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Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High
By Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan & Al Switzler
In professional and personal scenarios, you’re bound to face difficult conversations with others, or find yourself mediating conversations between two emotionally charged parties. The authors of Crucial Conversations have laid out an easy to understand approach to address these tough conversations in an effective manner by being intentional about the outcome, reducing confrontation, solving conflict and not letting emotions get the best of the conversation – or the relationship.
Get it: Crucial Conversations
Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Heart.
By Brené Brown
Brené Brown is a professor who has spent over two decades studying vulnerability, courage, shame and empathy. In Dare to Lead she explains the qualities of effective leadership which includes how the most daring leaders choose to expose their vulnerability, exhibit empathy and are continuously developing greater self-awareness. She challenges readers to choose courage over comfort to be better leaders and individuals. Brown is direct and offers applicable advice for leaders and aspiring leaders.
Get it: Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Heart.
Developing Leaders Around You
By John C. Maxwell
A great leader is endowed with the responsibility of developing others, helping them win and reach their full potential. Developing Leaders Around You provides you with the tools for empowering individuals to grow into strong, effective, independent leaders. Maxwell outlines which qualities to look out for in potential leaders, how to create an environment to help leaders grow, and how to develop your next dream team.
Get it: Developing Leaders Around You
Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
By Jocko Willink & Leif Babin
Written by two former Navy SEALs, Extreme Ownership is one of the most unique and inspiring books on leadership available because the authors are intense and admirable. Jocko Willink is best known for his mantra “discipline equals freedom.” They both now coach leadership to businesses and organizations to effectively lead high performance teams. In Extreme Ownership, each chapter analyzes a leadership principle through detailed firsthand accounts of battlefield experiences. It is not only inspiring, but extremely practical as they offer detailed and comprehensive outlines of why these leadership principles are valuable and how they are applicable to business scenarios.
Get it: Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Great Leaders Grow: Becoming a Leader for Life
By Ken Blanchard & Mark Miller
The premise of this book is based on the principle that if you want to be a successful leader you must pursue continuous growth, both personally and professionally. You must face and accept change and seek new solutions to problems. Through the classic story-telling format of Ken Blanchard, this book follows a young aspiring leader having conversations with mentors. It is a quick, engaging read full of simple wisdom that provides a clear outline of how to grow as a leader.
Get it: Great Leaders Grow: Becoming a Leader for Life
Helping People Win at Work: A Business Philosophy Called “Don’t Mark My Paper, Help Me Get an A”
By Ken Blanchard & Garry Ridge
Helping People Win at Work is a straightforward read that inspires individuals to help colleagues perform their best while feeling supported. This book encourages leaders to consider how you evaluate performance. Instead of just evaluating and pointing out where people are falling short, the authors provide an informative account of how to conduct performance reviews as a partner for performance and truly help people win.
Get it: Helping People Win at Work: A Business Philosophy Called “Don’t Mark My Paper, Help Me Get an A”
Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t
By Simon Sinek
Bestselling author Simon Sinek derives his ideas from inspiring stories and outlines how leaders can create the culture of an organization where members feel safe and respected. The concept of Leaders Eat Last is about putting the rest of the teams needs first so that team members feel they can take risks, but the team still has their back. In addition, it is about empowering the team to lead themselves instead of creating an environment where the team is dependent on the leader. Great leaders are at the core of great organizations, and if you want to be a great leader, you need to lead with empathy and gain trust and Simon Sinek shows you how to do just that.
Get it: Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t
Principles: Life and Work
By Ray Dalio
Billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio has created a personal masterpiece he calls Principles. By learning through failures he has refined his life and work principles that he has outlined in this book. While it is a behemoth, it is strategically laid out. Split up into three parts, the first part provides a background of Ray Dalio and Bridgewater, the second part discusses his principles as applied to personal life and the third part is about implementing principles for managing a company. To be able to discover how Dalio’s mind operates and how he makes decisions is the most valuable aspect of this book. He views problems and failures as puzzles which you can glean from one of the best quotes of the book, “pain + progress = reflection.” It’s a must read to learn from a brilliant and successful individual and offers immense value for anyone managing a company.
Get it: Principles: Life and Work
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
By Simon Sinek
Start with Why is a concept crafted and delivered by bestselling author Simon Sinek about the importance of effectively communicating one’s Why. As he describes, most people can convey what they do and how they do it, but few can effectively communicate why they do what they do. Simon Sinek has studied the most influential leaders and organizations and outlines how powerful it is to convey your Why, because people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. Start with Why is not just limited to leadership, it is an inspiring concept applicable to anyone who wants to influence others because the way you communicate your message can significantly affect if others believe in it.
Get it: Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
How to Be a Leader: An Ancient Guide to Wise Leadership
By Plutarch
Plutarch was a Greek philosopher that wrote How to Be a Leader during the height of the Roman Empire. Plutarch discusses the character traits of iconic Greek and Roman leaders, their ability to maintain discipline and self-control and offers advice on how to develop the mindset of a leader. He provides wise advice appliable to modern day that will provide aspiring leaders with a unique perspective on the great leaders of history.
Get it: How to Be a Leader: An Ancient Guide to Wise Leadership
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You
By John C. Maxwell
In 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, John Maxwell provides the principles he has refined over 30 years of leadership and includes specific and succinct strategies of how to apply each of the laws. This book is a must read for anyone who want to develop leadership abilities or who needs to empower their team with the core principles of leadership.
Get it: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You
Developing the Leader Within You 2.0
By John C. Maxwell
In Developing the Leader Within You, John Maxwell outlines the core principles of how to be a successful leader and build strong teams which include how to provide value, gain influence, and cultivating a vision worth following. If you want to develop your leadership skills and grow your team this book will provide you with the tools you need.
Get it: Developing the Leader Within You 2.0
Leadership and the One Minute Manager Updated Ed: Increasing Effectiveness Through Situational Leadership II
By Ken Blanchard, Patricia Zigarmi & Drea Zigarmi
Leadership and the One Minute Manager offers practical advice on how to lead others based on their level of competence or confidence. It’s about tailoring your leadership and management style based on what they need, to provide them the support when they need it and to delegate when appropriate. It teaches you how to communicate effectively with your team members, set goals and provide appropriate guidance where it’s needed.
Whale Done!: The Power of Positive Relationships
By Ken Blanchard, Thad Lacinak, Chuck Tompkins & Jim Ballard
Whale done outlines how effective killer whale trainers create stronger relationships with their trainees which is directly applicable to humans. The premise of the book is praising positive behaviour and redirecting negative behaviour. An effective leader pays a ton of attention when the individual performs the task correctly in order to reinforce more correct behaviour. It is an easy straightforward read that will provide you with core insights you can implement immediately. This book is not only effective in a leadership team setting, it is also extremely applicable to all relationships, even raising kids.
Get it: Whale Done!: The Power of Positive Relationships
“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
– Jane Goodall
“The first and last task of a leader is to keep hope alive—the hope that we can finally find our way through to a better world—despite the day’s action, despite our own inertness, shallowness, and wavering resolve.”
– John W. Gardner
“Leaders are dealers in hope.”
– Napoléon Bonaparte
“The man who lives for himself is a failure, the man who lives for others has achieved true success.”
– Norman Vincent
