me checking flights to Oregon to tee it up.
• Measure What Matters by John Doerr. Axios does OKR goal setting (objectives and key results). I’ve found the framework so helpful that I now do it in my personal life each quarter.

Kids books: My son is in Kindergarten and we read together each night, except for Friday and Saturday night which is “movie night” and dad drinks a glass of wine with mom.

• Magic Tree House series, by Mary Pope Osborne. Reminds me of Indiana Jones, but for kids. Huge fan.
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, by Jeff Kinney. Unsure if this book is age appropriate or not, but it makes us both laugh.

What’s next: Can’t wait to read these two books from local authors.

• Nobody Eats Parsley by David Oakley. He’s my old boss!
• Holy Crap, We’re Pregnant by Jake and Page Fehling. I haven’t met a more positive and enthusiastic couple.
  [Page and Jake were featured guests of Final Draught at Home – catch a recording of that event here.]

Note: You can follow Ted on Twitter and Instagram.