6 Books To Help Leaders Take Control Of Business—And Life

Forbes

5 hours ago

Business leader reading book
Every leader makes mistakes. Great ones learn from them by reflecting on what went wrong and what they can do differently in the future.
Now that the summer reading season is here, these six leadership books can help you reflect on your own shortcomings and work toward leading your teams—and living your life—more effectively. Each uses real-world anecdotes, case studies, and/or humor to ensure their lessons stick long after you close them for the final time.
1. Cara Moeller Poppitt — Big Freakin' Change: How to Gain Confidence by Stepping Out Before You Are Ready
Cara Moeller Poppitt's Big Freakin' Change is a guide for readers facing big life changes, planned or otherwise. Written in a direct yet humorous style, Big Freakin' Change can help you navigate such changes with purpose and power while overcoming the internal resistance that is so often the biggest obstacle to lasting self-improvement.
Poppitt's book is useful for life transitions as well as career pivots. Drawing on her experience helping more than 30,000 women and girls take ownership of their lives, Poppitt shares a radically simple 'confidence model,' advising readers to act first and allow their confidence to grow in response.
Make no mistake, this is not another guide that advises you to 'fake it until you make it.' Poppitt offers a detailed and nuanced road map to lasting change. Central to this is a full-scale mindset transformation—realizing that being stuck is not your fault, understanding that change is possible, overcoming your fears and gathering your motivation, and trusting yourself as you embrace your new identity and the changes that come with it.
2. John C. Maxwell — The 360 Degree Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization
The 360 Degree Leader is a modern leadership classic from John Maxwell, a mentor to hundreds of corporate executives and entrepreneurs.
With help from an interactive workbook that readers can work on at their own pace, The 360 Degree Leader systematically breaks down the most common myths about personal transformation and helps readers achieve the title's promise of exercising influence up (to the boss), across (to peers) and down (to direct reports and beyond).
Although it's written for middle managers, The 360 Degree Leader is an important, confidence-building read for anyone who feels as if their influence is not as strong as it could be—in the workplace or in life.
3. Alan Willett — Leading the Unleadable: How to Manage Mavericks, Cynics, Divas, and Other Difficult People
Alan Willett's Leading the Unleadable is an entertaining and insightful look at an uncomfortable fact of leading large teams: Not everyone is going to get along.
In fact, Willett argues, some people are less inclined to get along than others. There are easier approaches to dealing with what Willett calls 'mavericks, cynics, divas and other difficult people,' from siloing them in projects where they can't do much damage to managing them out of the organization altogether.
However, these approaches are suboptimal for the team, the organization as a whole, and for leaders' own careers. Willett urges leaders to see the potential in problematic employees, starting with the recognition that most people, even those who are challenging to work with, genuinely want to contribute in a positive way. When you see the goodwill in others, he says, it's much easier to meet them where they are.
4. Ryan Gottfredson — Becoming Better: The Groundbreaking Science of Personal Transformation
In Becoming Better, bestselling author and leadership guru Ryan Gottfredson homes in on an essential truth that most other leadership texts omit. It's not enough, he says, to 'do better.' True self-improvement requires 'being better.'
This is not as simple as it sounds. 'Doing better' is what employees generally try to do when seeking to improve because it is what most performance improvement plans focus on. This approach, however, often falls short.
In contrast, focusing on 'being better' is a more transformational approach, but one that most readers are either unaware of or are more likely to resist on a basic level. According to Gottfredson, it requires a deep understanding of one's mindset and a willingness to follow a neuroscience-backed path to personal improvement. Few people truly understand their 'Being Side,' he argues, and as a result, they leave untold potential untapped.
If you are ready to elevate your leadership and impact, upgrade your personal operating system and transform how you engage with those around you, add Becoming Better to your summer reading list.
5. David Ash — Simple Wealth: Six Proven Principles for Financial Freedom
Written in the dark depths of the Covid-19 pandemic, David Ash's Simple Wealth could just as well be titled 'Keep Calm and Carry On.'
It's an ode to a calm and values-based approach to accumulating and sustaining wealth, written for leaders and laypeople regardless of financial position. As the subtitle indicates, six proven principles anchor this approach, which Ash emphasizes is ideal for anyone who wishes to align their personal finances with the meaning they seek in life.
Ash also steers readers away from three self-defeating 'money mindsets' that get in the way of purposeful wealth accumulation. He talks directly and respectfully to readers for whom thinking about money, let alone planning for the future, is a source of great discomfort. And he illuminates the dark underbelly of the financial world with a helpful guide to spotting and avoiding scams.
Ash knows whereof he speaks. Unlike some financial gurus, he understands the immense stress of not knowing where your next dollar will come from, because he lived it as a near-penniless high school dropout. Now, he's a semi-retired multimillionaire who works on his own terms.
6. R. Michael Anderson — Leadership Mindset 2.0: The Psychology and Neuroscience of Reaching Your Full Potential
Leadership Mindset 2.0 presents a science-based approach, rather than a vibes-based one, to becoming a better leader. In it, R. Michael Anderson applies decades of experience helping leaders at companies like Uber and Microsoft understand what makes their teams tick, how to communicate more effectively in high-pressure situations, and how to navigate difficult conversations with a range of stakeholders.
Much of Anderson's work focuses on the personal mindset shift that true leadership requires. For example, he argues that 'impostor syndrome' is more common than most leaders realize, which means you're not necessarily an outlier for experiencing it. He also advises leaders to embrace 'true' authenticity rather than the phony version that they imagine their teams want to see from the top.
It all adds up to an inspiring summer read that can drive real, lasting change at both the individual and team levels.
Each of these books has different advice for leaders, but one theme connects them all: That leadership doesn't end when the workday does. The same techniques that make you an effective business leader can help you take control of your personal life, too. That's an important lesson to take forward into a summer season that will hopefully bring some opportunity for rest, relaxation, and reflection.