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 The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness, Soon: An Overdue History of Procrastination, from Leonardo and Darwin to You and Me, This Is Day One: A Practical Guide to Leadership That Matters, he Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth, and Fat Cats Don’t Hunt: Implanting the Right Leadership and Culture to Accelerate Innovation and Organic Growth.
From Bill Gates: Why I’m into meditation
“Andy Puddicombe, the 46-year-old cofounder and voice of the popular Headspace app, was the person who turned me from skeptic to believer. Prior to finding Headspace, I had read several books about meditation, all of which intimidated me. They made me think that the investment in terms of time and energy was just too high. Headspace made the barrier to entry low enough for me. It’s just 10 minutes a day of listening to Andy’s soothing British accent and trying to stay with him. Andy has taken some heat from hard-core meditators for his low-barrier approach, but he got me to take up meditation and stick with it. I’m glad he did.”
From Wharton: Why Procrastination Can Be Good (Unless You Want To Be Productive)
“If you are a procrastinator, you’re in good company. Some of the greatest minds in the world — including Leonardo da Vinci — were famous procrastinators. Journalist Andrew Santella explores the upside of putting things off in his new book, Soon: An Overdue History of Procrastination, from Leonardo and Darwin to You and Me. It’s a funny and insightful look at how we’ve become so good at getting distracted — and why it’s not always such a bad thing, unless you want to be more productive. Santella confessed that he was looking to justify his own habit of putting things off when he started research for the book, and he freely admits to procrastinating in the writing of it.”
From Michael McKinney: Everything Begins with a Day One
“This is Day One by Drew Dudley is about choosing to lead. Everything worthwhile in life begins with a Day One. ‘If you want to be a leader, chose to be a leader today. Repeat that choice every day. It doesn’t matter if you failed to do it yesterday or if you’ve done it every day for a decade: every new day begins with a recommitment to that choice.'”
From Bob Morris: The Fearless Organization
“According to Amy Edmondson, one of the defining characteristics all healthy organizations is having a community committed to psychological safety. That is, a workplace culture with which ‘people are not hindered by interpersonal fear. They feel willing and able to take the inherent personal risks of candor. They fear holding back their full participation more than they fear sharing a potentially sensitive, threatening, or wrong idea. The fearless organization is one in which interpersonal fear is minimized so that team and organizational performance can be maximized in a knowledge intensive world. It is not one devoid of anxiety about the future!…In short, psychological safety is a critical source of value creation in organizations operating in a complex, changing environment.'”
From Skip Prichard: 10 Vital Empowerment Factors
“This is an excerpt from Fat Cats Don’t Hunt: Implanting the Right Leadership and Culture to Accelerate Innovation and Organic Growth by Jim Hlavacek, PhD. Jim has over 40 years of global experience as a businessman, strategy consultant, and management educator.”
Reading recommendations are a regular feature of this blog. Want more recommendations about what to read? Check out my Three Star Leadership blog, Michael McKinney’s LeadingBlog, and Skip Prichard’s Leadership Insights.