Book recommendations for business leaders: 6/29/17

Jun 29, 2017 | Reading Lists

Stephen King says that if you want to be a writer, there are two things you must do: read a lot and write a lot. This is about the “read a lot” part. I include reading lists and book reviews that will help you do business more effectively and write better for business.

In this post, I point you to reviews of Barking up the Wrong Tree, The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life That Matters, Lifestorming: Creating the Life You Want, and Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity.

From James daSilva: How to succeed instead of barking up the wrong tree

“Eric Barker’s ‘Barking Up The Wrong Tree’ (May 2017, HarperCollins), the book adaptation of his long-running blog, might be mistaken as a promise to fulfill all your life and career hopes and dreams. It is not. Barker’s book can be a guide, a way to weed out some of the worst advice and reflect on yourself and your goals, but it cannot solve your life for you.”

From Wharton: Why Finding Meaning – Not Happiness – Is What Really Matters

“The pursuit of happiness is so important to American ideals that it has been enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. But a new book, The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life That Matters, argues that finding meaning in life is ultimately more satisfying than searching for happiness. Author Emily Esfahani Smith says one can find meaning even in tough circumstances to give you a reason to live, whereas a pursuit of happiness focused on satisfying your every whim can still lead to emptiness.”

From Michael McKinney: Lifestorming: Creating the Life You Want

“TWO OF THE TOP top coaches of our time, Alan Weiss and Marshall Goldsmith, have come together to write a book about how to grow into possibility—your unique possibility. Lifestorming: Creating Meaning and Achievement in Your Career and Life presents life as a journey without a ‘there.’ An evolutionary journey through life. The goal for each of us is to take on life and enjoy it immensely by developing the required character and engaging in it enormously.”

From Christina Folz: Radical Candor: How Bosses Can Get What They Want by Saying What They Mean

“The best bosses care enough about their team members to be disliked by them at times. That’s not their goal, of course, but it’s an inevitable consequence of taking the management approach espoused by Kim Scott in Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity (St. Martin’s Press, 2017), which encourages bosses to both care deeply about the people who report to them and let them know when they don’t see eye to eye.”

Reading recommendations are a regular feature of this blog. Want more recommendations about what to read? Check out my Three Star Leadership blog and Michael McKinney’s LeadingBlog.